Task dependent tools for intelligent automation

This paper describes the development of a composite software environment, termed Toolkit, for supporting the design and development of Knowledge Based Systems in the domain of Industrial Automation. It presents the design of the tools and the motivation behind them, and the supporting methodology that allows generic problems to be associated with the functionality provided by the respective tools. The Toolkit allows both empirical and theoretical knowledge to be represented, the latter by an implementation of qualitative modelling techniques based on a component-centred ontology. Further, languages are provided for representing (empirical) knowledge in either a declarative or a procedural format. The Toolkit is organized as a task-dependent architecture consisting of five conceptual layers: strategic, tactical, teleological, functional and object. The tools are defined by a systematic task classification and are constructed from a set of tool components consisting of the representation languages and their associated inference mechanisms. In addition, other tool components include the provision of truth maintenance and causal ordering. An overview of the representation languages is given together with a description of the current tools of the Toolkit. An example is given of using two of the tools to build a model-based diagnostic reasoner, using the component based language, and constraint propagation and assumption-based truth maintenance. Finally, a discussion of the current work on the Toolkit is presented. © 1989.