To plan for the user is to plan with the user: Integrating user interaction into the planning process

Settings where systems and users work together to solve problems collaboratively are among the most challenging applications of Companion-Technology. So far we have seen how planning technology can be exploited to realize Companion-Systems that adapt flexibly to changes in the user’s situation and environment and provide detailed help for users to realize their goals. However, such systems lack the capability to generate their plans in cooperation with the user. In this chapter we go one step further and describe how to involve the user directly into the planning process. This enables users to integrate their wishes and preferences into plans and helps the system to produce individual plans, which in turn let the Companion-System gain acceptance and trust from the user. Such a Companion-System must be able to manage diverse interactions with a human user. A so-called mixed-initiative planning system integrates several Companion-Technologies which are described in this chapter. For example, a—not yet final—plan, including its flaws and solutions, must be presented to the user to provide a basis for her or his decision. We describe how a dialog manager can be constructed such that it can handle all communication with a user. Naturally, the dialog manager and the planner must use coherent models. We show how an ontology can be exploited to achieve such models. Finally, we show how the causal information included in plans can be used to answer the questions a user might have about a plan. The given capabilities of a system to integrate user decisions and to explain its own decisions to the user in an appropriate way are essential for systems that interact with human users.