Rice cooker models available in the UK are usually non-Micom Fuzzy Logic models and if you take out the inner cooking pan and look inside the main body of the rice cooker, you will see a small round disk, about 1½" in diameter, in the centre of the heating plate. This is a thermal sensing device, known as a magnetic thermostat, and it sits on a small spring.

When rice and water is placed into the inner cooking pan and then put into the main body of the rice cooker, the weight of the inner cooking pan depresses the thermal sensor. With the rice cooker plugged in and the cooking switch turned on, the heating plate begins to heat up bringing the liquid in the cooking pan to a boil. Water boils at 212°F and no higher, so as long as there is water in the pan the rice cooker will continue to cook. When the rice absorbs all the water, the temperature will begin to rise since there isn't any water left in the pan. When the thermal sensor senses that the temperature has risen above 212°F, the machine turns off the heater automatically.

In more advanced models, such as the Zojirushi NS-LAQ05, NS-TGQ10, NS-TGQ18, NS-ZAQ10, NS-ZAQ18, NS-YSQ10 and NS-YSQ18 computer chip technology is introduced and the rice cooker automatically makes adjustments in temperature and cooking time depending upon the programme entered by the user. These cookers are called micom rice cookers because they are fitted with a micro-computer chip. The Zojirushi micom rice cookers have Neuro Fuzzy®, a registered trademark name coined by Zojirushi to indicate a rice cooker which utilises "fuzzy logic" through a micro computer chip to cook rice.

This computer chip is the brains of the unit, making the cooking of rice foolproof. Instead of the cooker simply switching on and off reacting to temperature, the rice cooker now makes small adjustments in temperature and cooking time according to what the thermal sensor senses. With fuzzy logic it means you can also have different programmes for the rice cooker which include cooking white, sweet (glutinous), brown rice and porridge (both rice and oat varieties of porridge). Additional features available with fuzzy logic models include cake baking function (on the NS-TGQ10/18), texture control of white rice so it is harder, softer or regular (on the NS-ZAQ10/18) and slow cook, GABA brown rice, 'premium' taste for white rice (on the NS-YSQ10/18)

The heating method known as Induction Heating (IH) occurs when a magnetic material is placed in a magnetic field. For example, coils within the bottom of the rice cooker create the magnetic field. When the aluminum non-stick inner cooking pan with stainless steel outer lining is placed into the rice cooker and the unit is activated, a magnetic field is generated to create instant heat. Through this technology, the inner cooking pan itself rather than the heating element becomes the heat source utilizing both high heat and fine heat adjustments to control the cooking process.

Induction Heating models use a lot more power than fuzzy logic models - for example, a 5½ cup fuzzy logic is a 570 - 610W machine whereas the same size Induction model is typically 1200W or more.