Join us for an insightful lecture by Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology. This event will explore the Autonomous Robotics and Control Lab’s systematic utilization of AI and Machine Learning techniques to achieve safe and stable autonomy in safety-critical robotic systems, such as robot swarms, and autonomous flying cars. Discover remarkable innovations such as LEONARDO, the first bipedal robot capable of walking, flying, slacklining, and skateboarding. Gain insights into addressing stability and safety challenges through control theory, while overcoming the limitations of conventional black-box AI approaches.
The presentation will showcase recent results using contraction-based incremental stability tools, providing formal robustness and stability guarantees for various learning-based and data-driven control problems. Fascinating examples include adaptive meta learning for learning-to-fly control, learning-based swarm control and planning synthesis, and optimal motion planning with stochastic nonlinear dynamics and chance constraints. The lecture will also discuss the use of neural-network-based contraction metrics (NCMs) as a stability certificate for safe motion planning and control. Don’t miss this opportunity to delve into the forefront of research in designing control and autonomy engines for safety-critical aerospace and robotic systems.
About the speaker:
Soon-Jo Chung, the Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems at the California Institute of Technology, is a distinguished researcher and Senior Research Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With a S.M. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Sc.D. degree in Estimation and Control, and a minor in Optics from MIT, as well as a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from KAIST, Prof. Chung’s expertise spans multiple disciplines. His remarkable achievements include receiving prestigious awards such as the UIUC Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, the Arnold Beckman Faculty Fellowship from the University of Illinois Center for Advanced Study, the AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP) award, and the NSF CAREER award. Prof. Chung has also earned recognition for his outstanding contributions to the field with multiple best paper and best student paper awards.