Achievements :PO1, CO1, CO5, LO1

Chapter 2
Today contents and achievements

2.1 Knowledge representation technique

 LO1 : Able to understand the

concept of expert system

Achievements:CO1
 Early 1960’s problem for AI;
◦ Weak methods; general method to find solution to a
problem (not efficient, weak performance)
◦ Too difficult and broad problem to solve
 Rise needs for specialized problem solving
technique → mimicking human expert
behavior and decision
 Since 1970’s, the AI is designed to adopt
human expertise as a knowledge-based
system.
Rule-based expert systems:
Contents
◼ Introduction, or what is knowledge?
◼ Rules as a knowledge representation technique
◼ The main players in the development team
◼ Structure of a rule-based expert system
◼ Characteristics of an expert system
◼ Forward chaining and backward chaining
◼ Conflict resolution
◼ Summary
An Expert System (ES) is a computer-based
system (mainly software) that uses
knowledge and facts, and apply an
appropriate reasoning technique
(inferencing) to solve problems in a given
field (domain) that normally require the
services of human experts.

Keyword: knowledge engineering,

knowledge practitioner, knowledge-based
system
 A computer application that performs a task that
would otherwise be performed by a human expert.

 A model and associated procedure that exhibits,

within a specific domain, a degree of expertise in
problem solving that is comparable to that of a
human expert. – Ignizio

 An expert system is a computer system which

emulates the decision-making ability of a human
expert.-Giarratono
 are computer programs which attempts to replicate
knowledge and skills of humans expert in some
area, and then attempt to solve problems in this
area (the way human expert to do)

 Take root from cognitive science – the study of

human mind using a combination of AI and
psychology

 Comprises of two main parts;

◦ Knowledge
◦ Reasoning or inference
 Consider several examples:
 A medical doctor
 carpenter
 Engineer
 A chef

What is differences between above expertise?

Can you say that one is more intelligent than
another?
 Expertise and intelligence are not the same
things (although they are related)
 Expertise requires long time to learn
 Expertise is a large amount of knowledge (in
some domain)
 Expertise is easily recalled
 Intelligence allows you to use your expertise
(apply the knowledge)
 Expertise enables you to find solution much
faster
Examples of the early and famous expert
systems

 DENDRAL - Stanford Univ. (1965)

 Analysis of chemical compunds
 Rule-based system

 CADACEUS - Univ. of Pittsburgh (1970)

 Diagnosis of human internal diseases

 MYCYSMA- MIT (1971)

 Symbolic mathematical analysis
 MYCIN - Stanford Univ. (1972)
◦ Diagnosis and treatment of infectious blood diseases
◦ Rule-based system

 EMYCIN - Stanford Univ. (1978)

◦ Evolved from (Empty) Mycin
◦ First ES Shell

 XCON - DEC (1980)

◦ configures VAX computer system
◦ First ES used commercially

 1943 Post, E.L proved that any computable problem can be

solved using simple IF-THEN rules

 1962 General Problem Solver (GPS) by A.Newell and H.Simon

 The whole is more than a sum of its parts
◦ Computer use pre-programmed algorithms

◦ Obviously, our mind do not work like computers: different

people usually solve problems in their own ways, and you
even may solve the same problem differently every time

◦ Even if we begin to know how neural networks work, it is

hard to scale up and understand how they form thoughts

◦ Some scientists believe that cognition (or intelligence) is

somewhat independent of the architectural implementation
(i.e. not necessarily should use neural networks)
 What is knowledge?
◼ Knowledge is a theoretical or practical understanding
of a subject or a domain. Knowledge is also the sum
of what is currently known, and apparently knowledge
is power. Those who possess knowledge are called
experts.

◼ Anyone can be considered a domain expert if he or

she has deep knowledge (of both facts and rules) and
strong practical experience in a particular domain. The
area of the domain may be limited. In general, an
expert is a skilful person who can do things other
people cannot.
 Rules as a knowledge
representation technique
◼ The term rule in AI, which is the most commonly
used type of knowledge representation, can be
defined as an IF-THEN structure that relates given
information or facts in the IF part to some action in
the THEN part. A rule provides some description of
how to solve a problem. Rules are relatively easy to
create and understand.

