DRF Lunchtime Clinic - Professor Fulvio Forni

Please join us in welcoming Prof Fulvo Forni to the DRF Lunchtime Clinic. Fulvio is a Professor of Control Engineering at the University of Cambridge and he will be talking on Feedback Control in Action: Case Studies in Agriculture, Robotics, and Digital Twin.

Abstract

Control theory provides the mathematical framework and algorithms to regulate and manage dynamical systems. At its core, it is about ensuring that a system behaves in a desired way by adjusting its inputs based on its outputs. In this talk, we will discuss how feedback control supports the landscape of modern automation. We will delve into three illustrative examples: control in agriculture, optimising resource allocation and yield; virtual model control in robotics, which enables robots to interact with complex environments safely and robustly; and the design of stable digital twins, demonstrating how feedback is used to create reliable virtual replicas of physical systems. 

Bio

Fulvio Forni is a Professor of Control Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where he has been a faculty member since October 2015. He earned his PhD from the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ in 2010. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Liège in Belgium and held visiting positions at the University of Edinburgh and the University of California Santa Barbara (US). Forni's research interests encompass feedback control and robotics. He received the prestigious IEEE CSS George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award in 2020. He is a Director of Studies at Newnham College and co-investigator for the EPSRC Center for Doctoral Training in Agrifood Robotics ‘Agriforwards’.