Real-Time Strategy (RTS) gameplay exhibits both cognitive complexity and task environment complexity. Expert RTS gameplay involves many cognitive processes including estimation, anticipation, planning at multiple levels of abstraction, and adaptation. One approach to handling this complexity for AI agents is to learn plan structures from observation of expert human gameplay in competitive settings. We show that application of Generalized Sequence Mining algorithms to StarCraft replays results in automated extraction of tactical and strategic patterns that can be encoded in HTN-like plan structures.

Next, we discuss belief models of inconsistent collaborators in a multi-agent domain. Maintaining an accurate set of beliefs in a partially observable scenario, particularly with respect to other agents operating in the same space, is a vital aspect of multi-agent planning. We analyze how the beliefs of an agent can be updated for fast adaptivity to changes in the behavior of an unknown teammate. Our results on a variation of the pursuit domain suggest the possibility of approximating a higher-level model by utilizing a belief distribution over a set of lower-level behaviors, particularly when the belief update strategy identifies changes in the behavior in a responsive manner.

Arnav Jhala is an Associate Professor of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research interests lie at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Media, particularly in the areas of Computational Cinematography, Computational Storytelling, and Reasoning under Uncertainty in Complex Real-time Domains. At UCSC he directs the Computational Cinematics Studio, and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses across Engineering, Arts, and Humanities divisions. Arnav holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from North Carolina State University, USA (2004, 2009), and B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from Gujarat University, India (2001). He has previously worked at the IT University of Copenhagen, Virtual Heroes, Duke University, the Institute of Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Arnav currently serves as undergraduate director of the interdisciplinary game design program (ranked as one of the top programs in the US by Princeton Review) and as campus director of the systemwide University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP).