A Knowledge-Based Framework for Design

Engineering

Volume

Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 5

Applications

Many design problems can be formulated as a process of searching a "well-defined" space of artifacts with similar functionality. The dimensions of such spaces are largely known and are constrained by relations obtained from the implicit functionality of the designed artifact. After identifying the kinds of knowledge that mediate the search for acceptable designs, a computational framework is presented that organizes the required knowledge as design plans. A problem solver is described that executes these plans. The problem solver extends the notion of dependency-directed backtracking with an advice mechanism. This mechanism allows information from a constraint failure to be used as advice in modifying a partial design. An expert system for designing paper transports inside copiers has been successfully built based on this framework.