Fall 2012 GRASP Seminar – Ufuk Topcu, University of Pennsylvania, “Specification and Synthesis of Hierarchical Control Protocols and Some Applications in Autonomy and Robotics”

Abstract: The talk begins with the formulation of a control protocol synthesis problem and some background material. The solution discussed in the talk builds on temporal logics, two-player turn-based games, and optimization-based control. It yields to a partially automated method for constructing hierarchical control protocols. An autonomous navigation case study will demonstrate the results. Several other examples will be drawn from dexterous robotic manipulation and smart camera networks. The talk ends with an overview of some open issues biased to those from the speaker’s own work.