Our researcher blogs are back! This time let Muhammad Zakwan tell you about how he's making machine learning safer. nccr-automation.ch/news/2025/so...

Last week we welcomed back the companies and researchers from our previous industry-academia workshops for our industry open-house. Thank you to everyone who bought ideas, presented, asked questions and generally contributed to an enthusiastic and open space for sharing.

Last week we were happy to host 20 school children as part of the Nationaler Zukunftstag. Thank you to the NomadZ, @ethz.ch, @acupofmilkyway.bsky.social and Anamarija Zivkovic for their brilliant organisation.

What is feedback, really? In this episode, we retrace its prehistory, revisit Black’s invention of the negative-feedback amplifier, and look at why feedback keeps reappearing in biology, strategy, behaviour shaping machines, organisms, and decisions. Thanks: @nccr-automation.bsky.social

Beat your Monday blues with a new episode of inControl. This time host Alberto Padoan is looking at all things feedback - give it a listen: www.incontrolpodcast.com

Did you know that we also do research into the ethics of automation? If you want to learn more about it then you can join this lecture over teams using the link in the QR code (or in person if you're lucky enough to be in Montréal 😉 )

Do you need high-quality traffic data but your only source of information is a distorted drone video? Learn more about how Robert Fonod solved this problem with Geo-trax, a toolbox that lets you extract the information you need! www.real-lab.ch/geo-trax

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." [Niels Bohr] Zheyu Wu knows what to do in times of uncertainty! Learn more: www.real-lab.ch/distribution...

How do you come up with the perfect (control) recipe? Learn more about what Salma Elfeki has been cooking up during her master's project! www.real-lab.ch/the-recipe-f...

❓ Did you know that you cannot just turn off run-of-river power plants when there is an overproduction of electric power? 🌊 Yannick Schüpbach explains what you can do instead. www.real-lab.ch/when-water-m...

❓ Why do you prefer one brand over another? 💡 Learn more about opinion dynamics from Michelle Egger's explainer! www.real-lab.ch/the-coke-vs-...

💡 How can you make sure the lights stay on and react early on to problems in your power grid? Ioannis Papadopoulos explains how in our latest REAL text: www.real-lab.ch/know-thy-vol...

🤔 Can your heat pump stabilise the electricity grid? Find out more from Boxuan Yao's text! www.real-lab.ch/flex-your-he...

🔭 Physical models explain the world in great detail but may be too complex to be useful. 💻 Data-driven models are simpler but do not consider the underlying physics. 🪢 Let's combine the best of both worlds! Muhammad Zakwan explains how. www.real-lab.ch/simba

Is stabilising the electricity grid just a game? Jonas Matt's research investigates what a fair rule-book could look like. www.real-lab.ch/a-game-plan-...

New episode of the @incontrolpodcast.bsky.social! Cosimo Della Santina takes us inside soft robotics — a young, daring field where compliance replaces rigidity, intelligence emerges from shape, and underactuation is a feature, not a flaw. www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/epis...

Last month, when Artur Ekert came to speak at the John von Neumann lecture, we jumped at the chance to sit down with him. Read about what he had to say about privacy in an increasingly online world, and why wandering around can be great for science. bit.ly/4eznW8e

Congratulations to @dorfler.bsky.social who has been given this year's Rössler prize in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the fields of energy and control engineering. @ethz.ch @ethfoundation.bsky.social nccr-automation.ch/news/2025/fl...

Would you like to win the Olympics? Learn how at www.real-lab.ch/optimal-curl...

Are you an early stage researcher looking to broaden your network and CV with a research stay in Switzerland? You have until 30th June to submit your application. More details and application: bit.ly/4lkWwp0

Did you know that the Swiss railways are not 100% electrified yet? But they soon will be, also thanks to the help of Seraina Wurster's work: www.real-lab.ch/battery-elec...

🎙️ New episode! Mathukumalli Vidyasagar walks us through five decades of asking (and answering) the right questions in control, learning, and applied math — from feedback systems to statistical learning, HMMs, compressed sensing, and non-convex optimization. Unmissable! 🚀🧠

Coming to the Swiss CLOCK Summit? Don't miss out on the chance to present your poster. The deadline for poster abstract submissions is on Sunday 15th June. You only have a short time, so get writing! ✍ More info: www.swissclocksummit.com

Last week our researchers enjoyed soft skills week, where they were invited to three specially designed workshops to help them to navigate their work life outside of their academic goals. Thank you to our workshop leaders @vicentbotellasoler.bsky.social, Benjamin Sawicki and Ning Wang

Congratulations to Silvia Mastellone who has been made Chair of the IEEE CSS Outreach task force as a recognition of all her hard work and success in founding and establishing the task force. ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/doc... @spectrum.ieee.org @fhnw.ch

One for the German speakers in our followers - @dorfler.bsky.social was recently interviewed about the blackouts in Spain by @nzz.ch www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft...

