Environment KEE
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Knowledge Engineering Environment KEE KEE from Intellicorp is the most widely used of the high-end expert system development shells. It is available on Symbolics, Xerox and Texas Instru- ments Artificial Intelligence workstations, Apollo, DEC and Sun worksta- tions,DEC VAX mini computers and 80386-based IBM PC-compatible computers. It provides a powerful and sophisticated development environ- ment, offering hierarchical object representation of data and rules, partitioning of the rulebase, an inference engine providing agenda-driven chaining in addition to backward and forward chaining, and a Truth Maintenance System for what-if and assumption-based reasoning. It offers a suite of development tools, such as specialized structured editors and several methods to build the data structures, induding menus and an English-like construction language. A sophisticated graphics toolkit allows the creation of user interfaces which canbe directly driven by the data values in the knowledge base. KEE has facilities to call the C language, direct two-way communication with SQL-based database systems (through KEEConnection) and on IBM PCs and compatibles the ability to call on PC applications, datafiles and resources. A distributed processing version ofKEE, called Rim-TimeKEE, allows a host VAX computer to support KEE applications whose interfaces reside on PC terminals. Intellicorp also offers SIMKIT, an object-oriented simulation package built on KEE which integrates simulation and expert systems. James Martin 1988 KEE/ 1 Functionality Matrix CD IBM Mainframe Environment DEC Environment PC Environment Micro-to-Mainframe Link MF&PC Implementation ujW CD LAN Support cc _| 2 High-End Workstations 50< Other Al Workstations o 9_ Machines 5 > LISP S 2 CD LISP Co-Processor x UJ BS_ Hooks to External Sequential Files Hooks to Mainframe DBMS: R/W to File UJ Hooks to Non-IBM Mini DBMS: R/W to File O □ Hooks to PC DBMS/Spreadsheets -32. Hooks to Procedural Languages coy CD Security Forward Chaining Backward Chaining UJ Agendas O r_!_ u_ w Multiple Agendas cc 2 Demons ES 5 Flexibility of Conflict Resolution *(_ Inductionfrom Example Data UJ 5 O Flexibility of Rule Languages Q 5 Flexibility and Types ofFacts UJ 5 Flexibilityof Frames 3 Object-Oriented Language Confidence Factors * 4 InferenceTrace cc 3 Knowledge Base Entry v 4 Compiler/Interpreter 2 5 Breakpoints UJ pJ 5 Knowledge Tree Cv o Data Dictionary OP 4 Screen Generation cc 3 Reports and Forms Generator UJ 4 Data Editor ?!_. 2 Natural Language DO Interface 2 O 5 Advanced Query Language UJ P ■I full function EH partial function 5 optimal -> 1 minimal O not available 2/KEE © 1988 James Martin CD CL CO Product Information Software KEE Version 3.0 for workstations KEE Version 3.0 for 80386-based IBM-compatible PCs KEEConnection SimKit " Run-Time KEE KEE Versions 1.0 & 2.0 and Intelliscope are no longer sold. Pricing KEE Version 3.0 (workstations) $46,500 academic price $9,250 KEE Version 3.0 (386 PCs) $9,900 KEEConnection $15,500 (varies with hardware) academic price $5,000 SimKit $21,000 academic price $4,125 Run-TimeKEE (single-user workstation) $5,000 Pricing varies, depending on number of licenses purchased, and indudes 3-9 days training for 2 persons and one year's support. Support services indude standard consultants, senior scientist consultants and/or apprenticeship training (4 weeks). Hardware all 80386-based IBM PC-compatible computers IBMPC RT Symbolics 36XX series Xerox 1100 series Sun 3 workstations Apollo Domain workstations TI Explorer I and II DEC VAX series MicroVAX II workstations For more informationon KEE, KEEConnection & SimKit, contact: Intellicorp 1975El Camino Real West Mountain View, California 94040-2216 U.S.A. Telephone: 415-965-5500 © James Martin 1988 KEE/3 Table of Contents The Martin Report View ofthe Product 5 Product Overview 7 \. Product Environment 9 j Product Components 10 _ Knowledge Representation 16 j Developer Interface 24 \ User Interface 26 i' j Documentation & Support 28 f Product Strengths 28 Product Limitations 29 4 /KEE © 1988 James Martin The Martin Report View ofthe Product Technology Development Intellicorp's Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) is a sophisticated Environment expert system shell that has migrated from high-end AI workstations to micro computers, general-purpose workstations and VAX mini computers. The complete KEE development environment is now available on 386 PCs for about 1/4 the cost of the AI workstation version and within the mid- range of expert system shell prices. It is one of the richest expert system shell environments, providing the user with a broad range of knowledge representation and inferencing mechanisms, as well as an unusuallypower- ful graphics interfacing