A Research Study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Research Studies Project Report (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1985

The possibility of representing frame knowledge in logic programming was investigated. A program using Prolog-1 language incorporating frame ideas to recognize simple blocks was made. Three blocks were considered: triangular pyramid, cube and hexagonal prism. For each block, three views were chosen for complete object i.e. front, top and isometric views. A dimetric view for the cube was also considered in addition to the three views. Hidden portions for cube and hexagonal prism were tested and a reconstruction of the hidden parts was made, then the complete unknown object was recognized. The identified parts of the block were matched with the pre-stored information in the frame. The program was able to recognize successfully all the views of the blocks considered. The only difficulty encountered with Prolog-1 in implementing the system was its lack of memory space needed for numerical calculations. It also had a limited number of variables per rule and stacks. A cut predicate to inhibit backtracking that causes space to be used up was used to solve the problem of memory space and trimcore system predicate was called upon to do garbage collection. Except for these, Prolog-1 was successfully used as a medium in logic programming using frames which was found to be a powerful tool for representing knowledge.