IFPATS: A Link between Distributed AI Systems and Expert Users

Abstract

Current trends in artificial intelligence systems for engineering design are recognizing the need for interaction between different nodes in the system and the user, to achieve the best possible results and to ensure that the system is conceived of, and used, as a tool. An architecture is developed for numerically biased design problems, where a spreadsheet presentation of facts, and prototypes of facts, is integrated into a blackboard from which a distributed artificial intelligence design system is controlled. The user is provided with a powerful interface by means of the ability to enter facts directly into this system, initiate or terminate search paths, accept or reject provisional facts or prototypes, or dynamically modify any rule base or database.