In this paper fuzzy set theory was applied to discrete event simulation to model uncertainty in input data. Various approaches to fuzzy simulation have been proposed in the literature, even if many of the problems are still to be solved. The key points are how to manage the simulation event list and how to update the fuzzy simulation clock. These two tasks are mainly based on the ranking algorithm. In the following, the classical algorithms were applied to rank temporal fuzzy sets and the results obtained were compared with the ones obtained by the proposed ranking algorithm. The comparison was performed by analyzing a simple case study in the manufacturing field. The results show how the new ranking algorithm can be very useful in a fuzzy simulation environment.

In this paper a solution to a manipulation control problem (target identification and grasping) using a real platform in combination with a vision system is proposed. The task for the end-effector is to approach a randomly placed spherical object of known size. The control law is approximated by using an approach based on fuzzy logic. The controller determines the parameters of the target (a spherical object acquired from the vision system mounted on the manipulator) using a vision algorithm. The fuzzy rules are built in a supervised approach after studying the behavior of the system. Experimental results obtained using an industrial manipulator (PUMA 560 with 6-DOF) are presented.