Teaching Procedures in Humans and Robots

Abstract

Analysis of the structure of procedures is central to the foundations of problem soling. In this paper we explore three principle means for teaching procedures: telling, canned loops, and procedural abstraction. The most straightforward way to teach a procedure is by telling how to accomplish it in a high level goal-oriented language. In the method of canned loops the control structure that is needed for the procedure is supposed and the procedure is deduced. In the method of procedural abstraction the procedure is abstracted from protocols of the procedure on examples.