Future Directions in Control: A Look Backwards and Forwards

Abstract

The field of control provides the principles and methods used to design physical, biological and information systems that maintain desirable performance by sensing and automatically adapting to changes in the environment. The opportunities to apply control principles and methods are exploding. In this talk I will briefly review some of the past predictions for future directions in control (including some of my own) and provide some thoughts on how well the field is doing in terms of living up to its past promises of future success. The ultimate goal of the talk is to help inspire the next generation of controls researchers, balance theory with application, provide a view into the possible futures of control, give credit where it is due, and let the guard down and talk about personal stuff a bit.