Creating user-intended programs with programming by demonstration

Abstract

Programming by Demonstration (PbD) is a new paradigm for the programming of devices (robots, household appliances, machines) or interactive sofrware (text or graphics editors). The system enables programming without explicit coding. As a prototype of a new PbDsystem, the m r a m m i n g by &monstration Graphics Editor ProDeGE+ with extendable domain theory, is introduced. The prototype illustrates how generalizedfunctions can be generated based on a set of action sequences that are demonstrated in an inferactive system. Additional interactions with users (Dialog-Based Learning) help to reduce the hypothesis space of the PbD system. This can help to ensure that the generatedfunction is the same as the user-intendedfunction. Finally, the new approach enables users to extend the domain theory of the graphics editor using PbD so that they have an opportunity to reduce the limits of the given domain theory while the system is in use.

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“…The RPD system presented does not only provide automated inner induction, but supports these steps by user interaction. This is similar to approaches in the graphics editor domain (Maulsby & Witten, 1993;Cypher, 1991;Sassin, 1994) or learning agents (Bocionek & Sassin, 1993;Bocionek, 1995). It results in safer robot programs that more probably meet the user's intention.…”

“…The RPD system is using interaction (see section 4) with the user to ensure that the user-intended loops and branches are induced. The only other approaches to use additional interactions to ensure a program structure that meets the user's intention are implemented as part of the ProDeGE+ graphics editor (Sassin, 1994) or Metamouse (Maulsby & Witten, 1993).…”

Bringing Programming by Demonstration to CAD Users

“…In the fields where some visual appearance may be assigned to variable values, direct manipulation of these values allows implicit programs design. SmallStar (Halbert 1984) for iconic desktop programming, Peridot (Myers 1993), Garnet (Myers et al 1990], Macros by Example (Olsen and Dance 1988) for UIMS programming, KidSim (Cypher and Smith 1995) for simulation, WYSIWYC Spreadsheet (Wilde 1993), Geometer's Sketchpad (Jackiw and Finzer 1993), and ProDeGE+ (Sassin 1994) in drawing systems have proven in different fields the validity of this approach. Despite this success, most systems seem to be mainly at a prototype stage.…”

“…Afterward, the CAD system is able to replay the constructive logic, possibly with new input values. The internal representation of programs may be textual, but it is more generally based on data structures 1994;Solano & Brunet 1994) such as directed acyclic graphs (Cugini, Folini, and Vicini 1988). The Pro-Engineer system (Parametric Technology Inc.) is the most popular example of this approach.…”

Robot programming by Demonstration (RPD): Supporting the induction by human interaction

“…As a way to overcome this problem we propose dialog-based learning (DBL) (Bocionek & Sassin, 1993), a means to engage the demonstrating person in the induction process by question&answer dialogs that may be initiated by the RPD system as well as by the person. The usefulness of DBL has already been shown in other PbD domains in which--based on only few examples--functions for graphics editors (Sassin, 1994) and personal assistance software (Bocionek, 1995) could be learned (induced).…”