Implementation Examples of Crucial Functional Components of Cognitive Automation

Abstract

Referring to the functional framework in Figure 30 for human cognition shown in Chapter 3.2.4 and the process of artificial cognition in an ACU described in Chapter 4.2.1 some implementation examples of crucial functional components of cognitive automation will be presented in more detail in the following. The choice of these implementation examples is made in a way to

• 1 include, from the historical point of view, some milestones about developments of models of human cognition which can be considered as important ones recent or current developments are based on in one or the other way.

• 2 exemplifying that about all functional aspects, as indicated in the functional framework of Figure 30, are included in these implementation examples. The low-level functions will not be covered, since we focus on software approaches in this book. This does not imply any constraint, though. We hope that the reader may appreciate at this point that we rely chiefly on implementations which were carried out in our own laboratories.

• 3 make sure that the realisation of an implementation is in fact feasible and powerful enough to achieve work system enhancements as theoretically claimed. In that sense the examples presented have not necessarily to belong to the status of latest achievements in implementation methods. These are anyway permanently in progress.

• 4 mainly focus on knowledge management as the central process of cognition. Methods and techniques which might also be important for the design of cognitive automation like those for perceptual processing, also including sensing and data fusion, or management of data bases are not be covered in the following.

The order of presenting the examples of component implementations, which will be presented in the following, is essentially chosen from a bottom-up perspective. About all of them are covering more than one cell of the array shown in the functional framework of Figure 30. That means that lower-level functions as enablers and behaviourally lower levels come prior to higher-level functions and higher-level behaviour. It turns out that there is at least one implementation example associated to each cell of functional and behavioural levels concerned. Furthermore, it should be kept in mind that, in the first place, all high-level functions from skill-based through concept-based behaviour, which are essentially identical to those of ACUs, are determined by the a-priori knowledge to be represented and implemented. Therefore, the knowledge management is the main issue of the following implementation examples.