Lecture 13: Optimizing a Search

In the last session, we introduced the concept of search. We looked at the 6.01 implementation of a general search algorithm, addressed issues of common sense and dynamic programming, and localized a robot. In this session, we focus on improving search. We can systematically use information we have about the state space we're searching, in order to save us time and space. The overview handout provides a more detailed introduction, including the big ideas of the session, key vocabulary, what you should understand (theory) and be able to do (practice) after completing this session, and additional resources.