◼ Any rule consists of two parts: the IF part, called

the antecedent (premise or condition) and the THEN
part called the consequent (conclusion or action).

stores all relevant
information, data, rules,
cases, and relationships used
by the expert system
Provide a convenient and efficient
means for capturing and storing all
components of the knowledge base
How the expert
system arrived at
certain results
 IF <antecedent>
THEN <consequent>

IF <antecedent 1> IF <antecedent 1>

AND <antecedent 2> OR <antecedent 2>
. .
. .
. .
AND <antecedent n> OR <antecedent n>
THEN <consequent> THEN <consequent>
◼ 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.

◼ The operator identifies the object and assigns the

value. Operators such as is, are, is not, are not are
used to assign a symbolic value to a linguistic object.

◼ Expert systems can also use 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
◼ The human mental process is internal, and it is too
complex to be represented as an algorithm.
However, most experts are capable of expressing
their knowledge in the form of rules for problem
solving.

IF the ‘traffic light’ is green

THEN the action is go

IF the ‘traffic light’ is red

THEN the action is stop
 Rules can represent relations,
recommendations, directives, strategies
and heuristics:
◼ Relation
IF the ‘fuel tank’ is empty
THEN the motorcycle cannot start
◼ 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 student is sleepy
AND the student has not taking their breakfast
THEN the action is ‘………………….’
◼ Strategy
IF the car’s engine is stop
THEN the action is ‘check the fuel tank’;
step1 is complete
IF step1 is complete
AND the ‘fuel tank’ is full
THEN the action is ‘check the battery’;
step2 is complete
◼ Heuristic
IF the spill is liquid
AND the ‘spill pH’ < 6
AND the ‘spill smell’ is vinegar
THEN the ‘spill material’ is ‘acetic acid’
 Ruled Based Expert System
◦ Represented as a series of rules
 Frame-Based System
◦ Representation of the object-oriented programming
approach
 Hybrid System
◦ Include several knowledge representation approach
 Model-Based System
◦ Structured around the model that stimulates the
structure and function of the system under study
 Ready-Made (Off-the-shelf) System
◦ Custom-made, similar to application package such as
an accounting general ledger or project management in
operation mgmt.
 DATA- measurements or records about events. Can
be numerical, alphabetical, images, sounds, etc.

 INFORMATION – analyzed and organized data such

that we know its characteristics

 KNOWLEDGE – information put into a specific

context
  Data, Information and
Knowledge can be
classified by levels of
abstraction and quantity

 Knowledge is the most

High abstract and exists in the
knowledge smallest quantity

Abstraction  Knowledge itself can have

information levels of abstraction :
concrete (knowledge about
low
Data the specific problem),
domain specific (class of
problems) and abstract
(many classes of problems)
 Symbolic, sub-symbolic & hybrid

◦ Symbolic – represented as discrete unit (explicit)->

expressed in formal language

◦ Sub-symbolic – cannot be represented by single

symbols (implicit), -> stored in a form of
information

◦ Hybrid -> systems involved both types of

knowledge representation
 Declarative & Procedural
 Declarative -> Knowledge are facts (objects, events) that
we observe in the environment. Can describe current
state of a problem
e.g. : I' am a human or the sun shining

 Procedural -> knowledge represents the skills or rules

we use to operate with and reason using facts
e.g. : IF I' am a human THEN I have two legs

 Apparently, there are separate areas in the human brain

for storing declarative and procedural knowledge

 Rules (procedural) are usually harder to describe

 Expertise
◦ Enable experts to make better and faster decisions than
non-experts in solving complex problem
 Experts
◦ Degrees or levels of expertise -> mimic human expert
 Transferring expertise
◦ Involves 4 activities -> knowledge acquisition, knowledge
representation, knowledge inference and knowledge
transfer to user
 Inference rules
◦ Ability to reason-> component called the inference engine
 Rules
◦ Problem solving procedure -> knowledge stored at
database
 Explanation capability
◦ Ability to explain its advice or recommendations ->
components/subsystem called justifier or explanation
subsystem
  Narrow specialized domain
 High quality performance
 Rules of thumb or heuristic
 Explanation capability
 Employ symbolic reasoning
 Do not follow a prescribed sequence of steps

