THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ON-SCREEN PROGRAMMABLE FUZZY TOY ROBOT

An alternative approach to controlling a fuzzy toy robot named WAO III [1], one of the Kahomusen's products, is investigated. We develop som e graphical interfaces to provide the on-screen programming and other demonstration functions. Actuated by the assembly of mechanical gears and direct-current motors, the originally designed fuzzy robot has pro blem in the proper operation of motors due to the impedance between ge ars and the decrease of battery voltage. This paper thus tries to appl y the fuzzy set theory to solving the embedded problems in the fuzzy r obot such that the users can better control the robot. Instead of just using the bottons on the panel board to control the fuzzy robot, the newly designed interfaces give the users an alternative to operate the fuzzy robot. The newly designed interfaces allow us to directly progr am the robot and adjust the membership functions on the screen. This m eans that the proposed work is more convenient for the users to progra m the commands and to adjust the membership functions by mouse. Some o f the designed interfaces are shown to illustrate the easy programming characteristics of the presented work. Alphanumeric characters drawn by the robot are also given to demonstrate the writing capability of t he designed fuzzy robot. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.