Details
MAE Seminar: Learning, optimization, and control for assured data-driven autonomy
Date: September 10, 2026
Time: 12:50 PM Location: MAE-A 303
Dr. Rushikesh Kamalapurkar
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of Florida
Abstract
In an effort to automate increasingly complex cyber-physical systems, where first-principles models of the underlying physical processes are either poorly understood or computationally taxing, practitioners of autonomy have gravitated towards data-driven modeling and control techniques. However, many data-driven methods still lack the theoretical guarantees required for safety-critical autonomy. My research program develops the mathematical foundations needed to integrate data-driven models into autonomous architectures while preserving system-theoretic guarantees of stability, performance, and safety.
In this talk, I will highlight the adaptive optimal control (AOC) techniques developed by my lab. AOC techniques have been studied in detail over the past decade and have proven effective in addressing a variety of autonomy challenges. Originally developed for traditional control tasks such as set-point regulation and trajectory tracking, these techniques have since been applied to complex objectives including safe learning, imitation learning, missions specified via temporal logic, herding control, and game-theoretic deception. In this talk, I will discuss the foundations of adaptive optimal control, highlight the technical challenges in the application of adaptive optimal control to partially observed systems with safety constraints, and illustrate various techniques developed by my students to solve the safe adaptive optimal control problem.
Biography
Rushikesh Kamalapurkar received his M.S. and his Ph.D. degree in 2011 and 2014, respectively, from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. In 2016, he joined the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Oklahoma State University as an Assistant professor. Since 2024, he has served as an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. His primary research interest is intelligent, learning-based optimal control of uncertain nonlinear dynamical systems. He has published a book, multiple book chapters, over 50 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 50 peer-reviewed conference papers. His work has been recognized by a 2026 ASHRAE Science and Technology for the Built Environment Best Paper Award and a 2022 Oklahoma State University School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Researcher of the Year award.
Faculty Host: Dr. John Schueller