SnePS_R—A SNePS with resources

Abstract

We present an evolution of SNePS, the SnePS_R (from SNePS with resources) knowledge representation/reasoner system. SnePS_R is an intelligent resource-bounded reasoner that allows several resource spending strategies. Since no a priori commitments are made about the way resources are spent, the process of consuming resources can be used to model non-omniscient, non-exhaustive reasoners. SnePS_R combines the introduction of resources with the capability to produce conditional answers, which explicitly reveals the impediments that are responsible for the absence of a definite answer. SnePS_R avoids two problems that most of the programs, trying to behave intelligently, suffer from: (1) never take into account the fact that reasoning resources are limited; (2) remain silent whenever a definite answer cannot be produced. After briefly presenting how the characteristics that distinguish SNePS_R have been incorporated into SNePS we present some case studies of interactions with SNePS_R demonstrating some of the system's features.

Keywords:

• semantic networks
• abduction
• resource-bounded reasoning explanation