Rule of thumb : a practical and approximate way of doing or measuring something

Heuristic : allowing students to learn by discovering things themselves and

learning from their own experiences rather than by telling them things
 Expert systems are designed to facilitate
tasks in the fields of
◦ Accounting
◦ Law
◦ Medicine
◦ process control
◦ financial service : Mortgage
◦ Production
◦ human resources
 Introduction to Expert system
◦ Definition and concept
◦ Where to apply?
◦ Brief condition of rule based expert system

• LO1 : Able to understand the

concept of expert system
Achievements:CO1
Today contents and achievements
2.2 Expert System development team
2.3 Rule-based expert system
structure

 LO1 : Able to understand the concept of

expert system
 LO2 : Able to understand the structure
of expert system development team

Achievements:CO1
Rule-based expert systems:
Contents
◼ Introduction, or what is knowledge?
◼ Rules as a knowledge representation technique
◼ The main players in the development team
◼ Structure of a rule-based expert system
◼ Characteristics of an expert system
◼ Forward chaining and backward chaining
◼ Conflict resolution
◼ Summary
The process of building ES is called Knowledge
Engineering, consist of three stages :

i. Knowledge acquisition : the process of getting

the knowledge from experts

ii. Knowledge representation : selecting the most

appropriate structures to represent the
knowledge

iii. Knowledge validation :testing that the knowledge

of ES is correct and complete
The main players in the development
team

◼ There are five members of the expert system

development team: the domain expert, the
knowledge engineer, the programmer, the project
manager and the end-user.

◼ The success of their expert system entirely depends

on how well the members work together.
The main players in the development
team
Expert System
Development Team
Project Manager

Domain Expert Knowledge Engineer Programmer

Expert System

End-user
◼ Domain expert
◼ knowledgeable and skilled person capable of solving
problems in a specific area or domain.
◼ has the greatest expertise in a given domain. This
expertise is to be captured in the expert system.

◼ Knowledge engineer
◼ capable of designing, building and testing an expert
system.
◼ establishes what reasoning methods the expert uses to
handle facts and rules and decides how to represent them
in the expert system.
◼ chooses some development software or an expert system
shell, or looks at programming languages for encoding the
knowledge.
◼ responsible for testing, revising and integrating the expert
system into the workplace.
◼ Programmer
◼ responsible for the actual programming, describing the
domain knowledge in terms that a computer can
understand.
◼ have skills in symbolic programming in such AI languages
and also some experience in the application of different
types of expert system shells.
◼ know conventional programming languages like C, Pascal,
FORTRAN and Basic.

◼ Project manager
◼ 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(User)
◼ uses the expert system when it is developed.
◼ confident in the expert system performance but also feel
comfortable using it.
◼ the user interface of the expert system is vital for the
project’s success; the end-user’s contribution here can be
crucial.
 Structure of a rule-based expert
system
◼ In the early seventies, Newell and Simon from
Carnegie-Mellon University proposed a production
system model, the foundation of the modern rule-
based expert systems.
◼ The production model is based on the idea that
humans solve problems by applying their knowledge
(expressed as production rules) to a given problem
represented by problem-specific information.
◼ The production rules are stored in the long-term
memory and the problem-specific information or facts
in the short-term memory.
 Production system model

Long-term Memory Short-term Memory

Production Rule Fact

REASONING

Conclusion
Basic structure of a rule-based expert
system

Rule: IF-THEN Fact

◼ The knowledge base contains the domain
knowledge useful for problem solving.
◼ In a 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.

◼ 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. An expert system
must be able to explain its reasoning and justify its
advice, analysis or conclusion.

