Page 23 - ASME DSCC 2018 Program

assignments to make Mechatronics and Robotics education more widely Workshops
available.
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The objectives of this workshop are to bring together industry and
academic professionals in Mechatronics and Robotics, share experiences,
and initiate efforts towards defining the field. We aim to encourage and
facilitate the wide adoption of Mechatronics and Robotics degree
programs. Workshop participants will learn about recent successes in
offering these degrees, help influence the future of the field, and
contribute to the growing Mechatronics and Robotics education
community. This workshop will benefit a wide range of DSCC participants
including educators teaching mechatronics, robotics, dynamics, and
control courses; PhD students seeking academic careers in mechatronics
and robotics; and industry professionals desiring to shape the future
workforce.

W5: AUTONOMOUS CONTROL FOR ROTOCRAFT OPERATION
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
1:00PM – 5:00PM
UNIVERSITY (LOWER LEVEL 3)

Organizer:
Cornel Sultan, Virginia Tech

Abstract: Autonomous operation of rotorcraft will greatly expand the
range of achievable missions and operational envelopes. Autonomy is
enabled by a multidisciplinary approach in which advanced feedback
control plays a central role. This workshop discusses critical needs and
challenges related to autonomy and control design for rotorcraft, along
with recent contributions.

Highly constrained autonomous rotorcraft missions demand increasingly
complex control models which capture the dynamics associated with
mission requirements. Novel control technologies enable a larger space
for control variables and improved control authority beyond what is
typically achieved by conventional rotorcraft controls. Modern control in
rotorcraft control is necessary to adequately handle the highly coupled
large models and multiple objectives associated with complex missions. In
this context, the current and future trend in rotorcraft design and control is
towards integration of complex models and control designs.

By bringing together students and professionals from diverse related
areas such as dynamics, control, structures, system design, computations,
the workshop is expected to foster interdisciplinary cooperation. The
workshop will educate the audience about challenges, solutions, future
directions in rotorcraft autonomy, along with ramifications in other areas
such as turbomachinery and turbine control, in which the presenter is also
active. It will also illustrate how knowledge from different fields can be
leveraged to address complex problems.