Combining rules and state objects in a configuration expert system

The authors have designed and implemented an expert system in the area of mechanical design that combines the rule-based paradigm of problem solving with a paradigm based on on search in a state space. KONEX uses the state space to represent intermediate designs and applies production rules to move to successor states. The authors have developed strategies to keep the search space at a manageable size. The search tree is expanded incrementally and the number of nodes is reduced at each step. The authors describe the domain in which KONEX operates, i.e. the domain of CNC-machines. They then concentrate on how states are represented by control-objects. The advantages of using state spaces with nodes describing partial designs are illustrated with a concrete example