VT: An Expert Elevator Designer That Uses Knowledge-Based Backtracking

Authors

  • Sandra Marcus
  • Jeffrey Stout
  • John McDermott

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v9i1.664

Abstract

VT (vertical transportation) is an expert system for handling the design of elevator systems that is currently in use at Westinghouse Elevator Company. Although VT tries to postpone each decision in creating a design until all information that constrains the decision is known, for many decisions this postponement is not possible. In these cases, VT uses the strategy of constructing a plausible approximation and successively refining it. VT uses domain-specific knowledge to guide its backtracking search for successful refinements. The VT architecture provides the basis for a knowledge representation that is used by SALT, an automated knowledge-acquisition tool. SALT was used to build VT and provides an analysis of VT's knowledge base to assess its potential for convergence on a solution.

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Published

1988-03-15

How to Cite

Marcus, S., Stout, J., & McDermott, J. (1988). VT: An Expert Elevator Designer That Uses Knowledge-Based Backtracking. AI Magazine, 9(1), 95. https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v9i1.664

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1: Spring 1988

Section

Articles

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