Reusable ontologies, knowledge-acquisition tools, and performance systems: PROTÉGÉ-II solutions to Sisyphus-2

Thomas E. Rothenfluh, John H. Gennari, Henrik Eriksson, Angel R. Puerta, Samson W. Tu, Mark A. Musen
1996 International Journal of Human-Computer Studies  
This paper describes how we applied the PROTÉGÉ-II architecture to build a knowledgebased system that configures elevators. The elevator-configuration task was solved originally with a system that employed the propose-and-revise problem-solving method (VT; Marcus, Stout & McDermott, 1988) . A variant of this task, here named the Sisyphus-2 problem, is used by the knowledge-acquisition community for comparative studies. PROTÉGÉ-II is a knowledge-engineering environment that focuses on the use of
more » ... reusable ontologies and problem-solving methods to generate task-specific knowledge-acquisition tools and executable problem solvers. The main goal of this paper is to describe in detail how we used PROTÉGÉ-II to model the elevator-configuration task. This description provides a starting point for comparison with other frameworks that use abstract problem-solving methods. Starting from a detailed description of the elevator-configuration knowledge (Yost, 1992), we analyzed the domain knowledge and developed a general, reusable domain ontology. We selected, from PROTÉGÉ-II's library of preexisting methods, a propose-and-revise method based on chronological backtracking. We then configured this method to solve the elevator-configuration task in a knowledge-based system named ELVIS. We entered domain-specific knowledge about elevator configuration into the knowledge base with the help of a task-specific knowledge-acquisition tool that was generated from the ontologies. After we constructed mapping relations to connect the domain and method ontologies, PROTÉGÉ-II generated the executable problem solver. We have found that the development of ELVIS has provided a valuable test case for evaluating PROTÉGÉ-II's suite of system-building tools.
doi:10.1006/ijhc.1996.0017 fatcat:np7y644jjrecpi6qlfizjfg6lu