TOKYO, February 14, 2018 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it has developed a technology that uses model-based artificial intelligence (AI) to control equipment autonomously. The technology of Maisart* proprietary AI constructs models of the equipment through repeated trial and error and then learns control rules based on these models. In a demonstration using a circular maze where the objective is to drive a ball to the center of the maze by tipping and tilting the maze, the technology successfully learned how to drive the ball to the goal without the need for human programming. Mitsubishi Electric's new technology, which is still under development, is expected to significantly reduce the cost and time needed to develop control programs in the future.

* Mitsubishi Electric's AI creates the State-of-the-ART in Technology

Using model-based AI, the technology learns control rules automatically to reduce the cost and time of system development. A state space model of the particular system's dynamics is learned through repeated trial and error, based on which the technology automatically learns control rules needed to reach pre-defined goals. Manual program development by humans to teach proper control actions becomes unnecessary, which helps to reduce the time and cost of developing control programs.

Going forward, Mitsubishi Electric will continue to develop the technology by adding increased AI capability to improve the speed and accuracy of autonomous learning. It will also employ 3D simulations of the controlled equipment to significantly decrease the time required to learn control methods.