The Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering presents their spring 2025 seminar series featuring guest speaker Ersin Daş, a postdoctoral scholar in mechanical and civil engineering at California Institute of Technology, who will give a presentation on “Uncertainty-Aware Safe Autonomy for Real-World Systems.” This seminar is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, from 12:45 to 1:45 pm in room 104 of the Rettaliata Engineering Center (auditorium).
Abstract
With the rapid deployment of autonomous and semi-autonomous cyber-physical systems—ranging from robotics and aeronautics to automotive technologies—ensuring safety has become a top priority. However, applying techniques developed for physics-based or data-driven system models to real-world problems requires careful consideration of uncertainties in both the models and the environment. In this talk, I will discuss how to ensure robustness in safety-critical control by leveraging robust Control Barrier Functions (CBFs). First, I will introduce our uncertainty estimation-based CBFs that adapt to model mismatches and exogenous disturbances. Next, I will present a robust backup CBF formulation that uses backup controllers—designed to enforce safety under bounded input constraints via a convex program—to construct feasible safe sets. The efficacy of our methods will be illustrated through their application to underactuated robots. I will conclude the talk with some thoughts on addressing the challenges of guaranteeing safety in autonomous systems in unknown, unstructured, and dynamic environments filled with various uncertainties, including localization uncertainties and collision risks with dynamic obstacles.
Biography
Ersin Daş is a postdoctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received his B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering from Kocaeli University and his Master of Science in Mechatronics Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. He completed his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Hacettepe University. His research interests lie at the intersection of robotics, safety-critical control, robust control, data-driven control, space systems, and machine learning.