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Distinguished lecture: Wen-Hua Chen

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Jun 07

Date and time: 7 June 2023, 10:00-11:00 CEST (UTC +2)
Speaker: Prof Wen-Hua Chen, Loughborough University, UK
Title: Control Engineering in Future Highly Automated Society

Where: Room Q2, Malvinas väg 10, KTH main campus OR Zoom
Directions: https://www.kth.se/places/room/id/1d244f3a-c130-4909-98e2-c1590f352b2e
OR
Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69560887455

Moderator: Jonas Mårtensson
Administrator: Carlos Barretto, cbarreto@kth.se

Abstract: Driven by the need to further increase productivity and improve wellbeing and enabled by recent developments in AI and other digital technologies, we are moving into an era of highly automated society. Among others, autonomous driving, unmanned aviation, healthcare robots and automatic trading are hot topics in media and daily discussion. Are we ready? Are they safe?

Control engineering plays a central role in our current automation. Will it still play a similar role in future high levels of automation or be replaced by AI or other technologies?

This talk aims to trigger more debates and discussions along these lines, particularly exploring the role of control engineering in a future automated economy. It argues feedback is fundamental to high levels of automation, and control theories are essential in understanding not only the interactions between key functions like perception and decision-making/planning in robotics and autonomous systems but also their interactions with system behaviours and environment.  Examples are provided to illustrate undesirable behaviours caused by the coupling between optimisation and system dynamics and the interaction between perception and planning.  It argues that the current control theories could not provide effective analysis and design tools for future highly automated automation empowered by embedded AI functions, and much more research is required.

Bio: Dr Wen-Hua Chen is a Professor in Autonomous Vehicles in the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University, UK. Prof. Chen has a considerable experience in control, signal processing and artificial intelligence and their applications in aerospace, automotive and agriculture systems. In the last 20 years, he has been working on the development and application of unmanned aircraft systems and intelligent vehicle technologies, spanning autopilots, situational awareness, decision-making, verification, remote sensing for precision agriculture and environment monitoring. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of IEEE, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK. Recently Prof Chen was awarded a five years EPSRC (the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Established Career Fellowship in developing goal-oriented control systems for robotics and autonomous systems.

Link to the profile of Wen-Hua Chen