Critics for knowledge-based design systems

Abstract

Expert critics have been built to critique human performance in various areas such as engineering design, decision making, etc. We suggest that critics can also be useful in the building and use of knowledge-based design systems (KBDSs). Knowledge engineers elicit knowledge from domain experts and build a knowledge-based design system. The system generates designs. The amount of knowledge the system possesses and the way it applies the knowledge directly influence the performance of its designs. Therefore, critics are proposed to assist 1) acquiring sufficient knowledge for constructing a desirable system, and 2) applying proper knowledge to generating designs. Methodologies of equipping a KBDS with critics are developed. Our practice in building and using a KBDS shows the applicability and capability of these critics.