Bounded Suboptimal Search in Linear Space: New Results

Abstract

Bounded suboptimal search algorithms are usually faster than optimal ones, but they can still run out of memory on large problems. This paper makes three contributions. First, we show how solution length estimates, used by the current state-of-the-art linear-space bounded suboptimal search algorithm Iterative Deepening EES, can be used to improve unbounded-space suboptimal search. Second, we convert one of these improved algorithms into a linear-space variant called Iterative Deepening A* epsilon, resulting in a new state of the art in linear-space bounded suboptimal search. Third, we show how Recursive Best-First Search can be used to create additional linear-space variants that have more stable performance. Taken together, these results significantly expand our armamentarium of bounded suboptimal search algorithms.