Articles

Partial Formalizations and the Lemmings Game

An article on the features of the Lemmings computer game that make it suitable as a Drosophila for AI research.

The Lemmings game marketed some years ago by Psygnosis presents some interesting problems in representation of geometric facts, in planning, and in other aspects of AI. Contemplating Lemmings may disabuse on of some oversimplified ideas and approaches.

The computer game Lemmings can serve as a new Drosophila for AI research connecting logical formalizations with information that is incompletely formalizable in practice. In this article we discuss the features of the Lemmings world that make it a challenge to both experimental and theoretical AI and present some steps toward formalizing the game using situation calculus.

Download the article in PDF.