◼ The user interface is the means of communication

between a user seeking a solution to the problem
and an expert system.
Complete structure of a rule-based expert
system
External
Database External Program

Expert System
Knowledge Base Database

Rule: IF-THEN Fact

Inference Engine

Explanation Facilities

User Interface Developer

Interface

User
Knowledge Engineer
Expert
 Can expert systems make
mistakes?
◼ Even a brilliant expert like a human make mistakes.
This suggests that an expert system built to perform
at a human expert level also should be allowed to
make mistakes.
◼ If human make mistakes,
◼ Then machines are also allowed making mistakes (with
accuracy)

◼ We still trust experts, even we recognise that their

judgements are sometimes wrong.
◼ We rely to expert system with consideration of
probability of mistake.
◼ In expert systems, knowledge is separated from its
processing (the knowledge base and the inference
engine are split up). A conventional program is a
mixture of knowledge and the control structure to
process this knowledge. This mixing leads to
difficulties in understanding and reviewing the
program code, as any change to the code affects both
the knowledge and its processing.

◼ When an expert system shell is used, a knowledge

engineer or an expert simply enters rules in the
knowledge base. Each new rule adds some new
knowledge and makes the expert system smarter.
Characteristics of an expert system
◼ An expert system is built to perform at a human
expert level in a narrow, specialised domain. Thus,
the most important characteristic of an expert
system is its high-quality performance. No matter
how fast the system can solve a problem, the user
will not be satisfied if the result is wrong.

◼ On the other hand, the speed of reaching a solution

is very important. Even the most accurate decision or
diagnosis may not be useful if it is too late to apply,
for instance, in an emergency, when a patient dies or
a nuclear power plant explodes.
◼ Expert systems apply heuristics to guide the
reasoning and thus reduce the search area for a
solution.

◼ A unique feature of an expert system is its

explanation capability. It enables the expert system
to review its own reasoning and explain its
decisions.

◼ Expert systems employ symbolic reasoning when

solving a problem. Symbols are used to represent
different types of knowledge such as facts, concepts
and rules.
ES are appropriate in domains when/where:

 there are no established theories

 human expertise is scarce or in high
demand, but recognized experts exist
 the information is fuzzy, inexact or
incomplete
 the domain is highly specific
ES are not suitable when/where:

 applications are calculative or deterministic

in nature
 a formula or model exists
 human experts are plentiful
 not integrable into existing systems
 end users have to build the knowledge base
 Comparison of expert systems with
conventional systems and human
Human Experts experts
Expert Systems Conventional Programs
Use knowledge in the Process knowledge Process data and use
form of rules of thumb or expressed in the form of algorithms, a series of
heuristics to solve rules and use symbolic well-defined operations,
problems in a narrow reasoning to solve to solve general numerical
domain. problems in a narrow problems.
domain.
In a human brain, Provide a clear Do not separate
knowledge exists in a separation of knowledge knowledge from the
compiled form. from its processing. control structure to
process this knowledge.
Capable of explaining a Trace the rules fired Do not explain how a
line of reasoning and during a problem-solving particular result was
providing the details. session and explain how a obtained and why input
particular conclusion was data was needed.
reached and why specific
data was needed.
 Comparison of expert systems with
conventional systems and human experts
(Continued)
Human Experts Expert Systems
Use inexact reasoning and Permit inexact reasoning
can deal with incomplete, and can deal with
uncertain and fuzzy incomplete, uncertain and
information. fuzzy data.
Can make mistakes when Can make mistakes when
information is incomplete data is incomplete or
or fuzzy. fuzzy.
Enhance the quality of Enhance the quality of
problem solving via years problem solving by
of learning and practical adding new rules or
training. This process is adjusting old ones in the
slow, inefficient and knowledge base. When
expensive. new knowledge is
acquired, changes are
easy to accomplish.
Conventional Programs
Work only on problems
where data is complete
and exact.
Provide no solution at all,
or a wrong one, when data
is incomplete or fuzzy.
Enhance the quality of
problem solving by
changing the program
code, which affects both
the knowledge and its
processing, making
changes difficult.
Application areas include classification, diagnosis,
monitoring, process control, design, scheduling and
planning, and generation of options.
 Classification - identify an object based on stated
characteristics
 Diagnosis Systems - infer malfunction or disease from
observable data
 Monitoring - compare data from a continually observed
system to prescribe behaviour
 Process Control - control a physical process based on
monitoring
 Design - configure a system according to specifications
 Scheduling & Planning - develop or modify a plan of action
 Generation of Options - generate alternative solutions to a
problem
 Ali wants to go from KL to Sydney, Australia. His is a
member of the frequent flyer programme of MAS
 Departure: 1.04.2021 Return: 10.05.2021
 Possible solution
 Solution
 Flight MH434 KLIA – Indonesia- Sydney 1.04.2021 9 H 40
 Flight MH121 KLIA – Singapore – Sydney 1.04.2021 11 H 45
 Flight MH101 KLIA – Sydney 2.04.2021 9 H 30
 Flight MH123 KLIA- New Zealand 2.04.2021 16 H 20

