Fuzzy logic control - from owning the problem to finding a good solution

Abstract

Summary form only given. The occasion of this presentation provides an opportunity to re visit the first application of fuzzy control to a model steam engine carried out back in 1972 - 30 years ago. That work was focused on a problem that was looking for a solution which ultimately resulted in the use of fuzzy rules. The presentation will describe how the rules can be seen as an embodiment of the ownership of the problem. The solution (FLC) came to be a technique in its own right that has been applied to a vast number of other problems. FLC as with many other novel applications has had its share of serendipity. Beyond the reminiscences, the presentation will try and look for some lessons that can be learnt. The theoretically inclined (who provide the solution designers with the mathematical help needed) and the problem owners, even while dealing with the same technique, have different aims and expectations and indeed inhabit different worlds. Yet they can come together to face the challenges of new problems and provide solutions which benefit us all.