Is there room for learning in control systems theory?
In the “sensing,” “computation,” and “actuation” blocks of a control system, learning happens in the computation block. Broadly speaking learning involves techniques for exploring the parameter space and measuring the system’s performance relative to a set of criteria. For example, one might use a learning controller to optimize the gains in a PID controller (proportional-integral-derivative, this is a standard controller type we’ll learn more about later in the course). We won’t be covering machine learning in this course, but it is an interesting area in controls. from Richard: • In robotics, there is a large literature on iterative learning control, when you are performing a repetitive task. This mainly involves turning the trajectory generation (feedforward). • Adaptive control can be considered a type of learning (based on adjusting either a model of the plant or the parameters of a control).