 Rule 1
 IF the local flight is done by MAS company THEN plan the
international flight with this company
 Rule 2
 IF the customer is part of the frequent flyer programme of
company MAS and if this company has a flight to the customer's
destination THEN select a flight with this MAS company.
 There are various types of industrial robot that have been applied in
industries such as articulated robot, scara robot, gantry and Cartesian robot.
Each of those robots has their own specific and suitable task that others
cannot perform well due to some aspects e.g time consuming, ease to apply
etc. Among them, the articulated robot is the most popular used robot in
manufacturing even though the robot is complex than the other robot types.
The robot usually use it’s gripper to pick up things and perform several
tasks.

◦ You have been appointed as person in-charge to classify products to be packaged. Those products
have two shapes, one has round and the other one has cube shape. Apply the strategy rule to
ensure the gripper can hold firmly those products.

◦ Construct TWO (2) strategy rules for above problem.



◦ In each rule in (ii), list THREE (3) conditions, and ONE (1) expected experience.
This question is an open-ended question. Answer must consists of the following items.

 Consider strategy rule for development and design

 Two product shapes are clearly identified in the designed rules
 The designed rules must be acceptable & practical
 In each rule, there must be at least THREE(3) antecedents and has ONE(1) consequent
 An example of the answer is shown below:-

 IF the conveyor is running

 AND only the round shape product is available on the conveyor
 AND the size of product is same
 THEN move the gripper to the specific location


 IF the gripper has already in the specific location

 AND the product is arrived at the specific location
 AND the gripper is open
 THEN pick up the product
 AND put in the box provided


 Given the following fields, select an area that
you are most expert.
◦ Industrial application/manufacturing
◦ Robotics
◦ Oil & gas
◦ Troubleshooting in Electrical & Electronics
 Identify your problem domain and objectives.
 The expert system must have at least 2 rules.
(At least TWO antecedents and at least ONE
consequence)
 More notes:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/artificial_intelligence/artificial_intelligence_expert_systems.htm
ROBOTIC ARM
 Today’s contents and
achievements
2.2 Expert System development team
2.3 Rule-based expert system structure
2.4 Expert system characteristics

 LO1 : Able to understand the concept of

expert system
 LO2 : Able to understand the structure
of expert system development team
Achievements:CO1
Today contents and achievements
2.5 Forward and backward chaining
2.6 Conflict resolution

 LO1 : Able to determine the

forward and backward chaining
for a specific problem
Achievements:CO1, CO5
Forward chaining and
backward chaining
◼ Rule-based expert system IF
◼ domain knowledge is represented by a
set of IF-THEN production rules
◼ data : a set of facts about the current
situation.
◼ The inference engine compares each THEN
rule stored in the knowledge base with
facts contained in the database.
◼ When the IF (condition) part of the rule
matches a fact, the rule is fired and its Inference chain
THEN (action) part is executed. indicates how an
expert system
applies the rules to
reach a conclusion.
Available Inference

Data driven
Data Rule

MATCHING

GOAL!
Inference engine cycles via a match-fire
procedure

Database
Fact: A is x
Fact: B is y

Match Fir e

Knowledge Base

Rule: IF A is x THEN B is y
 An example of an inference
chain
Rule 1: IF Y is true
AND D is true
THEN Z is true
A X
Rule 2: IF X is true
AND B is true
B Y
AND E is true
Z
THEN Y is true
E D
Rule 3: IF A is true
THEN X is true
Forward chaining

◼ Forward chaining is the data-driven reasoning.

