inControl

Outline 00:00 - Intro 00:58 - Early steps… in physics! 05:17 - AI in Edinburgh 08:00 - Connectionism 10:37 - Robot learning 19:02 - Imitation learning 23:00 - On pursuing a PhD 24:45 - Californian chronicles 30:10 - Modularity 33:20 - Challenges in robot learning 39:44 - Dexterous manipulation 43:52 - Dynamical systems 47:37 - Combining ML and control 51:25 - Human-robot interaction 54:24 - Safety...

Outline 00:00 - Intro 01:33 - Starling Flock Formations 07:17 - Harvesters ants in the desert 16:54 - Decision making in the natural world and opinion dynamics  32:08 - A geometric look at political polarization 36:50 - Control theory and dancing 53:25 - CreativeX 55:25 - On creativity 57:47 - Advice to future students Links Andrea Cavagna - http://tinyurl.com/uywn592j Irene Giardina - http://tiny...

Outline 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Dancing and control theory 03:31 - Geometric control on Lie groups 09:14 - Underwater vehicles and geometric mechanics 18:45 - On the Hamiltonian framework 21:25 - Underwater field experiments in Monte Rey Bay 36:27 - Collective motion and coordination in animal groups 54:40 - Honeybees and bifurcation theory 1:03:36 - Outro Links Naomi’s website: http://tinyurl.com/j...

Outline 00:00 - Intro 00:47 - Mind the gap (metric) 03:16 - Moment problems and Nevanlinna interpolation 06:53 - “Everything relates to everything else” 11:27 - Distances between power spectra  16:08 - Optimal mass transport and Schrödinger bridges 32:25 - Sinkhorn iteration and Wasserstein geometry 37:45 - Color of turbulence 41:38 - Thermodynamics and energy harvesting from heat baths 55:01 - Qu...

Outline 00:00 - Intro 01:50 - Running marathons  05:19 - The Center 13:28 - On creativity 15:24 - From algebraic system theory to moment problems 43:39 - The gap metric 58:33 - The longstanding friendship and collaboration with M. Smith 01:11:30 - On causality and the arrow of time  Links Tryphon’s website: https://georgiou.eng.uci.edu/ People in control interview: https://tinyurl.com/4nw5s9p6 R....

In this episode, we dive into the world of flying robots with Davide Scaramuzza (University of Zürich), a leading expert in vision-based navigation, agile drone racing, perception-aware control, and the cutting-edge neuromorphic technology of event cameras. We explore the challenges of autonomous navigation in GPS-denied environments, the excitement of drone racing, the future of robotics, and the...

In this episode, we chat with Cleve Moler, a pioneer in numerical mathematics,  creator of MATLAB and co-founder of MathWorks. We cover the birth of MATLAB, along with captivating stories about the origin of the iconic MathWorks logo, the enigmatic "why" command, the concept of "embarrassingly parallel computations," and the mysterious Pentium bug, among other. Outline 00:00 -...

In this episode, we chat again with John Doyle about the frontiers of control theory. Starting from the fascinating interplay between bacteria, physics, and the Internet, we explore the universal laws that govern complex systems. We discuss the inner workings of phenomena like earthquakes, wildfires, and sepsis, emphasizing the vital role of control theory in understanding intrinsic tradeoffs and...

In this episode, we sit down with John Doyle, a living legend in the field of robust control, to delve into his incredible journey in control theory. We explore his past at MIT and Honeywell, his time at Berkeley, and his journey through the golden age of robustness. From his groundbreaking work on margins of systems, \mu synthesis, and the H_\infty problem, to his insights on System Level Synthes...

In this episode, our guest is Mustafa Khammash. Mustafa is the director of the Control Theory and Systems Biology Lab at ETH Zürich and guides us in this episode as we explore Cybergenetics - the cutting-edge intersection of control theory and synthetic biology. From biomolecular control to antithetic motifs, we discuss real-world applications and ethical dilemmas. Don't miss it! Outline 00:0...

In this episode, our guest is Stephen Boyd. Stephen is the Samsung Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University.  Join as we dive deep into control, convex optimization, linear matrix inequalities, disciplined convex programming, teaching styles, and... rock & roll sound! Outline - 00:00 - Intro - 07:48 - Early years at Berkeley  - 10:25 - The role of theory in practice - 16:1...

Our guest in this episode is Rodolphe Sepulchre, Professor of Engineering at KU Leuven in the Deparment of Electrical Engineering ( STADIUS ) and at the University of Cambridge in the Deparment of Engineering  ( Control Group ).  We dive into Rodophe's scientific journey across nonlinear control, neuroscience and optimization on manifolds through the unifying lens of control theory. Outline -...

In this episode, our guest is Anuradha Annaswamy. Anu is the Director of the Active-Adaptive Control Laboratory and Senior Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Deparment of Mechanical Engineering.  We delve into adaptive control and its exciting history, ranging from the Brave Era to the audacious X15 tests and to modern intersections with Reinforcement Learning....

In this episode, our guest is Jean-Jacques Slotine, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Information Sciences as well as Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Director of the Nonlinear Systems Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and Distinguished Faculty at Google AI .  We explore and connect a wide range of ideas from nonlinear and adaptive control to robotics, neuroscience, comp...

In this episode, we delve into the extraordinary life of Norbert Wiener, the founding father of cybernetics - the science “control and communication in the animal and the machine”. Outline 00:00 - Intro 02:06 - The early years of Norbert 09:00 - Europe and WWI 15:50 - MIT days 19:30 - Norbert’s marriage 22:39 - Generalised harmonic analysis 28:18 - The interactions with Hopf and Paley 31:14 - Bush...

In this episode, our guest is Sean Meyn, Professor and Robert C. Pittman Eminent Scholar Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida . The episode features Sean’s adventures in the areas of Markov chains, networks and Reinforcement Learning (RL) as well as anecdotes and trivia about beekeeping and jazz. Outline 00:00 - Intro 00:22 - Sean’s early step...

In this episode, our guest is Alessandro Chiuso. Alessandro is a Professor in the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Padova . The episode covers several topics, including Alessandro’s research trajectory, his work in system identification and vision, and his passion for skiing. Check out Alessandro’s website here: http://automatica.dei.unipd.it/people/chiuso.html Outline 00...

This episode breaks the ice with a bit of the pre-history of control theory. We discuss three iconic ancestors of the science of feedback, including water clocks developed by Ktesibios, the earliest known thermostat,  and governors, a class of mechanical devices,  which,  without exaggeration, have enabled the first industrial Revolution in Britain. Outline 00:00 -Intro  01:32 - Ktesibios 06:15 -...

This episode features an interview with Florian Dörfler, who is an Associate Professor at the Automatic Control Laboratory at ETH Zürich, Switzerland.  We discuss several topics, including his personal research trajectory, the influence of machine learning on control, future challenges in control theory, among others. Check out Florian's website here: http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~floriand/ Outli...

In this episode, our guest is Ben Recht. Ben is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.  We discuss several topics, including his research trajectory, Ben's tour of reinforcement learning, and his passion for music, among others. Check out Ben's website here: http://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~brecht/ Outline...