A Case Study of Case-Based CBR

David B. Leake, Andrew Kinley, and David Wilson. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1997. 12 pages.

Abstract

Case-based reasoning depends on multiple knowledge sources beyond the case library, including knowledge about case adaptation and criteria for similarity assessment. Because hand coding this knowledge accounts for a large part of the knowledge acquisition burden for developing CBR systems, it is appealing to acquire it by learning, and CBR is a promising learning method to apply. This observation suggests developing {\it case-based} CBR systems, CBR systems whose components themselves use CBR. However, despite early interest in case-based approaches to CBR, this method has received comparatively little attention. Open questions include how case-based components of a CBR system should be designed, the amount of knowledge acquisition effort they require, and their effectiveness. This paper investigates these questions through a case study of issues addressed, methods used, and results achieved by a case-based planning system that uses CBR to guide its case adaptation and similarity assessment. The paper discusses design considerations and presents empirical results that support the usefulness of case-based CBR, that point to potential problems and tradeoffs, and that directly demonstrate the overlapping roles of different CBR knowledge sources. The paper closes with general lessons about case-based CBR and areas for future research.

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