Verbmobil : translation of face-to-face dialogs

Verbmobil is a long-term project on the translation of spontaneous language in negotiation dialogs. We describe the goals of the project, the chosen discourse domains and the initial project schedule. We discuss some of the distinguishing features of Verbmobil and introduce the notion of translation on demand and variable depth of processing in speech translation. Finally, the role of anytime modules for efficient dialog translation in close to real time is described

Akquisition und Repräsentation von technischem Wissen für Planungsaufgaben im Bereich der Fertigungstechnik

Im Bereich der Fertigungstechnik kann eine Fülle von Planungsaufgaben identifiziert werden, die für eine Bearbeitung mit Methoden der KI geeignet erscheinen. Das Projekt ARC-TEC am DFKI wendet die KADS-Methode zur systematischen Entwicklung von Expertensystemen an und erstellt Tools für alle Phasen dieser Entwicklung. Die Brauchbarkeit der entwickelten Methoden und Tools wird am Beispiel der Erstellung von Arbeitsplänen für die Drehbearbeitung demonstriert. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei der expliziten Repräsentation des konkreten Expertenwissens und der Bearbeitung des gegebenen Problems in einer der Vorgehensweise des Experten möglichst naheliegenden Weise.In the area of production engineering many planning tasks can be found which seem well-suited to be tackled using AI-methodologies. The ARC-TEC project of the DFKI uses the model based KADS approach for a systematic development of expert systems and provides tools to support the different phases of this development. The generation of work plans for manufacturing by turning is used as an example to demonstrate the applicability of the different tools and methodologies. Special focus is upon the explicit representation of the concrete experts knowledge and the problem solving strategy which closely follows the way an expert solves the problem

Corporate agents

The logic of belief and intention in situations with multiple agents is increasingly well understood, but current formal approaches appear to face problems in applications where the number of agents greatly exceeds two. We provide an informal development of Corporate Agents, an intensional approximation of individual and group states which treats groups symmetrically with autonomous agents. Corporate Charters, constraints derived from typical patterns of information flow, replace detailed reasoning about the propagation of attitudes in most contexts. The approximation to an ideal logical formulation is not tight, but the model appears to function well in information-poor environments and fails in ways related to characteristic human errors. It may therefore be particularly appropriate to application in the area of natural language discourse

Konzeption einer deklarativen Wissensbasis über recyclingrelevante Materialien

Das Recycling von Produkten und Produktionsreststoffen erlangt als Einflußfaktor für wirtschaftliche Entscheidungsprozesse eine immer größere Bedeutung. Die Integration von recyclingrelevanten Daten in betriebliche Informationsstrukturen sollte in Zukunft durch wissensbasierte Methoden unterstützt werden. Wir stellen Ansätze für eine Wissensbasis zur recyclinggerechten Produkt- und Produktionsplanung vor, und gehen dann genauer auf das grundlegende Modul über Materialien ein. Es wird untersucht, welche Evolutionstechniken sich zur Pflege derartiger Wissensbestände eignen, z.B. zur Validierung vorhandener und Exploration neuer Materialien im Hinblick auf ihre Recycelbarkeit

Abschlußbericht des Arbeitspaketes PROD

In dieser Studie wird eine Übersicht über konventionelle Produktmodelle im Bereich des Maschinenbaus gegeben. Es werden Datenstrukturierungs- und speicherungsaspekte diskutiert. Die Erkenntnisse sollen eine Grundlage für die Erstellung eines integrierten wissensbasierten Produktmodelles werden

Using integrated knowledge acquisition to prepare sophisticated expert plans for their re-use in novel situations

Plans which were constructed by human experts and have been repeatedly executed to the complete satisfaction of some customer in a complex real world domain contain very valuable planning knowledge. In order to make this compiled knowledge re-usable for novel situations, a specific integrated knowledge acquisition method has been developed: First, a domain theory is established from documentation materials or texts, which is then used as the foundation for explaining how the plan achieves the planning goal. Secondly, hierarchically structured problem class definitions are obtained from the practitioners\u27 highlevel problem conceptualizations. The descriptions of these problem classes also provide operationality criteria for the various levels in the hierarchy. A skeletal plan is then constructed for each problem class with an explanation-based learning procedure. These skeletal plans consist of a sequence of general plan elements, so that each plan element can be independently refined. The skeletal plan thus accounts for the interactions between the various concrete operations of the plan at a general level. The complexity of the planning problem is thereby factored in a domain-specific way and the compiled knowledge of sophisticated expert plans can be re-used in novel situations

ARC-TEC : acquisition, representation and compilation of technical knowledge

A global description of an expert system shell for the domain of mechanical engineering is presented. The ARC-TEC project constitutes an AI approach to realize the CIM idea. Along with conceptual solutions, it provides a continuous sequence of software tools for the acquisition, representation and compilation of technical knowledge. The shell combines the KADS knowledge-acquisition methodology, the KL-ONE representation theory and the WAM compilation technology. For its evaluation a prototypical expert system for production planning is developed. A central part of the system is a knowledge base formalizing the relevant aspects of common sense in mechanical engineering. Thus, ARC-TEC is less general than the CYC project but broader than specific expert systems for planning or diagnosis