A Mixed-Mode Man-Machine Interface for Interactive Problem Solving

In the context of problem solving application, the multi-media environments offered by scientific and technical workstations may be used to realize an effective high level of cooperation between the expert and the problem solver. In this paper we build a framework for the design and the development of an intelligent man-machine interface that integrates multimedia workstations’ tools (3D graphics, animation, combination of voice and sound) for the realization of analogical and synthetical representation of the complex states of the resolution process. Such interface can provide visual presentation of complex concepts and as consequence on-line interactive evaluation and manipulation of search strategies of the resolution process. A three layered schema of interface architecture is presented and various issues on the mappings between layers are discussed. An experimental prototype of the proposed interface on APOLLO 10000 workstation is being developed at IASI in the framework of the ongoing EEC Project PONTIFEX. Moreover experiments on synthetical and analogical representations are carried on in the University of Rome and consequently a new perceptive experimentation methodology is turning out.