Sometimes making a big difference is more a case of making lots of small differences that add up. What if you could use control theory to make travelling by train even more energy efficient? Check out what Dimitris Kouzoupis and team are doing with their startup nuorail. bit.ly/42WgEax

Come along to the Market Design & Energy Markets Workshop on May 19th 16:15-17:45 at University of Zurich. Featuring talks by NCCR Automation members Keith Moffat and Kai Zhang. nccr-automation.ch/events/2025/...

It's nearly time for the 2025 John von Neumann Lecture! Join us as Artur Ekert guides us through "Privacy for the paranoid ones - the ultimate limits of secrecy" Tuesday 27th May, 16:00-17:15, ETH Zürich room HG F30 (Audi Max) bit.ly/4lVYWLH

The application portal for the travel grants for the Swiss CLOCK Summit are now open! If you come from an area that is underrepresented in the controls and optimization community then apply for your chance to be sponsored to attend. www.swissclocksummit.com/young-resear...

Start your day the right way - a new episode of the inControl podcast is out! This time host Alberto Padoan is talking to Miroslav Krstic about nonlinear adaptive control, PDEs, delays, extremum seeking, safety and neural operators for control. www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/epis...

Work with us! A postdoc position on Control for Reliability of Electromobility Systems is open at @fhnw.ch www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

How do you boil down years of work to a three minute talk? Watch Pengbo Zhu summarise her thesis in 180 seconds and see how she is hoping to make your taxi rides better. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RUb...

Applications for our fellowship programme are now open! If you are an early stage researcher in a field related to automation and control theory then please apply to come and spend six months working with us. More details and application: bit.ly/43Iuydv Need more inspiration? bit.ly/4dKZeQL

Do you tend to over-plan things and then have no time left to actually do them? We may be able to help you out! www.real-lab.ch/stop-overpla...

Please share: We are offering travel grants to researchers in geographical regions that are under-represented in the control community to attend the Swiss CLOCK Summit. www.swissclocksummit.com/young-resear...

Registration is open! Secure your place at the Swiss CLOCK Summit now 🚀 Register here: ethzurich.eventsair.com/clock25/reg/... Or find out more about the Swiss CLOCK Summit: www.swissclocksummit.com

💁 Lots of data but no model? Call SoS - or Caroline Gärtner. She knows how to help. www.real-lab.ch/sos-for-opti...

Sometimes, when competitors collaborate, everybody wins We couldn't have put it better ourselves 😊 news.mit.edu/2025/sometim...

Yesterday our Programme Manager Elise Cahard was at the Fachtagung Elektromobilität talking about our work in the energy field, including our publication with SATW, "Future Visions and Technologies for Distribution Grid Operators" Order your copy: nccr-automation.ch/DSO Photos: Siobhan Powell

New episode of inControl! Manfred Morari traces his journey from chemical process control to IMC, robust and predictive control and MPC. From theory to real-world impact, this episode is a must-listen for any control enthusiast! www.incontrolpodcast.com

Here comes the first text from our Fall 2024 REAL cohort. 🥳

On this international day of women and girls in science, we want to not only celebrate the women in our consortium, but also remember that science works better when you have a diverse workforce behind it news.un.org/en/story/202...

I'm very excited to share notes on Probabilistic AI that I have been writing with @arkrause.bsky.social 🥳 arxiv.org/pdf/2502.05244 These notes aim to give a graduate-level introduction to probabilistic ML + sequential decision-making. I'm super glad to be able to share them with all of you now!

Are you a PhD student interested in Neural Networks and Optimal Control? Join the "𝙉𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙊𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡" EECI course from 31st March to 4th April at EPFL - taught by our members Giancarlo Ferrari Trecate, Danilo Saccani and Leonardo Massai www.eeci-igsc.eu

Researcher Sophie Hall recently spoke to @delevan.bsky.social on the @wickedproblems.uk podcast about the need to democratise the algorithms in our lives. Give it a listen here 🚀 news.wickedproblems.uk/p/elon-musk-...

Bluesky’s science takeover: 70% of Nature poll respondents use platform Roughly 6,000 readers answered our poll, with many declaring that Bluesky was nicer, kinder and less antagonistic to science than X. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

✨ Pint of Science Switzerland is on the hunt for speakers, and this is your chance to shine! We want YOU to share your fascinating discoveries and ideas with curious minds. 🧠💡 📅 Where: Local pubs across Switzerland 🍻 When: 19-21 May, 2025 🎤 Interested? Sign up: forms.gle/TRKtHEFrdQ2B...

New episode! 🎙️ Today, we dive into Richard Bellman’s legacy as the father of dynamic programming. 🧠 From his early life in Brooklyn to Princeton, Los Alamos, RAND, and Stanford, we explore his monumental contributions to control theory, which set the stage for modern AI breakthroughs! 🚀

Brighten up your Monday with a new episode of the #inControl podcast - this time taking a look at Richard Bellman, the father of dynamic programming www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/epis...