A framework for hybrid intelligent systems

With the existing growth of information processing technology, there appear to be emerging two rival models of computation: one model spans conventional numeric and symbolic processing and the other the newer adaptive fuzzy forms of processing. With the realization that most complex real-world problems are not solvable by either model alone, there is great interest in combining the strengths of individual paradigms. However, there is very little support if any, for the development of flexible hybrid applications combining a number of intelligent techniques. To cover this gap, the European Community Project HANSA is developing a cross-platform, object-oriented framework that, in contrast to the few existing hybrid programming environments, offers the advanced programming and monitoring utilities easily available for neural networks, expert systems, and genetic algorithms