capability. It has some of the most powerful and flexible development support available. KJ__E's chief weakness is its lack of full integration with MIS systems, althoughrecent extensions are beginning to overcome the problem. Intellicorp offers a powerful linkbetween SQL- based database management system andKEE, allowing partial integration into the MIS environment. C language calls are available on some hardware for access to MIS applications. KEE applications can be very portable ifthe developer restricts the application to the tools provided within the KEE environment and avoids use of lISP. The only platform dependencies of the KEE environment are screen sizes, fonts and any LISP usedby the application developer. Functionality KEE supports a variety ofknowledge representation including facts, rules, objects, demons andprocedural code. TheKEEWorlds truth maintenance system allows a user to efficiently build expert systems in domains that other shells would not support well, such as planning, scheduling, what-if analysis and any problem that includes independent subproblems. The agenda-driven inference engine and rule clauses allow much greater separation of data (rules, facts and frames) and control (how and when to applyrules) than other shells. It supports the forward andbackward chain- ingfound in other shells in fact, several types of each. Finally, the agenda architecture enables— the easy construction of a blackboard architec- ture for control. Several types of problems can be solved well usingblack- board architectures, notable signal and data interpretation applications. Developer The developer interface is flexible, offering several ways of building the Interface expert system, ranging from pseudo-English commands, to mouse with graphic icons and menus, to IISP-likefunctions. It can, therefore, accom- modate any userfrom a relative novice to an AI and LISP expert. However, KEE requires more training than do most other shells for effective use of the myriad features it contains. KEE has excellent tracing facilities that allow monitoring of not onlyrule execution, but also of changes to the data values in frames. The changes can be shown as graphic images, such as dials or gauges. It allows the changing of data values at breakpoints in the execution and the addition or deletionof facts. © James Martin 1988 KEE/5 The PC version ofKEE requires a substantial amount of memory. Intellicorp recommends that the 386-based PC version be run with 10MB ofRAM and a 100MB hard disk. The complexity ofKEE causes some loss of efficiency, even on AI workstations. Some users have felt it runs slowly. Comparison The expert system developer can use KEE to develop either an expert, -with Trends stand-alone, decision-making system; a specialized advice-giving assistant to an expert; or a simulation system for exploring alternatives. TheKEE explanation facilities do not, however, provide the depth of explanation representation necessary to easily build good educationor training systems orfor building good second opinion, advice-giving systems. Although the knowledge representation inKEE provides more than enough sophistica- tion to represent the domains of such systems, the support of explanation facilities is meager, providing only traces of a system's deductions or the sequence ofrule firing. It does not provide a facility for automatically providing even "canned" English text to explain the reasoning behind a rule (much less a more sophisticated explanation). Strategy Genetic TheKnowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) from Intellicorp is an Engineering integrated development facility for building andrunning expert By-Product systems. Developed in 1983by IntelliGenetics Inc. as a general purpose tool to help build expert systems, KEE was a by-product of their experience developing their first product, a genetic engineering AI system. The genetic engineering part of the company has been sold, making KEE and related products the sole focus of Intellicorp. TheKEE system is now in use at over 250 sites. Additional The initialKEE product was introduced in 1983 on high-powered AI work- Products stations such as the Symbolics LISP Machine and the Xerox AI worksta- tion. Intellicorp introduced KEE on the TI Explorer in early 1985 and by the end of 1985 had announced two additional products to extend itself beyond the AI workstation market ~ SimKit and the PC-Host delivery sys- tem. SimKit took advantage of the object-oriented model underlyingKEE to implement a simulationbuilding package that is easily integrated into a KEE expert system. Intellicorp also showed, with PC-Host, that it understood customers' need for integration of expert systems with their traditional computing environment. PC-Host allows KEE to run as a delivered product in a distributed fashion, with