Is there room for learning in control systems theory?

In the "sensing," "computation," and "actuation" blocks of a control system, learning happens in the computation block. Broadly speaking learning involves techniques for exploring the parameter space and measuring the system's performance relative to a set of criteria. For example, one might use a learning controller to optimize the gains in a PID controller (proportional-integral-derivative, this is a standard controller type we'll learn more about later in the course). We won't be covering machine learning in this course, but it is an interesting area in controls.

I'll try to post a reference on learning in the next few days.

--Sawyer Fuller 00:21, 2 October 2007 (PDT)