290 CHAPTER 8. APPLICATIONS
8.6 Comments...............................
The applications discussed in this chapterclearly illustrate the diversity of top-
ics that allow soft computing as a sure means for solving an otherwise difficult
problem. Color matching, trash identification in cotton, insect identification in
agricultural ecosystems, and control of thermoelectric cooling of laser materials
are all examples of highly nonlinear problems for which no other technology has
shown the potential of providing favorable solutions. Our goal in thisfinal chap-
ter has been to provide detailed discussions of how problems with no standard
mathematical model can be addressed with human-like reasoning. The exam-
ples and discussions are intended to motivate the reader to pursue solutions of
far more complex problems in thefields of medical diagnosis; socio-economic
forecasting; weather modeling and forecasting; biological and chemical identifi-
cation and detection; and a multitude of otherfields where human knowledge
can be transformed into ìmodelsî for machine learning. Adaptation and ro-
bustness ultimately dictate how well machines can perform human-like tasks
that may lead us toward the successful development and deployment of systems
with self-diagnostic and self-repair capabilities.