CAS ETH in Applied Automation Technology

The course will include the application of case studies, hands-on exercises, moderated group discussions, and guest talks, as well as an excursion and public networking events.

This first module serves as an introduction to the topics of systems theory and automatic control. We start with a brief overview of the role of control theory throughout history and up until current times. The participants will realize the fundamental importance of such hidden science that enables most modern technologies and infrastructures. We focus the attention on the fundamental control scheme, the role of feedback, and we discuss how mathematics can be used to model physical systems via differential equations.

Dynamical systems are essentially mathematical models that are used to describe reality, from robotic arms to infectious diseases to the weather forecast. In this module, we explore the most important aspects of dynamical systems, such as solutions, equilibria, stability, controllability, and observability. From an practitioner/engineering perspective, all of these properties constitute the fundamental conceptual tools that are used to design controllers that automatically regulate the behaviour of the system.

Open-loop versus closed-loop, PID control

Optimal control, model predictive control, multiagent systems

System identification, Kalman filter, robust control, noise and delays

Data-enabled predictive control, reinforcement learning