Control Architectures Theory (CAT) Workshop - CDC 2025

Organizers

Aaron Ames (Caltech)

Nikolai Matni (UPenn)

Gioele Zardini (MIT)

Relevant Info and Links

When? On December 9, 2025.
Where? At CDC 2025, Room TBD
IEEE CDC 2025 Webpage

Motivation and Objectives

The design and control of complex systems stands out as one of the paramount challenges of this century. Such systems are labeled as complex not only due to the intricacies of their individual components, but also because their functioning hinges on complex interactions among these components, across domains and scales. To give a sense of the kind of systems we are interested in, think about the complex circuit governing a sensor employed in autonomous driving context, and autonomous vehicle which leverages the sensor, as well as a number of other complex hardware and software components within the autonomy stack, a fleet of autonomous vehicles of this kind, deployed and controlled following certain objectives, and interacting via a complex patterns, and a mobility system leveraging Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (i.e., the fleet) systems as well as standard transit options. Each of these subsystems is complex to design and control per se, and is influenced and influences other ones at different scales. In this workshop we are driven by the need for a robust theory concerning layered control architectures (LCAs) across various complex systems, ranging from power systems and communication networks to autonomous robotics, bacteria, and human sensorimotor control. Such systems exhibit exceptional capabilities, yet lack a cohesive, compositional theory for analysis and design, primarily due to their diverse domains. Conversely, there exists a fundamental set of control concepts and theories which are universally applicable and can accommodate domain-specific adaptations. In this context, however, control methods are often limited to work for individual components of larger systems, lacking comprehensive theoretical foundations.

Although fragments of a control architecture theory have emerged across disparate disciplines and domains, a unified theory and community are lacking. Against this backdrop, the objective of this workshop is to cultivate a new interdisciplinary community which considers control architectures and systems theory as a central focus of study. In particular, we will bring together experts from a wide range of disciplines, spanning robotics, control, applied mathematics, systems biology, aerospace, etc., with the goal of establishing a common language and core set of challenge problems and techniques. A key outcome of the workshop will be a white paper laying out a research program in this area.

Speakers

Carmen Amo Alonso (Stanford University)

Antoine Girard (CNRS)

Ali Jadbabaie (MIT)

Pierluigi Nuzzo (UC Berkeley)

Alberto Padoan (University of British Columbia)

Dimitra Panagou (University of Michigan)

George Pappas (University of Pennsylvania)

Rodolphe Sepulchre (University of Cambridge and KU Leuven)

Maegan Tucker (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Tentative Program

The workshop (full day, 8:45 am to 5:00 pm) will consist of a morning and afternoon session with talks from diverse speakers (both from academia and industry), and will conclude with a panel. Titles and order are TBD.

Time	Speakers	Title
8:45	Aaron Ames, Nikolai Matni, Gioele Zardini	Introduction to the workshop
9:00	Dimitra Panagou	Autonomy Architectures for Safe Planning in Unknown Environments under Constraints
9:30	Rodolphe Sepulchre	System Modelling at Scale
10:00	Maegan Tucker	Multi-Objective Policy Exploration via Layered Architectures
10:30	Coffee Break
11:00	Antoine Girard	Assume-Guarantee Contracts for Layered Control Architectures
11:30	Pierluigi Nuzzo	Contract-Based Modeling for the Design of Layered System Architectures
12:00	Carmen Amo Alonso	Layering Language and Motor Control for Robotic Applications
12:30	Lunch Break
14:00	George Pappas	TBD
14:30	Alberto Padoan	The Shape of Dynamics
15:00	Coffee Break
15:30	Ali Jadbabaie	TBD
16:00	Various speakers	Panel Discussion