◼ The reasoning starts from the known data and
proceeds forward with that data.
◼ Each time only the topmost rule is executed.
◼ When fired, the rule adds a new fact in the database.
◼ Any rule can be executed only once.
◼ The match-fire cycle stops when no further rules
can be fired.
 Forward chaining

Database Database Database Database

A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E

X X L X L Y X L Y Z

Match Fire Match Fire Match Fire Match Fire

Knowledge Base Knowledge Base Knowledge Base Knowledge Base
Y&D Z Y&D Z Y&D Z Y&D Z
X&B&E Y X&B&E Y X&B&E Y X&B&E Y
A X A X A X A X
C L C L C L C L
L&M N L&M N L&M N L&M N

Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3

Forward chaining
◼ Forward chaining is a technique for gathering
information and then inferring from it whatever can
be inferred.

◼ However, in forward chaining, many rules may be

executed that have nothing to do with the
established goal.

◼ Therefore, if our goal is to infer only one particular

fact, the forward chaining inference technique would
not be efficient.
 Backward chaining

◼ Backward chaining is the goal-driven reasoning.

Characteristics;
◼ an expert system has the goal (a hypothetical solution) and the
inference engine attempts to find the evidence to prove it.

◼ First, the knowledge base is explored to find rules that might have
the desired solution. Such rules must have the goal in their THEN
(action) parts.

◼ If such a rule is found and its IF (condition) part matches data in

the database, then the rule is fired and the goal is proved.
◼ However, this is rarely the case.
 Backward chaining
◼ Thus the inference engine puts aside the rule it is
working with (the rule is said to stack) and sets up a
new goal, a subgoal, to prove the IF part of this rule.

◼ Then the knowledge base is searched again for rules

that can prove the subgoal.

◼ The inference engine repeats the process of stacking

the rules until no rules are found in the knowledge
base to prove the current subgoal.
 Backward chaining
Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 3
Database Database Database

AA BC
B C DE E
D AB
A B C
CD D EE A
AB B C
CD D EE

? ?

Z Y X
Knowledge Base Knowledge Base Knowledge Base
Y&D Z Y&D Z Y&D Z
X&B&E Y X & B &
X&B&E→Y EY X & B &
X&B&E→Y EY
A X A X A X
C L C L C L
L&M N L&M N L&M N
Goal:
Goal ZZ Sub-Goal:
Sub-Goal Y Y Sub-Goal:
Sub-Goal X X

Pass 4 Pass 5 Pass 6

Database Database Database

AB
A B CD
C D EE AC
A BB C DE
D E AC
A BB C DE
D E

X X Y X Y Z

Match Fire Match Fire Match Fire

Knowledge Base Knowledge Base Knowledge Base
Y&D Z Y&D Z Y&D Z
X&&B B
X & E&→EY
Y X&B&E Y X&B&E Y
A X A X A X
C L C L C L
L&M N L&M N L&M N
Sub-Goal X X
Sub-Goal: Sub-Goal Y Y
Sub-Goal: Goal ZZ
Goal:
Backward chaining
 How do we choose between forward
and backward chaining?
◼ If an expert first needs to gather some information
and then tries to infer from it whatever can be
inferred, choose the forward chaining inference
engine.

◼ However, if your expert begins with a hypothetical

solution and then attempts to find facts to prove it,
choose the backward chaining inference engine.
 More
Facts leads
condition
Look to the to many
Identify rule than
problem facts?
conlusion?

Determine
facts

Finding if
Finding one
Look into working where conclusion
knowledge/facts information is true when
leads no
information
 Conflict resolution
Earlier we considered two simple rules for
crossing a road. Let us now add third rule:

◼ Rule 1:
IF the ‘traffic light’ is green
THEN the action is go
◼ Rule 2:
IF the ‘traffic light’ is red
THEN the action is stop
◼ Rule 3:
IF the ‘traffic light’ is red
THEN the action is go
◼ We have two rules, Rule 2 and Rule 3, with the
same IF part. Thus both of them can be set fired
when the condition part is satisfied. These rules
represent a conflict set. The inference engine
must determine which rule to fire from such a set.
A method for choosing a rule to fire when more
than one rule can be fired in a given cycle is called
conflict resolution.
◼ In forward chaining, BOTH rules would be
fired. Rule 2 is fired first as the topmost
one, and as a result, its THEN part is
executed and linguistic object action
obtains value stop. However, Rule 3 is
also fired because the condition part of
this rule matches the fact ‘traffic light’ is
red, which is still in the database. As a
consequence, object action takes new
value go.
Methods used for conflict resolution
◼ Fire the rule with the highest priority. In simple
applications, the priority can be established by
placing the rules in an appropriate order in the
knowledge base. Usually this strategy works well for
expert systems with around 100 rules.

