Fuzzy Chips Detail:

At present, simple every day microprocessors are used and fuzzy logic software is designed for specific applications. However AT&T's Bell Laboratory has demonstrated the reality of dedicated fuzzy logic processor chips. Also there is much talk of combining fuzzy logic with neural network computing in efforts to mimic the human brain responses. Prospects for a fuzzy future appear bright and exciting.

Fuzzy products use both microprocessors that run fuzzy inference algorithms and sensors that measure changing input conditions. Fuzzy chips are microprocessors designed to store and process fuzzy rules. In 1985, Masaki Tojai and Hiroyuki Watanabe, then working at AT&T Bell Laboratory, built the first digital fuzzy chip. It processed 16 simple rules in 12.5 microseconds, a rate of 0.08 million fuzzy logical inferences per second.

Currently the most important manufacturer of fuzzy control hardware and software outside Japan is Togai Infra Logic Inc., a software company whose main products are a development system for efficient fuzzy control applications ( based on standard microprocessors) ad special fuzzy accelerator boards. Togai Infra Logic is the only North American company producing a fuzzy logic computer chip set. Using this set, graphics and language software, programmers can write fuzzy rules for control or analysis systems. A Togai designed system is used in Mitsubishi's air conditioner and other products.