Épisodes

  • Francesca Boem (Distributed Monitoring and Attack Detection)

    Francesca Boem (Distributed Monitoring and Attack Detection)
    Aug 1 2026

    In this episode I had the pleasure of talking to the fantastic Francesca 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

    References

    Francesca Boem: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/65682-francesca-boem

    PhD thesis: https://www.openstarts.units.it/entities/publication/c9e28dd2-a9f3-4deb-bfb9-886a8f5d1661/details

    Thomas Parisini: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/t.parisini

    Distributed fault detection paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6580380

    Detectability of cyber attacks: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8264562

    Cyber attack detection for microgrids: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9054955

    Detecting covert cyber attacks: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9104026

    Detecting 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.ferraritrecate

    KIOS centre: https://www.kios.ucy.ac.cy/
    Voir plus Voir moins
    1 h
  • CONTROL 2026 (ACE Network/ UKACC Conference Special)

    CONTROL 2026 (ACE Network/ UKACC Conference Special)
    Jul 1 2026
    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=yRJQnBa2wkSpF2aBT74-hyrBNzE3vqFAgmzn8RVGrRVUM1pNMEZFREExUTBJQ1dRUkJTNFRGNEJPVi4u&route=shorturl Claude shutdown: https://www.ithinkdiff.com/claude-fable-5-disabled-us-government/Brian Douglas podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0yUF9sf0cM2K9AeoQzoHal Chao Gu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chao-gu-609073220/Petri nets: http://www.petri-net.de/AEGEAN: https://en.about.aegeanair.com/company/fleet/Liam Hallinan: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LmZyKIIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoSalma Iraky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salmassabry/TERRA github: https://github.com/sssabry/teraAnton Selivanov: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anton-SelivanovAllan Nascimento (Multi-horizon MPC author): https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.soton.idm.oclc.org/author/867072138905292 Miroslav Krstic: https://flyingv.ucsd.edu/Neural operators: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.08481Mohammad Adballah: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/meme/staff/phd/mohammad-abdallah/ Luke Rickard: https://www.lukerickard.co.uk/Will Rohde: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wfmrohde/Dan Hobson: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5xp9hs/mr-daniel-hobsonAnthony Rossiter: https://ieeecss.org/contact/anthony-rossiterControl101 toolbox: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/130439-control-101-toolbox
    Voir plus Voir moins
    51 min
  • Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 2 (AI Architectures and the Dynamics of Intelligence)

    Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 2 (AI Architectures and the Dynamics of Intelligence)
    Jun 7 2026
    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 and design AI systemsControlling large language models to guarantee a particular sentiment for their outputUsing vision-language-action models to control robots using 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-s-guide-to-robust-control-the-past-present-and-futureJerome Sieber: https://jerome.sieber.io/
    Voir plus Voir moins
    52 min
  • Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 1 (Distributed and Localized Model Predictive Control)

    Carmen Amo Alonso: Part 1 (Distributed and Localized Model Predictive Control)
    Jun 2 2026

    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=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/

    References

    Carmen: https://camoalon.github.io/

    JPL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

    John Doyle: https://ieeecss.org/contact/john-doyle

    Feedback in biological control: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9867859

    https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9867794

    Thesis: https://thesis.caltech.edu/15262/3/Carmen_Amo_Alonso_Caltech_PhD_Thesis.pdf

    Distributed localised MPC paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9939038

    Professor Melanie Zeilinger: https://nccr-automation.ch/about/people/melanie-zeilinger-0

    SLS 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=mF2Wbriy2Zg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhtuGZp8QM0&t=302s

    ADMM survey paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.03700

    Professor James Anderson: https://www.columbia.edu/~ja3451/

    Data-driven DLMCP: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9772975

    Willems fundamental lemma: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/262195/1/PersistencyExcitation.pdf

    Paolo Rapisarda episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/076dEw28abILPAbT5qA6aw

    Implementing DLMP on GPUs: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9831839

    Clubes de Ciencia: Mexico: https://clubesdeciencia.mx/

    Peru: https://clubesdecienciaperu.org/

    Terry Sejnowski: https://biology.ucsd.edu/research/faculty/tsejnowski
    Voir plus Voir moins
    30 min
  • Journal Clubs (Creating reading groups that people want to be part of)

    Journal Clubs (Creating reading groups that people want to be part of)
    May 1 2026

    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=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/

    References

    Al Edwards: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/62mm7y/doctor-al-edwards

    Antonia Marcu: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5xk5lz/miss-antonia-marcu

    Convexification for soft landing optimal control paper: http://www.larsblackmore.com/iee_tcst13.pdf

    Improved soft robotic parameterisation paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8961972

    KKL observer synthesis paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.11655

    Voir plus Voir moins
    34 min
  • Brian Douglas (Control Engineering in Industry)

