Method and device for improved motion planning

In one implementation, a method for improved motion planning. The method includes: obtaining a macro task for a virtual agent within a virtual environment; generating a search-tree based on at least one of the macro task, a state of the virtual environment, and a state of the virtual agent, wherein the search-tree includes a plurality of task nodes corresponding to potential tasks for performance by the virtual agent in furtherance of the macro task; and determining physical motion plans (PMPs) for at least some of the plurality of task nodes within the search-tree in order to generate a lookahead planning gradient for the first time, wherein a granularity of a PMP for a respective task node in the first search-tree is a function of the temporal distance of the respective task node from the first time.