Using discrete event qualitative simulation as a knowledge acquisition tool

The automated acquisition of knowledge by machine has not lived up to expectations and knowledge engineering remains a human intensive task. Part of the reason for the lack of success is the difference in cognitive focus of the expert. The expert must shift their focus from the domain to that of the representation environment. In doing so, this shift of context introduces opportunity for errors and omissions. This paper presents work which provides the expert with a simulation domain in which they operate. The system then observes and logs the expert´s actions during the performance of the task. This is followed by the application of inductive reasoning to move the domain-specific rules observed to general domain rules