Publications / 1989 Proceedings of the 6th ISARC, San Francisco, USA

Sightplan: An Artificial Intelligence Tool to Assist Construction Managers with Site Layout

Iris D. Tommelein, Raymond E. Levitt, Barbara Hayes-Roth
Pages 340-347 (1989 Proceedings of the 6th ISARC, San Francisco, USA, ISSN 2413-5844)
Abstract:

SightPlan is an expert system that performs construction site layout. The system contains an explicit representation of the strategy it follows to construct a solution. Based on the assumption that the cognitive capabilities of ana agent have an impact on the strategy that agent follows during problem-solving, we decided to experiment with alternate strategies. We modeled one strategy after the way in which a construction field manager would lay out a site (the ‘Expert Strategy’), and we compared this model with a second one designed to make better use of the power provided by the computer (the ‘Computational Strategy’). The results of this experiment, the comparison of both models, and the implications of this research and are described in this paper. They allow us to conclude that AI-based computer programs assisting experienced managers in solving their task may result in better solutions than either the stand-alone machine or the individual person could obtain.

Keywords: No keywords