Topics

• Expert System Components

• Expert Systems Development
• Virtual Reality
 Components of Expert Systems

Figure 7.2: Components of an Expert System

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 The Knowledge Base
• Stores all relevant information, data, rules,
cases, and relationships used by the expert
system
• Assembling human experts
• Use of fuzzy logic
• Use of rules
• Use of cases

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 The Inference Engine
• Seeks information and relationships from the
knowledge base and provides answers,
predictions, and suggestions the way a human
expert would
• Backward chaining
• Forward chaining
• Comparison of backward and forward
chaining
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 The Inference Engine (continued)

Figure 7.4: Rules for a Credit Application

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 The Explanation Facility
• Allows a user or decision maker to understand
how the expert system arrived at certain
conclusions or results
• For example: it allows a doctor to find out the
logic or rationale of the diagnosis made by a
medical expert system

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The Knowledge Acquisition Facility
• Provides convenient and efficient means of
capturing and storing all the components of
the knowledge base
• Acts as an interface between experts and the
knowledge base

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 The User Interface
• Specialized user interface software is
employed for designing, creating, updating,
and using expert systems
• The main purpose of the user interface is to
make the development and use of an expert
system easier for users and decision makers

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 Expert Systems Development

Figure 7.6: Steps in the Expert System Development Process

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 Participants in Developing and Using
Expert Systems
• Domain expert: individual or group that has
the expertise or knowledge one is trying to
capture in the expert system
• Knowledge engineer: an individual who has
training or experience in the design,
development, implementation, and
maintenance of an expert system
• Knowledge user: individual or group that uses
and benefits from the expert system
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 Participants in Developing and Using
Expert Systems (continued)

Figure 7.7: Participants in Expert Systems Development and Use

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 Expert Systems Development Tools
and Techniques
• Traditional programming languages
• Special programming languages
• Expert system shells
– An expert system shell is a collection of software
packages and tools used to design, develop,
implement, and maintain expert systems
• Off-the-shelf expert system shells

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 Expert Systems Development Tools
and Techniques (continued)

Figure 7.8: Software for expert systems development has evolved

greatly since 1980, from traditional programming languages to
expert system shells.
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 Expert Systems Development
Alternatives
• In-house development: develop from scratch
• In-house development: develop from a shell
• Off-the-shelf purchase: use existing packages

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 Expert Systems Development
Alternatives (continued)

Figure 7.9: Some Expert System Development Alternatives and Their

Relative Cost and Time Values
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 Applications of Expert Systems and
Artificial Intelligence
• Credit granting and loan analysis
• Catching cheats and terrorists
• Information management and retrieval
• AI and expert systems embedded in products

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 Applications of Expert Systems and
Artificial Intelligence (continued)
• Plant layout and manufacturing
• Hospitals and medical facilities
• Help desks and assistance
• Employee performance evaluations

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 Applications of Expert Systems and
Artificial Intelligence (continued)
• Virus detection
• Shipping
• Marketing

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 Virtual Reality
• Virtual reality system: enables one or more
users to move and react in a computer-
simulated environment
• http://news.com.com/2300-1043_3-6144292-
6.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
• Immersive virtual reality: user becomes fully
immersed in an artificial, three-dimensional
world that is completely generated by a
computer

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 Interface Devices

• Head-mounted display (HMD)

• Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor (BOOM)
• CAVE
• Haptic interface

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 Interface Devices (continued)

The BOOM, a head-coupled display device

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 Interface Devices (continued)

Viewing the Detroit Midfield Terminal in an immersive CAVE system

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 Forms of Virtual Reality

• Immersive virtual reality

• Mouse-controlled navigation through a three-
dimensional environment on a graphics
monitor
• Stereo projection systems
• Stereo viewing from the monitor via stereo
glasses

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 Virtual Reality Applications
• Medicine
• Education and training
• Real estate marketing and tourism
• Entertainment

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 Other Specialized Systems
• Segway
• A microchip that might be able to help
quadriplegics perform tasks they could not
perform otherwise
• Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags

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Other Specialized Systems (continued)
• “Smart containers” for ships, railroads, and
trucks
• Game theory
• Informatics

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 Summary
• Artificial intelligence (AI): ability of computers to
mimic or duplicate the functions of the human
brain
• Artificial intelligence systems: the people,
procedures, hardware, software, data, and
knowledge needed to develop computer systems
and machines that demonstrate the
characteristics of intelligence
• Expert system: computer system that stores
knowledge and makes inferences, similar to a
human expert
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 Summary (continued)
• Robotics: mechanical or computer devices that
perform tasks that either require a high degree of
precision or are tedious or hazardous for humans
• Vision system: computer system that permits
computers to capture, store, and manipulate
visual images and pictures
• Natural language processing: allows the
computer to understand and react to statements
and commands made in a “natural” language,
such
as English
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 Summary (continued)
• Learning system: computer system that allows
the computer to change how it functions or
reacts to situations based on feedback it
receives
• Neural network: computer system that can
simulate the functioning of a human brain
• Virtual reality system: enables one or more
users to move and react in a computer-
simulated environment
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