In this study, we revisit the well-known notion of fuzzy state machines and discuss their development through learning. The systematic development of fuzzy state machines has not been pursued as intensively as it could have been expected from the breadth of the possible usage of them as various modelling platforms. We concentrate on the generalization of the well known architectures exploited in Boolean system synthesis, namely Moore and Mealy machines and show how these can be implemented in terms of generic functional modules such as fuzzy JK flip-flops and fuzzy logic neurons (AND and OR neurons) organized in the form of logic processors. It is shown that the design of the fuzzy state machines can be accomplished through their learning. The detailed learning algorithm is presented and illustrated with a series of numeric examples. The study reveals an interesting option of constructing digital systems through learning: the original problem is solved in the setting of fuzzy state machines and afterwards "binarised" into the two-valued format realized via the standard digital hardware.