Decision & Control Seminar: Prof. Ersin Das

Title: Robust and Adaptive Safety-Critical Control of Autonomous Systems

Abstract: Autonomous systems must operate safely in the presence of uncertain dynamics, external disturbances, and imperfect state information. Control barrier functions (CBFs) provide a systematic approach to enforcing safety, but constructing them for nonlinear systems with bounded inputs remains challenging. In this talk, I will present backup CBFs, which address this challenge through safe set expansion using predictions under a verified backup controller. These predictions depend on the system model. Therefore, uncertainty can invalidate the resulting safety guarantees. I will discuss robust and adaptive methods that combine online estimation and learning with certified error bounds to preserve safety under model uncertainty and time-varying disturbances. Throughout the talk, I will illustrate the efficacy of these methods with applications to robotic systems.

Location & Time: CSL B02, October 21, 3:00PM-4:00PM
Reception outside CSL B02 at 2:30PM

Bio: Ersin Das is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Material, and Aerospace Engineering at Illinois Tech. He was previously a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech. He received his MSc in mechatronics engineering from Istanbul Technical University and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Hacettepe University. His research interests include robust and safe control, state estimation, and machine learning for robotics and autonomous systems.