Develop autonomous system according to user needs and preferences, enabling autonomous adaptation to characteristics, attributes, or features unique to individuals.

This project aims at contributing to these challenges by proposing new modelling and control strategies for autonomous systems considering users in the design and evaluation process. Our objectives are more specifically to:

• Devise low-complexity learning and data-driven modeling strategies. Often, a large amount of data is available, and it is mandatory to extract only the information crucial to deriving a reliable model of reduced complexity for analysis or control purposes;

• Develop safe reinforcement learning control strategies. The features of reinforcement learning make it a relevant candidate for controlling dynamical systems due to its ability to adapt control actions to system variations. However, endowing systems controlled by reinforcement learning with stability and robustness guarantees remains a largely open question;  

• Define a model-based solutions that, by estimation of unmeasurable variables, can enrich learning abilities; 

• Define procedures for the development and evaluation of autonomous systems, taking particular needs into account;

• Develop a decision support  architecture that accurately detects and efficiently responds to safety and security problems for autonomous systems; and

• Develop appropriate sensor technology, exploit estimation techniques including unknown input observers, derive precise real-time physical and data-driven based dynamic models, and implement control strategies exploring artificial intelligence methods are key elements for achieving adaptive viable implementations. Strategies that can meet individual-specific requirements for assistive to autonomous systems are still an open research field.

• Adenilso da Silva Simão

• André P.L.F. Carvalho

• Antoine Gallais

• Cássio Guimarães Lopes

• Catherine Dezan

• David Espes

• Hamza Ouarnoughi

• Jamal Daafouz

• João Cavalcanti Santos

• José Henrique de M. Goulart

• Kalinka R.L. J. C. Branco

• Kamila Rios Rodrigues

• Márcia da Costa Peixoto

• Marie Chabert

• Oswaldo L. V. Costa

• Phillip M. S. Burt

• Romain Postoyan

• Thierry-Marie Guerra

• Youcef Imine