Progressing basic action theories with non-local effect actions (CS-2009)

In this paper we propose a practical extension to some recent work on the progression of action theories in the situation calculus. In particular, we argue that the assumption of local-effect actions is too restrictive for realistic settings. Based on the notion of safe-range queries from database theory and just-in-time action histories, we present a new type of action theory, called range-restricted, that allows actions to have non-local effects with a restricted range. These theories can represent incomplete information in the initial database in terms of possible closures for fluents and can be progressed by directly updating the database in an algorithmic manner. We prove the correctness of our method and argue for the applicability of range-restricted theories in realistic settings.