Abstract: A microwave oven including a defrosting step in which a target which must be heated is irradiated with microwaves which are irregular in terms of time at least when the phase of water in the target is shifted from a solid body to liquid. The microwave oven includes a magnetron for generating microwaves for dielectrically heating a target which must be heated; and a waveguide through which microwaves generated by the magnetron are propagated into a heating chamber, wherein a defrosting process is performed in such a manner that microwaves which are irregular in terms of time and which are in a chaos state are propagated through the waveguide at least when the phase of water in the target is shifted from a solid body to liquid.

Abstract: A cooking apparatus such as a rice cooker includes means for obtaining a value or a combination of values indicative of an amount of food that is to be cooked, and a fuzzy inference section for operating on that value or combination of values to determine a level of heating power to be supplied to a heater element of the apparatus, during at least one part of the cooking process. The amount-indicating value can be obtained for example as a rate of change of temperature of the food while it is being heated to boiling point. The apparatus can further be configured to determine a plurality of cooking control parameters, by fuzzy inference operation, based on a specified degree of final hardness of the cooked food, which can be selectively inputted by the user.

Abstract: A vacuum cleaner with fuzzy control comprises a detector for detecting condition of sucking of dust, such as an amount of dust, a kind of dust and/or a kind of a surface of a floor to be cleaned. A fuzzy inference section responsive to the condition of sucking of dust determines an appropriate sucking force and controls the vacuum cleaner's sucking force through fuzzy inference.