Coffee and Control

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/
 
References
Control 2026: https://control2026.ukcontrol.org/
Conference proceedings: https://control2026.ukcontrol.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Control-2026-Proceedings-Booklet.pdf
ACE 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/yaf5rk
Norbert Weiner: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Norbert-Wiener
Automony vs automation: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-020-01004-z
InControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/11513053-ep6-norbert-wiener-and-cybernetics
Macy 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-McCarthy
Daniel Coca: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/danielcoca.html
EPSRC: https://www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/
Interview with Andy Lawrence: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6BvPXw3YyoqdsvbQ573OF1
William Heath: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/staff/scse/william-heath-680178/en
Alessandro Astolfi: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/a.astolfi
Antonis Papachristodoulou: https://eng.ox.ac.uk/people/antonis-papachristodoulou
Stephen Duncan: https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-stephen-duncan/
Francesca Boem: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/f.boem
EDI survey: https://coffeecontrollinks.short.gy/ahijky
Mentorship scheme sign-up form: https://ukcontrol.org/ace-network-mentor-scheme
ACE position paper: https://ukcontrol.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ACE-Position-Paper.pdf
Network + 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=ao
Salma Iraky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salmassabry/
TERRA github: https://github.com/sssabry/tera
Anton Selivanov: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anton-Selivanov
Allan 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/2108.08481
Mohammad 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-hobson
Anthony Rossiter: https://ieeecss.org/contact/anthony-rossiter
Control101 toolbox: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/130439-control-101-toolbox

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 systems
Controlling large language models to guarantee a particular sentiment for their output
Using vision-language-action models to control robots using language
and a whole lot more!
 
You can find the transcript for this episode at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ph1yaQuV_ybRM8h9rU5Uvmz9eB5Ar4HVhcBnc7b7zJ8/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
The architecture of language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApC0AWWTajU
Diffusion 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=wjZofJX0v4M
Dynamical systems framework paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15731
Designing sequence models: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09389v1
Controlling LLM output: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15454v3
Controllability of LLMs: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05637v1
 
Vision-language-action model paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.05487v1
NARRATE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10762
DEMONSTRATE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12855v1
Domitilla Del Vecchio: https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/ddv@MIT.EDU
Biomolecular feedback systems book: https://www.fbswiki.org/wiki/index.php/Biomolecular_Feedback_Systems
Mathias Foo episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1G3vhRoeenTWRrEwauT0ne
inControl episodes: Mario di Bernardo: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/19167890-ep44-mario-di-bernardo-from-circuits-to-cells-and-swarms-control-meets-complexity
Mustafa Khammash: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/12648716-ep11-mustafa-khammash-cybergenetics
John Doyle: https://ieeecss.org/contact/john-doyle
InControl episode: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/1632769/episodes/12841020-ep12-john-doyle-part-i-a-pioneer-s-guide-to-robust-control-the-past-present-and-future
Jerome Sieber: https://jerome.sieber.io/

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

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

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