Scheduling and Planning Applications woRKshop (SPARK)

ICAPS'23 Workshop Prague, Czech Republic July 9-10, 2023

Aim and Scope of the Workshop

This workshop series aims to provide a stable forum on relevant topics connected to application-focused research and the deployment of P&S systems. The immediate legacy began in 2007 with the ICAPS'07 Workshop on `Moving Planning and Scheduling Systems into the Real World’, and continued in 2008-2022 with successful yearly editions. 2023 is the 16th edition of SPARK. The websites of the previous editions of SPARK are available here. These workshops presented a stimulating environment where researchers could discuss the opportunity and challenges in moving P&S developments into practice, and analyze domains and problem instances under study for, or closely inspired by, real industrial/commercial deployment of P&S techniques. The challenges and discussions that emerged in the last years’ editions set the baseline for this year’s SPARK workshop. A goal of the workshop series is the definition of a longer term set of challenges that could be of benefit for the research community as well as practitioners. SPARK is the ideal incubator to test, discuss, mature and improve potential papers for that main track with the feedback of an excellent audience, and a great place for the inception of new applications and challenges. Authors of accepted papers will be encouraged to share their domains and instances, or parts of them, towards a library of practical benchmarking problems that could also be useful for the community. Accepted papers will be presented in plenary or poster sessions during the workshop. Each presented paper will receive comments from a designated moderator, in order to start the discussion at the workshop.

Topics of Interest

Starting from the results of the previous editions, SPARK-2023 will deepen the debate on application-relevant aspects of P&S theory and practice, with the aim of reporting and discussing experiences relating to deploying P&S systems.

Topics of the workshop include, but are not limited to:

  • Novel domains and benchmark or challenge problems
  • Experiences in deploying P&S systems, from their conception to their maturity in practice
  • Comparison with previously existing technologies and/or systems
  • Integration of operational knowledge from existing legacy components
  • Integration of multiple sources of knowledge and reasoning schemes (actions, time, resources)
  • Modeling and domain model acquisition
  • Handling dynamic and uncertain sources of knowledge
  • Algorithmic and technological issues
  • Plan execution and replanning
  • Mixed initiative approaches
  • User interface design, visualization and explanation
  • Machine learning methodologies applied to P&S systems
  • Engineering, deployment, and maintenance
  • Evaluation, testing, and validation
  • Assessment of impact on end users

Important Dates

  • Paper submission: March 24, 2023 April 4, 2023
  • Notification: April 14, 2023 April 28, 2023
  • Camera-ready: April 25, 2023 May 22, 2023
  • Workshop dates: July 9-10, 2023
  • Conference dates: July 8-13, 2023

Submission Details

Submissions may be regular papers (up to 8 pages plus references) or short position papers (up to 2 pages, including references). Papers should be formatted according to CEUR-WS style. Authors should select the 2-column style. From 2022 onwards, CEUR-WS requires that authors use the new CEUR-ART style for writing papers. An Overleaf template for LaTeX users is available here. Submissions will be reviewed by at least three referees. SPARK-2023 will be double blind and submissions must be anonymous and not contain author information.

Submissions, in PDF format, must be submitted via the EasyChair site.

The site is open for submission!

Workshop Proceedings and Special Issue

If enough authors will agree, SPARK-2023 proceedings will be published in the CEUR-WS Workshop Proceedings series. We are also investigating the possibility of a special issue of an international journal.

Workshop Committee

Oranizing Committee

  • Riccardo De Benedictis, National Research Council of Italy, IT
  • Marco Roveri, University of Trento, IT
  • Shirin Sohrabi Araghi, IBM Research, US
  • Sabine Storandt, Universität Konstanz, DE

Contact: spark2023@easychair.org

Program Committee

  • Laura Barbulescu
  • Mark Boddy
  • Andrew Branch
  • Lukas Chrpa
  • Gabriella Cortellessa
  • Andreas Ernst
  • Simone Fratini
  • Rongge Guo
  • Safia Kedad-Sidhoum
  • Andrea Micheli
  • Nysret Musliu
  • Stephanie Roussel
  • Enrico Scala
  • Alessandro Umbrico

List of Accepted Papers

  • Jeremy Ludwig, Annaka Kalton, Robert Richards, Brian Bautsch and Luke Walker. Lessons Learned from a Schedule Optimization Tool for Vehicle Testing
  • Mohamed Harmanani. Modelling the Spread of COVID-19 in Indoor Spaces using Automated Probabilistic Planning
  • Naiqian Zhang, Daroc Alden, Dongpeng Xu, Shuai Wang, Trent Jaeger and Wheeler Ruml. Using Planning to Construct Code Reuse Attacks in Obfuscated Programs
  • Alice Petrov and Christian Muise. Automated Planning Techniques for Elementary Proofs in Abstract Algebra
  • Remo Christen, Salomé Eriksson, Michael Katz, Christian Muise, Alice Petrov, Florian Pommerening, Jendrik Seipp, Silvan Sievers and David Speck. PARIS: Planning Algorithms for Reconfiguring Independent Sets
  • Hassna Louadah, Thomas Leo McCluskey, Gareth Tucker and Emmanouil Papadakis. Towards Rolling Stock Preventive Maintenance Scheduling - Short-term Scheduling Optimisation
  • Riccardo De Benedictis, Gloria Beraldo, Amedeo Cesta and Gabriella Cortellessa. Supporting Decision-Making for City Management through Automated Planning and Execution

Workshop Schedule

[9:00 - 9:15] - Workshop Open

[9:15 - 10:30] - First session

  • “Modelling the Spread of COVID-19 in Indoor Spaces using Automated Probabilistic Planning”. Mohamed Harmanani.
  • “PARIS: Planning Algorithms for Reconfiguring Independent Sets”. Remo Christen, Salomé Eriksson, Michael Katz, Christian Muise, Alice Petrov, Florian Pommerening, Jendrik Seipp, Silvan Sievers and David Speck.
  • “Automated Planning Techniques for Elementary Proofs in Abstract Algebra”. Alice Petrov and Christian Muise.

[10:30 - 11:00] - Coffee Break

[11:00 - 12:30] - Panel Challenges and Opportunities in AI Planning and Scheduling in applications

[12:30-2:15] Lunch

[2:15 - 3:30] - Second session

  • “Supporting Decision-Making for City Management through Automated Planning and Execution”. Riccardo De Benedictis, Gloria Beraldo, Amedeo Cesta and Gabriella Cortellessa.
  • “Using Planning to Construct Code Reuse Attacks in Obfuscated Programs”. Naiqian Zhang, Daroc Alden, Dongpeng Xu, Shuai Wang, Trent Jaeger and Wheeler Ruml.
  • “Towards Rolling Stock Preventive Maintenance Scheduling - Short-term Scheduling Optimisation”. Hassna Louadah, Thomas Leo McCluskey, Gareth Tucker and Emmanouil Papadakis.

[3:30 - 4:00] - Coffee Break

[4:00 - 5:00] - Discussion and closing