    Brian Douglas (Control Engineering in Industry)
    Apr 1 2026

    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=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/

    References

    Brian 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/UCq0imsn84ShAe9PBOFnoIrg

    MATLAB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MATLAB

    Co-design podcast episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3upRUgZBy79tqihMy9BDsJ


    Veritasium: https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium

    Smarter every day: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAA

    Mark Rober: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRober

    Formal verification video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kINfn-ZYiLY

    InControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/15223020-ep24-brian-douglas-boeing-control-videos-resourcium-map-of-control-theory-cartoons-mathworks
    Voir plus Voir moins
    59 min
  • Gioele Zardini (Engineering Trade-offs and Co-design)

    Gioele Zardini (Engineering Trade-offs and Co-design)
    Mar 1 2026
    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_hFazBGxUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_RDCFOlJx4Aaron Ames: http://ames.caltech.edu/Nikolai Matni: https://nikolaimatni.github.io/John Doyle: https://www.eas.caltech.edu/people/doyleCDC episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ZUcm3gVHKILDEyDjQtXvx Braess’s paradox: https://resources.mpi-inf.mpg.de/departments/d1/teaching/ws12/ct/Braess-paradox.pdf Co-design of mobility-on-demand systems: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.04739 Formula One co-design papers: https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/entities/publication/bd65f78e-f19a-4469-a379-d4b219893a33https://CoffeeControlLinks.short.gy/JQmudBCo-design of soft robotics: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.03761 Cosimo Della Santina inControl episode: https://CoffeeControlLinks.short.gy/LPNORz Games with partially-ordered objectives: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2111.07099 Mingjia He: https://mingjia-he.github.io/Paper on hierarchical games: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.12059 Game theory episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xrwua7U2HfSW3sxY6BnRUJeff Shamma inControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/18482182-ep40-jeff-shamma-gain-scheduling-nonlinear-control-learning-dissipativity-in-games-jiu-jitsuVincent Abbott: https://zardini.mit.edu/people/vincent-abbott/Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli: https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/sangiovanni-vicentelli.htmlInControl episodes: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/14692449-ep21-alberto-sangiovanni-vincentelli-part-i-classics-eda-logic-synthesis-spice-intel-x386-cadence-synopsis-platform-based-designhttps://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/14882529-ep22-alberto-sangiovanni-vincentelli-part-ii-cyberphysical-and-hybrid-systems-contracts-chiplets-models-of-computation-time-innovative-ecosystems-biobricks-neuromorphicsJohn Doyle: https://www.eas.caltech.edu/people/doyle
    Voir plus Voir moins
    1 h et 10 min
  • Barbara Franci (Game Theory and Resource Allocation)

    Barbara Franci (Game Theory and Resource Allocation)
    Feb 1 2026
    In this episode I have a lovely conversation with Dr Barbara Franci about her research into game theory, exploring both theoretical concepts (such as variational inequalities, forwards-backwards algorithms, and stochastic Nash equilibrium-seeking problems) and practical applications, including resource allocation, energy management, and generative adversarial networks! You can find the transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h9AbCPzzlt7ggNOGx3bK3pwSaCUo__LtYzvdJ-5wqYw/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/ ReferencesBarbara Franci: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/b-franciPhD thesis: https://tesidottorato.depositolegale.it/bitstream/20.500.14242/198173/1/FRANCI%20Tesi2.pdfMore background on evolutionary games: https://users.ssc.wisc.edu/~whs/teaching/805/handbook.pdfJeff Shamma inConctrol episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/18482182-ep40-jeff-shamma-gain-scheduling-nonlinear-control-learning-dissipativity-in-games-jiu-jitsu Wisdom of a crowd paper: https://epubs.siam.org/doi/abs/10.1137/18M1232267Francesco Bullo: https://fbullo.github.io/Original Galton paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/075450a0 Video on the Lagrangian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR4ff0dTLTwUseful lecture notes on these concepts: https://www.mit.edu/~gfarina/notes/ Distributed forwards-backwards paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9309063Extragradient paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11184508Relaxed inertial forwards-backwards paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9682905 Professor Lacra Pavel: https://www.ece.utoronto.ca/people/pavel-l/Deterministic decoupling paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330888828_An_operator_splitting_approach_for_distributed_generalized_Nash_equilibria_computationPseudo-monotone functions: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225986571_Pseudomonotone_Operators_A_Survey_of_the_Theory_and_Its_ApplicationsInertial gradient descent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iudXf5n_3ro&t=60s GANs paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9523601Original Goodfellow paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.2661 Partial information paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005109821006300Incorporating a bias: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10886508Nash games with misleading information: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11008595Evolutionary dynamics in distributed control: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7823106
    Voir plus Voir moins
    55 min