◼ Fire the most specific rule. This method is also

known as the longest matching strategy. It is based
on the assumption that a specific rule processes
more information than a general one.
◼ Fire the rule that uses the data most recently
entered in the database. This method relies on
time tags attached to each fact in the
database. In the conflict set, the expert system
first fires the rule whose antecedent uses the
data most recently added to the database.
Goal 1 . Prescription ?

RULE 1 Meningitis Prescription 1 RULE 2 Meningitis Prescription 2

(Priority 100) (Priority 90)
IF Infection is Meningitis IF Infection is Meningitis
AND The Patient is a Child AND The Patient is a Adult
THEN Prescription is Number_1 THEN Prescription is Number_2
AND Drug Recommendation is AND Drug Recommendation is Penicilin
Ampicilin AND Display Meningitis Prescription 2
AND Drug Recommendation is
Gentacimin
AND Display Meningitis Prescription 1
RULE 1
IF The season is autumn
AND The sky is cloudy
AND The forecast is rain
THEN the advice is “Stay at home”

RULE 2
IF the season is autumn
THEN the advice is “take an umbrella”
RULE 1
IF The forecast is rain [08:16 PM 03/10/13]
THEN the advice is “Take an umbrella“

RULE 2
IF The weather is wet [10:18 AM 03/11/13]
THEN the advice is “stay at home”
 Advantages of rule-based expert systems

◼ Natural knowledge representation. An expert usually

explains the problem-solving procedure with such
expressions as this: “In such-and-such situation, I
do so-and-so”. These expressions can be
represented quite naturally as IF-THEN production
rules.

◼ Uniform structure. Production rules have the

uniform IF-THEN structure. Each rule is an
independent piece of knowledge. The very syntax of
production rules enables them to be self-
documented.
Advantages of rule-based expert systems

◼ Separation of knowledge from its processing. The

structure of a rule-based expert system provides an
effective separation of the knowledge base from the
inference engine. This makes it possible to develop
different applications using the same expert system
shell.

◼ Dealing with incomplete and uncertain knowledge.

Most rule-based expert systems are capable of
representing and reasoning with incomplete and
uncertain knowledge.
Disadvantages of rule-based expert systems

◼ Opaque relations between rules. Although the

individual production rules are relatively simple and
self-documented, their logical interactions within
the large set of rules may be opaque. Rule-based
systems make it difficult to observe how individual
rules serve the overall strategy.
◼ Ineffective search strategy. The inference engine
applies an exhaustive search through all the
production rules during each cycle. Expert systems
with a large set of rules (over 100 rules) can be
slow, and thus large rule-based systems can be
unsuitable for real-time applications.
Disadvantages of rule-based expert systems

◼ Inability to learn. In general, rule-based expert

systems do not have an ability to learn from the
experience. Unlike a human expert, who knows when
to “break the rules”, an expert system cannot
automatically modify its knowledge base, or adjust
existing rules or add new ones. The knowledge
engineer is still responsible for revising and
maintaining the system.
 Example
MYCIN is the most famous and well known Expert System that is still used until today.
The role of MYCIN is to prescribe medicine for blood infection based on information
obtained from patients and through medical test. The program could request further
information concerning the patient, as well as suggest additional laboratory tests, to
arrive at a probable diagnosis, after which it would recommend a course of treatment.
Some of the rules used in the MYCIN is listed in Table 1.
i. Considering the condition in FACT BASE, name type of Expert System (ES)
applied for this problem? Explain why.
ii. Which rule is fired at the first iteration? What are the results of this rule?
iii. Show the process until there no more rules can be triggered. Give the result of each
cycle.
Today contents and achievements
2.5 Forward and backward chaining
2.6 Conflict resolution

 LO1 : Able to determine the

forward and backward chaining
for a specific problem
Achievements:CO1, CO5