CASE-BASED REASONING - A REVIEW

Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a relatively recent problem solving technique that is attracting increasing attention. However, the number of people with first-hand theoretical or practical experience of CBR is still small. The main objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject to people new to CBR. The paper outlines the development of CBR in the US in the 1980s. It describes the fundamental techniques of CBR and contrasts its approach to that of model-based reasoning systems. A critical review of currently available CBR software tools is followed by descriptions of CBR applications both from academic research and, in more detail, three CBR systems that are presently being used commercially. Each of the three commercial case studies highlights features that made CBR particularly suitable for the application. Moreover, the last case study describes a development methodology for implementing CBR systems. The paper concludes with a research agenda for CBR. A detailed categorized bibliography of CBR research is provided in a companion paper (Marir & Watson, 1994).