TIL and Siemens cooperation results in fuzzy consumer appliances

A fuzzy washing machine and vacuum cleaner resulting from the TIL and Siemens 
cooperative agreement were introduced at the Domotechnica fair in Cologne, 
Germany in February 1993.  The Domotechnica is a bi-annual household appliance 
convention attracting some 65,000 visitors. 

The new Siemens fuzzy washing machine, Siwamat 3773, is one of the earliest 
products of the TIL and Siemens cooperative agreement.  The Siwamat 3773 shows 
its intelligence particularly when it comes to spinning poorly balanced loads.  
This is not an easy task since European washing machines use a horizontal axis 
of rotation.  Due to conflicting standards and expectations it would be 
impossible to design a washing machine which equally suited the European, U.S. 
and Japanese markets.

The 3773 washing machine uses two fuzzy classification systems, one for washing 
and rinsing motion and one for various aspects of spinning motion.  Inputs for 
these classification systems are load and imbalance information.  The 
classification system in the 3773 uses TIL's MicroFPL product, which is a
fuzzy processing kernel for microcontrollers.  The application was developed 
using the TILShell, an object-based, graphical window software development 
environment for fuzzy expert systems.  Using TIL development tools, Siemens 
estimates that the product development cycle was shortened by several months.  
The Siemens 3773 washing machine will be available in stores throughout Europe 
beginning in April 1993.

A prototype of the Siemens fuzzy vacuum cleaner was also introduced at 
Domotechnica.  The vacuum cleaner, also demonstrated at the FUZZ-IEEE'93 
Conference, is comprised of control circuits for dust sensing (selecting the 
suction level), suction stabilization and motor temperature limitation.  Some
of this control relies on custom fuzzy software from TIL.  The vacuum cleaner 
contains a "Fuzzy Sliding Mode" controller, designed and fine-tuned by Siemens 
and implemented (assembler-coded) by TIL.  The target suction was established 
with less deviation.  The quality of control achieved is superior to the best 
available conventional control.
