A criticism-based model for cooperative problem solving

Several large design problems in civil engineering belong to the class of complex generative tasks whose solutions depend upon the cooperative participation of multiple specialists. Recent attention has turned to development of knowledge-based design models that address the issues involved in integrating the contributions of participating specialists. The central issue involved in developing such integrated models is the establishment of proper communication between the interacting agents. Design criticism is a powerful means of communication in multidomain problem solving. This paper presents a conceptual model for cooperative problem solving that uses design criticism to incorporate multidisciplinary viewpoints during the evolution of a solution. In this model, the design process is decomposed into a set of levels of abstraction. Each level of abstraction comprises a three-stage process of synthesis, criticism and modification. The knowledge representation and inferencing requirements for each of these stages are discussed. The paper also proposes that the same critiquing methodology can also be used for evaluating and ranking design alternatives. The architecture of a prototype system for the integrated design of multistorey buildings has been presented, based on this problem solving model. © 1993.