This article proposes an intelligent control scheme for automating the VCR
audio tuning process using genetic algorithms (GAs). Being a non-linear mul
timodal system, the process is difficult to automate by simple conventional
controllers. In the proposed control scheme, a new kind of GA structure, c
alled a genetic estimator, is used for estimating the unknown internal stat
e of the process and a simple integral controller is adopted to drive the p
rocess according to the estimated state. To adapt GA to the estimation prob
lem, the general procedure of the conventional GAs is modified in two aspec
ts: the reproduction strategy uses two different criteria (survival cost an
d parent cost) for natural selection and parent selection, and a new geneti
c operator is developed on the basis of the model of the process to generat
e offspring solutions more effectively. The performance of the proposed con
trol scheme was investigated via experiments, and the results obtained show
that the control scheme performs the task very well.