Using Coordination Graphs to add Prior Knowledge to the RoboCup Domain

Acknowledgements Although the actual writing of this thesis has been done by one person, there are a number of people without whom this thesis had never been written. These people, by offering support, ideas, critiques and various comments related and completely unrelated to the subject of this thesis, have guided the writing of this thesis as much as I did myself. First and foremost, out of a tradition I have found to be completely justified, I would like to thank my supervisors Nikos and Jelle. Both have been invaluable during the course of my research, both providing an endless (and sometimes quite overwhelming) stream of ideas and comments. Without Jelle's expertise of the UvA Trilearn team at least half of my research would have been impossible to do. The other half would not have existed if not for Nikos. Nikos, if I did not often take up your offer of stopping by with questions whenever I wanted, the offer was highly appreciated, and the answers you provided when I did ask were always helpful. A great amount of gratitude goes out to my family, for enduring me during the last year, for helping me get back to the right track after I had taken a wrong turn, but especially, for keeping my spirits up when things were not going as planned. Special thanks go to my mother, who was foremost in keeping me realistic with respect to deadlines (a lesson I will not quickly forget), and who has willingly subjected herself to countless readings and rereadings. Finally there are a number of people who have also contributed, in their own way, to the writing of this thesis and my general well-being during this time. Nina, who did her utmost best to understand what I was doing and succeeded only partly, but was a great support nonetheless. Jan, who didn't decide to become a PhD student at the UvA to keep me company during and after lunches, but who did so anyway, providing me with much-needed breaks and useful commentary in the process. Matthijs, who was a great help in typesetting and formatting my thesis, and who had some valuable comments to add when he was not paying attention.