CS-481:Artificial Intelligence

Lecture 12
Knowledge Representation: Rule Based Expert System

By: Dr. Saima Hassan

Asst. Professor, Institute of Computing
KUST
 Discussion Agenda

• Topic: Rule Based/Production rules

• Domain expert?
• Production Rules
• Rule-based Representation
• Main players of a Rule-based system
• Basic structure of an Expert system
 Introduction
 Rule-based systems are the simplest form of artificial intelligence.
 A rule based system uses rules as the knowledge representation for
knowledge coded into the system
 It represents knowledge in terms of a set of rules that tells what to do or what
to conclude in different situations.
 A rule-based system is a way of encoding a human expert's knowledge in a
fairly narrow area into an automated system.
 A rule-based system can be simply created by using a set of assertions and a
set of rules that specify how to act on the assertion set.
Domain Expert

Anyone can be considered a domain expert if he or she has

deep knowledge and strong practical experience in a particular
domain.

An expert is a skillful person who can do things other people

cannot.

The idea of an expert system is to use the knowledge from an

expert and to encode it into a set of rules. When exposed to the
same data, the expert system will perform (or is expected to
perform) in a similar manner to the expert.
 Rule-based representation

The human mental process is internal and it is too complex to be

represented as an algorithm
Most experts are capable of expressing their knowledge in the
form of rules for problem solving
The term rule in AI can be defined as an IF-THEN structure.
 Rule-based representation

Condition-Action Pairs
IF P THEN Q
which is also equivalent to:
P⇒Q.
IF this condition occurs,
THEN some action will (or should) occur

 IF (traffic light is Red) THEN action (stop)

 IF (traffic light is Green) THEN action (go)
 Rule-based representation
IF <antecedent>
THEN <consequent>
A rule can have multiple antecedents joined by the keywords
AND (conjunction), OR (disjunction) or a combination of both.

IF <antecedent> IF <antecedent>
AND < antecedent> OR < antecedent>
. .
. .
. .
AND < antecedent> OR < antecedent>

THEN <consequent> THEN <consequent>

 Rule-based representation
The consequent of a rule can also have multiple clauses:

IF <antecedent>

THEN <consequent 1>

<consequent 2>
.
.
.
<consequent m>
 Rule-based representation
The antecedent of a rule incorporates two parts: an object (linguistic
object) and its value. The object and its value are linked by an
operator.

 IF (traffic light is Red) THEN action (stop)

 IF (traffic light is Green) THEN action (go)

Object Value
operator
Rule-based representation
Expert systems can also used mathematical operators to define
an object as numerical and assign it to the numerical value.

IF ‘age of the customer’ < 18

AND ‘cash withdrawal’ > 1000
THEN ‘signature of the parent’ is required
 Rule-based representation

Examples
 IF (at bus stop AND bus arrives) THEN action (get into the bus)
 IF (on the bus AND paid AND empty seat) THEN action (sit down).
 IF (on bus AND unpaid) THEN action (pay charges).
 IF (bus arrives at destination) THEN action (get down from the bus).
 Rule-based representation
Rules can represent :
 Relation
IF the fuel tanks is empty
THEN the car is dead
 Recommendation
IF the season is autumn
AND the sky is cloudy
AND the forecast is drizzle
THEN the advice is take an umbrella

 Directive
IF the car is dead
AND the fuel tank is empty
THEN refuel the car
 Rule-based representation
Rules can represent

 Strategy
IF the car is dead
THEN check the fuel tank;
step1 is complete

IF step1 is complete
AND the fuel tank is full
THEN check the battery;
step2 is complete
 Heuristic
IF the spill is iquid
AND the spill pH < 6
AND the spill smell is vinegar
THEN the spill material is acetic acid
 Main players of a Rule-based system
The most popular expert systems are rule-based systems. A great
number have been built and successfully applied in such areas as
business, engineering, medicine, geology, power systems and mining.

There are five members of the expert system

 Domain expert
 Knowledge Engineer
 Programmer
 Project Manager
 End-user

The success of their expert system entirely depends on how well the
members work together.
Main players of a Rule-based system
 Main players of a Rule-based system: Domain Expert
 is a knowledgeable and skilled person capable of solving
problems in a specific area or domain
 the person’s expertise is to be captured in the expert system
 could be more than one expert that contribute to an expert
system
 the expert must be able to communicate his or her
knowledge, be willing to participate in the expert system
development and commit a substantial amount of time to the
project
is the most important person in the expert system
development team
 Main players of a Rule-based system: Knowledge
Engineer
 is someone who is capable of designing, building and
testing an expert system
 interviews the domain expert to find out how a particular
problem is solved
 establishes what reasoning methods the expert uses to
handle facts and rules and decides how to represent them in
the expert system
 choose some development software or an expert systems
shell, or look at programming languages for encoding the
knowledge
 responsible for testing, revising and integrating the expert
system into the workplace

 Main players of a Rule-based system: Programmer,
Project Manager, End user
Programmer:
 is the person responsible for the actual programming, describing the
domain knowledge in terms that a computer can understand.
 needs to have the skills in symbolic programming in such AI language
such as Prolog.
 should also know conventional programming language like C, Pascal,
FORTRAN and Basic

Project Manager:
 is the leader of the expert system development team, responsible for
keeping the project on track
 makes sure that all deliverables and milestones are met, interacts with
the expert, knowledge engineer, programmer and end-user

End-user:
 often called the user
 is a person who uses the expert system when it is developed
Basic Structure of a rule-based expert system
 Basic Structure of a rule-based expert system

Knowledge base:
 contains the domain knowledge useful for
problem solving

 In rule-based expert system, the knowledge is

represented as a set of rules. Each rule specifies a
relation, recommendation, directive, strategy or
heuristic and has the IF (condition) THEN (action)
structure.

 When the condition part of a rule is satisfied, the

rule is said to fire and the action part is executed
 Basic Structure of a rule-based expert system
The database includes a set of facts used to match against the
IF (condition) parts of rules stored in the knowledge base.

The inference engine carries out the reasoning whereby the

expert system reaches a solution. It links the rules given in the
knowledge base with the facts provided in the database.

The explanation facilities enable the user to ask the expert

system how a particular conclusion is reached and why a
specific fact is needed

The user interface is the means of communication between a

user seeking a solution to the problem and an expert system
Major Advantages of Rules

 Easy to understand (natural form of knowledge)

 Easy to derive inference and explanations
 Easy to modify and maintain
 Dealing with incomplete and uncertain knowledge
 Rules are frequently independent
 Major Limitations of Rules

 Complex knowledge requires many rules

 Inability to learn
 The knowledge engineer is still responsible for revising and
maintaining the system
 Search limitations in systems with many rules
Chapter 7: Intelligent systems A modern
Approach

Thank you