APPROACHES TO COUPLING CONNECTIONIST AND EXPERT-SYSTEMS IN INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING

Artificial neural networks are successfully applied in different field s of manufacturing, mostly where multisensor integration, robustness, real-timeness, and learning abilities are needed. Since the higher lev els of the control and the monitoring hierarchy require symbolic knowl edge representation and processing techniques, the integrated use of t he symbolic and subsymbolic approaches is straightforward The paper de scribes two hybrid artificial intelligence systems for control and mon itoring of manufacturing processes on different hardware and software bases, The first experiences gained by their usage are outlined. Final ly, further possible applications of these hybrid solutions in an inte lligent manufacturing environment are enumerated. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.