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Coffee and Control: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Lucy Hodgins
Podcast in which I interview fascinating people from within the world of control theory/ control engineering. Primarily aimed at PhD/masters students but can hopefully be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in control. New episodes released monthly
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- 2 weeks ago1h 5m
IFAC World Congress Special
In this episode I take you with me to the 2026 IFAC World Congress in Busan, South Korea, where I got to talk to a bunch of wonderful control researchers about their work. We cover a wide range of fascinating research areas, including observer design for transportation, event-triggered control, consensus control, extremum-seeking, robotic manipulation, control education and outreach, and a whole lot more! You can find the transcript for this episode at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XE4krcWk6KgQjUUtgxKejmsTBYTermPeL9e3uVOnRJQ/edit?usp=sharing Follow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ReferencesWorkshopsArun Tangirala: https://arunkt-dev.github.io/Prem Jagadeesan: https://www.amrita.edu/faculty/prem-jagadeesan/Paper on defining sloppiness: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0282609Tom Oomen: https://toomen.eu/MondayinControl podcast: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/ Selsabil Bougherara: https://www.uphf.fr/lamih/membres/bougherara_selsabilShengya Meng: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shengya-meng-1b299a294/Laura Albert: https://engineering.wisc.edu/directory/profile/laura-albert/TuesdayYing Tan: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/28203-ying-tanMiroslav Krstic inControl interview: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/16954129-ep31-miroslav-krstic-nonlinear-adaptive-control-pdes-delays-extremum-seeking-safety-neural-operators-for-controlESC paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4177053 WednesdayFrank Park: https://me.snu.ac.kr/en/snu__professor/park-frank-chongwoo/Talk on geometric methods for robot learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIKZzlomGIYPritesh Patel: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/667tf7/doctor-pritesh-patelPaper on stability of adaptive control of switched systems: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751570X25000457 Interview with Brian Douglas: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0yUF9sf0cM2K9AeoQzoHalNikwist: https://www.nikwist.be/David Tinoco: https://dtinas10.github.io/homepage/Quantum control podcast episodes: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5t577
- Aug 1, 202659 min
Francesca Boem (Distributed Monitoring and Attack Detection)
In this episode I had the pleasure of talking to the fantasticFrancesca Boem about her work on monitoring networked systems, approaches to detecting faults and cyber attacks, as well as her new start-up helping to ensure the security of wireless health-tech devices! You can find the transcript for this episode at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ttf7raapfDW4_aj3mnD8mSoy704d9T9BLnJk9QXbLqM/edit?usp=sharing Follow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/Drop me an email if you’re attending IFAC WC: L.Hodgins@soton.ac.uk ReferencesFrancesca Boem: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/65682-francesca-boemPhD thesis: https://www.openstarts.units.it/entities/publication/c9e28dd2-a9f3-4deb-bfb9-886a8f5d1661/detailsThomas Parisini: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/t.parisiniDistributed fault detection paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6580380 Detectability of cyber attacks: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8264562Cyber attack detection for microgrids: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9054955Detecting covert cyber attacks: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9104026Detecting replay attacks: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.00737 Fault-tolerant control/ active fault diagnosis: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8700304 CONTROL 2026 episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MTAxQo4PlTC0zo7OcYRB4 BLE vulnerabilities paper: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10212293/1/ISCAS_2025_V4.pdf GiancarloFerrari Tricate: https://people.epfl.ch/giancarlo.ferraritrecateKIOS centre: https://www.kios.ucy.ac.cy/
- Jul 1, 202650 min
CONTROL 2026 (ACE Network/ UKACC Conference Special)
In this episode I have the pleasure of attending the CONTROL2026 conference, and bring you along with me! This conference was the largest gatheringof control engineers in the UK recent years, co-organized by the ACE network and UK Automatic Control Council (UKACC). Join me as I explore the ACE network and some of the fabulous control engineering research taking place across theUK!Join the ACE network!: https://ukcontrol.org/join-ace You can find the transcript for this episode at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1131VDAX37W9GOJ87c0PZqXt83VMds1rAdapr1HdgN3Q/edit?usp=sharing Follow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesControl 2026: https://control2026.ukcontrol.org/Conference proceedings: https://control2026.ukcontrol.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Control-2026-Proceedings-Booklet.pdfACE network: https://ukcontrol.org/UKACC: https://ukacc.