2nd International Workshop on Evolving Fuzzy Systems EFS'06, Ambelside, Lake District, 7-9 September 2006

今天的主要挑战是设计下一代智能系统，通过使用借鉴自然的计算方法，能够具有更高水平的灵活性和自主性。在基于进化和基于推理的系统比现有的自适应系统更灵活的十字路口上，一个新的领域正在出现，它通过为实时应用开发新的学习方法和计算高效的算法来针对复杂的过程。由于认识到这一领域日益重要，计算智能学会内的IEEE模糊系统技术委员会于2004年决定成立一个主要研究人员所属的工作队。该工作队在西班牙格拉纳达举办了第一期讲习班(2005年3月17日至19日)。现在，IEEE模糊系统学报正在准备一期关于同一主题的特刊。第一次研讨会决定在英国安贝赛德举办第二次关于进化模糊系统的研讨会。在这方面，处于该提案中心的研讨会是IEEE工作组组织的系列活动中的下一个，也是试图扩大其对更广泛受众的吸引力。这一新的新兴领域目前正在形成，拟议的研讨会将是一项重要活动，活跃在该领域的学术界和工业界的研究人员将在会上会面并讨论当前的成就、问题和未来方向。此次活动的召开正值全球范围内对能够在不可预测(可能是恶劣的)环境中高效运行而无需人为干预的自我开发系统的研究在全球范围内展开，并涉及几个重要应用领域，包括先进制造、航空航天、水下探索、国防、安全和监视等。主要在美国和远东(日本、台湾、新西兰)观察到重大进展。拟议的讲习班将有助于确保英国被公认为这一新兴领域的领先研究中心之一。此外，该研讨会将是在兰开斯特启动新的智能系统研究实验室的一个极好的平台，该实验室包括一些移动机器人。研讨会得到了诸如IEEE(计算智能学会和系统、人和控制论学会)、IFSA(国际模糊系统协会)、EUSFLAT(欧洲模糊系统与技术学会)等知名组织的技术支持，并将得到兰开斯特大学和通信系统系的支持。

The main challenge today is to design the next generation of intelligent systems that are able to have a higher level of flexibility and autonomy by using computational methods that borrow from Nature. A new area that is addressing these challenges is now emerging on the cross-roads of evolution-based and reasoning-based systems that are more flexible than existing adaptive systems.This emerging area of evolving fuzzy systems targets complex processes by developing novel learning methods and computationally efficient algorithms for real-time applications. In recognition of the growing importance of this area the IEEE Technical Committee on Fuzzy Systems within the Computational Intelligence Society decided in 2004 to set up a Task Force to which the Principal Investigator belongs. This Task Force had its First Workshop in Granada, Spain (17-19 March, 2005). A special issue on the same topic is now prepared by the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems. It was decided during the first Workshop to organize the second Workshop on Evolving Fuzzy Systems in Ambelside, UK. In this respect, the Workshop in the centre of this proposal is the next in the series organized by the IEEE Task Force and is also an attempt to broaden its appeal to a wider audience.This new emerging field is currently being shaped and the proposed Workshop will be an important event at which researchers from academia and industry active in this area will meet and discuss current achievements, problems and future directions. The event will take place at a moment in time when research on self-developing systems, that are capable of operating efficiently in unpredictable (possibly harsh) environment without human intervention, is intensively pursued world-wide and in relation to several important application areas including advanced manufacturing, aerospace, underwater exploration, defence, security and surveillance etc. Significant progress is mainly observed in the USA and the Far East (Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand). The proposed Workshop will help to ensure that the UK is recognized as one of the leading centres for research in this emerging area. In addition, the Workshop will be an excellent platform to launch the new Intelligent Systems Research Laboratory at Lancaster that includes a number of mobile robots. The Workshop is technically endorsed by such prestigious organizations as IEEE (Computational Intelligence Society and Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society), IFSA (International Fuzzy Systems Association), EUSFLAT (EUropean Society on Fuzzy Systems And Technology) and will be supported by Lancaster University and the Department of Communication Systems.