Key Words: Artificial intelligence; expert systems; industrial automation; operation control; predictive maintenance.
Abstract. Expert systems were the first field at the dawn of artificial intelligence, in the mid-20th century. They also represent the first real practical applications in areas such as the synthesis of chemical compounds, healthcare, and computer system design, thanks to their remarkable ability to mimic human abilities for logical inference in the presence of in-depth expert knowledge. Industrial automation, in turn, reached a high level of development in the 1980s, but technological innovations posed a number of new problems, the solution of which by applying expert systems proved to be a suitable alternative in combination with the significant achievements of computing and control theory. This synergy of rapidly developing fields is particularly productive currently in the era of exponentially advancing artificial intelligence technologies, part of which are expert systems. The paper examines the features and capabilities of a large number of modern industrial automation systems with the integration of expert systems and artificial intelligence modules. Particular emphasis is placed on expanding the scope of industrial automation with the inclusion of predictive maintenance of the technical condition of technological objects as an important part of the operational management of objects from “end to end”. The main challenges and unresolved problems of the application of expert systems in industrial automation are examined with confidence in the possibilities for realizing their potential.