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/IFAC: https://www.ifac-control.org/Pramod Khargonekar: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/khargonekar/Slides from his talk: https://coffeecontrollinks.short.gy/yaf5rkNorbert Weiner: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Norbert-WienerAutomony vs automation: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-020-01004-zInControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/11513053-ep6-norbert-wiener-and-cyberneticsMacy Conference proceedings: http://cybernetic-bookshelf.org:8083/book/2636Dartmouth conference: https://opendigitalai.org/en/the-dartmouth-conference-1956-the-big-bang-of-ai/John McCarthy: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-McCarthyDaniel Coca: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/danielcoca.htmlEPSRC: https://www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/Interview with Andy Lawrence: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6BvPXw3YyoqdsvbQ573OF1William Heath: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/staff/scse/william-heath-680178/enAlessandro Astolfi: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/a.astolfiAntonis Papachristodoulou: https://eng.ox.ac.uk/people/antonis-papachristodoulouStephen Duncan: https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-stephen-duncan/Francesca Boem: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/f.boemEDI survey: https://coffeecontrollinks.short.gy/ahijkyMentorship scheme sign-up form: https://ukcontrol.org/ace-network-mentor-schemeACE position paper: https://ukcontrol.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ACE-Position-Paper.pdfNetwork + survey: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=
- Jun 7, 202652 min
Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 2 (AI Architectures and Controlling Large Language Models)
In the second part of my interview with the incredibly talented Carmen Amo Alonso we discuss her fascinating work at the intersection of AI and control, examining topics such as:Using tools from control theory to analyse anddesign AI systemsControlling large language models to guaranteea particular sentiment for their outputUsing vision-language-action models to control robotsusing languageand a whole lot more! You can find the transcript for this episode at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ph1yaQuV_ybRM8h9rU5Uvmz9eB5Ar4HVhcBnc7b7zJ8/edit?usp=sharingFollow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesThe architecture of language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApC0AWWTajUDiffusion models: https://the-principles-of-diffusion-models.github.io/Skip connection paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10609 Review of state-space models in AI: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.16899 3 Blue 1 Brown video on transformers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZofJX0v4MDynamical systems framework paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15731 Designing sequence models: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09389v1Controlling LLM output: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15454v3Controllability of LLMs: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05637v1 Vision-language-action model paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.05487v1NARRATE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10762DEMONSTRATE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12855v1Domitilla Del Vecchio: https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/ddv@MIT.EDUBiomolecular feedback systems book: https://www.fbswiki.org/wiki/index.php/Biomolecular_Feedback_SystemsMathias Foo episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1G3vhRoeenTWRrEwauT0neinControl episodes: Mario di Bernardo: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/19167890-ep44-mario-di-bernardo-from-circuits-to-cells-and-swarms-control-meets-complexityMustafa Khammash: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/12648716-ep11-mustafa-khammash-cybergeneticsJohn Doyle: https://ieeecss.org/contact/john-doyleInControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/12841020-ep12-john-doyle-part-i-a-pioneer
- Jun 2, 202630 min
Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 1 (Distributed and Localized Model Predictive Control)
In this episode I talk to the very wonderful Carmen Amo Alonso about her (award-winning) PhD research on distributed and localised MPC. We also cover super interesting and useful concepts such as system-level synthesis and ADMM, as well as her internship working at Tesla!You can access the transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SErvHtKoE18QzelHDUh9im6AeG3zKPWZLRoNGx5BUyg/edit?usp=sharingFollow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesCarmen: https://camoalon.github.io/JPL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/John Doyle: https://ieeecss.org/contact/john-doyleFeedback in biological control: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9867859https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9867794Thesis: https://thesis.caltech.edu/15262/3/Carmen_Amo_Alonso_Caltech_PhD_Thesis.pdfDistributed localised MPC paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9939038 Professor Melanie Zeilinger: https://nccr-automation.ch/about/people/melanie-zeilinger-0SLS for robust nonlinear optimal control: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.04943 Professor Nikolai Matni: https://nikolaimatni.github.io/ System-level synthesis tutorial: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.01634 YouTube videos on DLMPC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF2Wbriy2Zghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhtuGZp8QM0&t=302sADMM survey paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.03700Professor James Anderson: https://www.columbia.edu/~ja3451/ Data-driven DLMCP: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9772975Willems fundamental lemma: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/262195/1/PersistencyExcitation.pdfPaolo Rapisarda episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/076dEw28abILPAbT5qA6aw Implementing DLMP on GPUs: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9831839Clubes de Ciencia: Mexico: https://clubesdeciencia.mx/ Peru: https://clubesdecienciaperu.org/Terry Sejnowski: https://biology.ucsd.edu/research/faculty/tsejnowski
