Development of an expert system for diagnosing component-level failures in a shuttle car

The development of a rule-based expert system, called SCAR for assisting electricians in diagnosing electrical faults in a shuttle car is discussed. Insight 2+, a microcomputer-based expert-system development tool, was used in creating the system. The program requires the user to specify the initial symptoms of the failed machine, and the most probable cause of failure is traced through the knowledge base, with the software requesting additional information such as voltage or resistance measurements as needed. A causal-reasoning approach, which was used to develop the production rules, is described. The organization, implementation, and limitations of the knowledge base are also presented, along with a brief discussion of the ongoing development of a new system SCAR.2.<>