AUTOMATION INTELLIGENCE

Fuzzy logic control is not a panacea, but it can play an important rol e in making automated processes more intelligent. Due to various compl exities in an industrial process, mathematical modelling can become qu ite difficult. However, a sufficient knowledge base might be available through past experience and knowledge concerning the process. If this knowledge base can be expressed as a set of linguistic protocols that contain fuzzy descriptors, there lies a quite favourable environment for applying fuzzy logic. When there exists a functional hierarchy wit hin the automated process, fuzzy logic control is particularly suitabl e for implementation at the upper levels, rather than for low-level di rect control. In addition to high-level control, fuzzy logic can be us eful in intelligent multi-agent control, autonomous robotics, intellig ent sensing and actuation, and also in the emerging discipline of Mech atronics. This paper investigates several applications of fuzzy logic in the context of intelligent or ''soft'' automation. This will set th e tone for the nine contributed papers on ''Control Applications of Fu zzy Logic'' which are included in this special issue.