An Experiment in Linguistic Synthesis with a Fuzzy Logic Controller

This paper describes an experiment on the “linguistic” synthesis of a controller for a model industrial plant (a steam engine). Fuzzy logic is used to convert heuristic control rules stated by a human operator into an automatic control strategy. The experiment was initiated to investigate the possibility of human interaction with a learning controller. However, the control strategy set up linguistically proved to be far better than expected in its own right, and the basic experiment of linguistic control synthesis in a non-learning controller is reported here.