- May 1, 202634 min
Journal Clubs (Creating reading groups that people want to be part of)
In this episode I talk to three lovely researchers all about journal clubs (AKA reading groups) – what they are, why you might want to be part of one, and how to start your own! I also give some insights from my own experiences running a (control-related) journal club, as well as a summary of three of my favourite papers we’ve read. You can find the transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19i4egf_2KEWqkp94ZW3QjRTH8PeAZz6yEix8zoSfx4k/edit?usp=sharingFollow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesAl Edwards: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/62mm7y/doctor-al-edwardsAntonia Marcu: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5xk5lz/miss-antonia-marcuConvexification for soft landing optimal control paper: http://www.larsblackmore.com/iee_tcst13.pdfImproved soft robotic parameterisation paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8961972KKL observer synthesis paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.11655
- Apr 1, 202658 min
Brian Douglas (Control Engineering in Industry)
In this episode I got the opportunity to sit down with the fantastic Brian Douglas and talk about what it's like to be a control engineer in industry, common misconceptions he had, and advice for current students. We also discussed his YouTube channel, as well as a few more technical aspects of projects he's been involved with over the years!You can find the transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gAyIAgd3RzVSSDmJ-As0gzJVekJG3IqU2L-1zJhuKYs/edit?usp=sharingFollow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesBrian Douglas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-douglas-505b7175/Engineering Media (Brian’s company): https://engineeringmedia.com/ Original YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0imsn84ShAe9PBOFnoIrgMATLAB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MATLABCo-design podcast episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3upRUgZBy79tqihMy9BDsJVeritasium: https://www.youtube.com/@veritasiumSmarter every day: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAAMark Rober: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRoberFormal verification video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kINfn-ZYiLYInControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/15223020-ep24-brian-douglas-boeing-control-videos-resourcium-map-of-control-theory-cartoons-mathworks
- Mar 1, 20261h 9m
Gioele Zardini (Engineering Trade-offs and Co-design)
In this episode I got to speak with the fantastic Gioele Zardini about his work on the co-design framework, a fascinating framework used to optimise large interconnected systems. We cover the theoretical background of this, intuition behind it, and a ton of different applications where it’s useful, as well as discussing exciting open questions in the field! Find the transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XPZr9jP4Lphskkw-SiM8h-x1kp7LROqZ243S6zA7EsY/edit?usp=sharingFollow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-and-control-podcast/Or connect with me directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hodgins-733a30175/ ReferencesGioele Zardini: https://zardini.mit.edu/PhD thesis: https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/entities/publication/d7c08dd5-bf96-4c1f-a744-5e751f0f44a5PhDs in control interview: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10555200Emilio Frazzoli: https://idsc.ethz.ch/research-frazzoli/people/person-detail.frazzoli.htmlAndrea Cenci: https://nccr-automation.ch/about/people/andrea-censiMarco Pavone: https://profiles.stanford.edu/marco-pavoneNuTonomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NuTonomy(current site: https://motional.com/)Brad Nelson: https://msrl.ethz.ch/the-lab/team/Brad_Nelson.htmlDavid Sacramuza: https://rpg.ifi.uzh.ch/people_scaramuzza.htmlYujun Huang: https://zardini.mit.edu/people/yujun-huang/Uncertainty in co-design paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.02766 Background refs on category theory:David Spivak: https://dspivak.net/Brendan Fong: http://brendanfong.com/ Gioele's work in progress book: https://storage.zuper.ai/sync/ACT4E/ACT4E/alphubel-prod/build/last/build-public/ACT4E-public.pdfYouTube talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmAz6fEPa2oGioele's course: https://zardini.mit.edu/act4ed/MIT applied category theory course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s097-applied-category-theory-january-iap-2019/Seven sketches in compositionality: http://brendanfong.com/fong_spivak_an_invitation.pdf LQG control co-design paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9654960LQG background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4_hFa
About Coffee and Control
Podcast in which I interview fascinating people from within the world of control theory/ control engineering. Primarily aimed at PhD/masters students but can hopefully be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in control. New episodes released monthly
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