History and recent trends in soft computing: research and application aspects in Japan

Japanese industrial research and applications in the field of soft computing that covers fuzzy logic, neurocomputing and chaos have been surveyed. In the middle of the 1980's in Japan fuzzy technology became a central issue for mainly process control and the year 1990 became a so called "fuzzy-home electronics year." These technologies are mainly based on if-then rule based fuzzy inference with instrumentation (i.e., sensor and actuator) engineering. Then neural network technology merged with fuzzy technology in 1991 and again many consumer products were sent to the real market in Japan. Such neuro-fuzzy technologies are classified into nine categories. In 1993 chaos technologies were included in research and development of such high-tech issues. Very recently other technologies such as chaos, genetic algorithms and artificial life have been investigated by company engineers in Japan. These kinds of practical, technological aspects in Japan are discussed and the future trends are also indicated by giving many examples.