Autonomous robotic vehicles are increasingly required to operate safely in complex and uncertain environments while meeting stringent performance objectives. This talk addresses motion control from a path-oriented perspective, encompassing trajectory tracking, path following, and time-flexible task execution under nonlinear dynamics, input constraints, and disturbances.

We present a control framework in which safety, liveness, and performance are treated as coupled design objectives. In contrast to classical approaches based on strict temporal constraints, we show how path-parameterized formulations, where the rate of progression along the path is a control decision variable, substantially enlarge the set of feasible and high-performance controllers.

Theoretical developments grounded in Lyapunov methods, input-to-state stability arguments, and optimization-based safety filters are complemented by simulation and experimental studies. Applications include underactuated robotic vehicles and learning-based control architectures for autonomous systems. The talk aims to provide both conceptual insight and practical guidance for designing motion controllers that are safe by construction, live, and performance-oriented.

Short Bio

A. Pedro Aguiar is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), Director of ARISE – Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems Lab, Scientific Coordinator of the Research unit SYSTEC - Research Center for Systems and Technologies, and Head of the Cyber-Physical Control Systems and Robotics Lab. He is also co-director of the Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering, and a member of the Department Executive Committee and the Scientific Committees of the Doctoral Program in Applied Mathematics, and the Master in Data Science and Engineering. He previously held research and teaching positions at IST Lisbon. His research focuses on control systems and robotics, including guidance, navigation, and control of autonomous vehicles, nonlinear control, optimal control, integration of machine learning with feedback control, cyber-physical systems, and quantum control systems. He has led numerous national and international R&D projects and serves as Senior Editor of IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), Associate Editor of IFAC Automatica, and Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT).

The seminar introduces SINTEF Energy Research and its main research areas. Examples of research project results will then be presented regarding the development of monitoring and protection systems for the transmission grid based on PMUs (Phasor Measurement Units). These projects, carried out in collaboration with the Norwegian transmission system operator Statnett, address the need to ensure operational reliability and proper system functioning even under conditions of high renewable energy generation.

• ANDREA CRISTOFARO (Sapienza University of Rome) will present “Some new results on estimation and collision detection for robot manipulators.” His talk will cover recent progress in observer design and residual generation for fault and collision detection, introducing innovative methods to improve the reliability and safety of robotic manipulators.

• ANTÓNIO PEDRO AGUIAR (University of Porto, FEUP) will follow with “Bridging Lyapunov Control, Optimization, and Learning for Trusted Robotic Autonomy.” He will show how model-based control and optimization can merge with machine learning to enable robust, stable, and trustworthy autonomy — illustrated through applications to underwater, surface, and aerial vehicles.