CPS Events
Rare but Ruinous: The Geometry of Reliability for Complex Cyber-Physical Systems
Abstract
Reliable operation of cyber-physical systems from power grids and engineered infrastructure to autonomous-vehicle fleets hinges on our ability to estimate the probability of rare, high-consequence failures in high-dimensional state spaces. Classical tools struggle in this regime: Monte Carlo is statistically inefficient, scenario approximation delivers conservative certificates without rigorous error control, and many well-known analytical bounds rest on log-concavity assumptions that modern stochastic systems often violate. This talk offers a unifying geometric perspective: every rare-event estimator can be viewed as a path between two probability measures on a statistical manifold, and by Chentsov's theorem, this path has a canonical length.
The talk is divided into three parts. First, we show that optimal importance-sampling proposals can be understood as Fisher–Rao geodesics on the underlying statistical manifold. Second, we argue that several widely used safe approximations of chance constraints can be recovered as first-order Taylor expansions of those geodesics, and that these methods were, in effect, implicitly climbing this geometry all along. Third, we outline open problems for cyber-physical systems whose state space mixes continuous and discrete components, where the manifold is layered, and the geodesic can jump between layers.
Speaker Bio
Yury Maximov is Chief Science and Special Projects Officer at ZeroAvia, the company developing the first practical hydrogen-electric powertrains for commercial aviation. Previously, Yury was a Staff Scientist in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), working on optimization, machine learning, and stochastic methods for power grid reliability and renewable energy integration. Earlier, he held postdoctoral positions at Université Grenoble-Alpes and INRIA (France). Yury holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Control. His research sits at the intersection of complex energy systems, optimization, and control.
Dynamical Signatures: Harnessing the Hidden Language of In-Space Electric Propulsion
Abstract
Low-thrust space electric propulsion systems offer long propulsion system lifetimes for satellite maintenance maneuvers. These thrusters operate by generating and accelerating plasmas, making the thrusters throttleable, propellant-efficient, and scalable from low-to-high power operations. This talk will focus on efforts to leverage the underlying time-dependent dynamics of plasma to investigate and influence thruster research and development. Prior years of study have developed techniques to uniquely represent the dynamics of such systems that have since been used to open a new way to test and operate plasma systems. Additional work has investigated the correlations between time-dependent measurements of these dynamics to develop digital twins, automate test processes with machine learning, inform design of experiments, and develop on-orbit system diagnostics. The talk will conclude with a look to the future as these tools are further applied both within the lab and potentially transitioned to on-orbit applications.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Christine Greve is a research engineer for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards AFB. She received her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University under an NDSEG fellowship for her work in data-driven modeling of plasma-based systems. She now serves as the Electric Propulsion group lead with interests in high-power electric propulsion, machine learning, data-driven modeling, and novel plasma diagnostic techniques.
Beneath the Surface: Guidance, Navigation, and Control in the Ocean - From Theory to Lessons Learned
Abtract
Much of the underwater environment remains poorly mapped and observed, motivating the development of robotic systems that can safely and efficiently extend human reach beneath the surface. Yet the subsea domain imposes constraints beyond those typical in core robotics: no GPS, severely limited communication, challenging sensing, and strong environmental disturbances. This talk introduces the major classes of underwater robots and focuses on the guidance, navigation, and control pipeline that enables reliable operation in the ocean. I will review key background ideas, discuss underwater navigation in practice, and share take‑home lessons from practical experience spanning subsea operations, ROV prototyping, and work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
I will conclude by connecting these challenges to broader robotics themes, highlighting opportunities for collaboration between UCSC and MBARI.
Speaker Bio
Mauro Candeloro is a control engineer and postdoctoral researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), where he develops planning and guidance methods for near-bottom seafloor mapping. He is a partner at Norwegian Subsea, where he previously served as Head of Products and Senior Technical Engineer, leading embedded firmware and sensor-fusion development for commercial motion reference units used in offshore navigation. He contributed to the development of the first consumer‑grade ROV prototype at BluEye Robotics. His experience spans research and industry field operations, including development of control systems for autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, as well as participation in offshore missions and Arctic expeditions. He earned his Ph.D. in Underwater Robotics Control from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Neural Hybrid Equations: Structure-Preserving Models for Hybrid Systems
Abstract
Many engineered systems combine continuous-time evolution (flows) and discrete-time evolution (jumps). Examples include robotic systems with contact dynamics, power networks with switching logic, and biological systems with threshold-crossing events. Learning neural 'world models' for such systems often involves sampling time-series data densely and training a single neural network. When the hybrid structure goes unrecognized, data viewed along a single time axis appears discontinuous. Standard universal approximation theorems, however, apply to continuous functions, creating a mismatch between the observed data and the theoretical guarantees underpinning the learning approach.
In this talk, we introduce neural hybrid equations, which use separate neural networks for continuous and discrete dynamics while preserving the logic of when flows and jumps occur. The central question concerns how approximation errors in these maps propagate through trajectories of the system. We establish that solutions to neural hybrid equations approximate nominal hybrid system solutions arbitrarily well over compact time domains, with O(1/N) convergence rates for ReLU networks with N neurons.
We conclude by discussing future directions, including extending guarantees to infinite horizons for contractive or stable systems and leveraging connections between spiking neural networks and ReLU architectures to enable neuromorphic implementations.
Speaker Bio
Daniel E. Ochoa is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC San Diego in 2024, M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2022, and in Electronics Engineering from the University of Los Andes, Colombia, in 2019, and dual B.Sc. degrees in Electronics Engineering (cum laude) and Physics from the University of Los Andes. His work has been recognized with the Robert Skelton Systems and Control Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from the Center for Control Systems and Dynamics at UC San Diego in 2025, an IFAC Young Author Award in 2024, and designation as a Rising Star in Cyber-Physical Systems by the University of Virginia and the National Science Foundation in 2022. His research develops mathematical foundations for control and analysis of hybrid dynamical systems, geometric control theory, contraction analysis, and learning-based methods to establish formal guarantees for autonomous cyber-physical systems.
Research into Real World: KaTRIS activities at The GEAR
Abstract
Kajima, one of Japan’s oldest and largest construction companies, established its regional headquarters and innovation hub, The GEAR, in 2023. Before driving into the presentations on concrete-related technologies, Dr. Chae will provide an overview of The GEAR and the Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS) highlighting its mission, research frameworks, and strategic roles within Kajima Corporation.
Speaker Bios
Dr. Soungho Chae is currently a Deputy Executive General Manager of Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS). He completed his 1st Degree in Architectural Studies at Chungang University, Korea, followed by his Master of Science (MSc) Degree in 1992 and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in 2003 from the WASEDA University, Japan. Thereafter, he worked as an Associate Professor at WASEDA University before joining Kajima, Japan in 2006. From 2018, he is based in Kajima, Singapore and serves as the Deputy General Manager at Kajima Technical Research Institute, Singapore (KaTRIS). His research focuses on building construction management, incorporating Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Robotics Technology (RT).
Dr. Yasuhiro Yokota is currently a chief research engineer and GM – Sustainable & Resilient Infrastructure Group in KaTRIS. He has pursued his undergraduate and master program in the Department of Civil Engineering at Kobe University, Japan. After graduating in 2006, he started to work at Kajima Technical Research Institute, Kajima Corporation in Japan. He has mainly worked in the field of tunnel engineering and rock mechanics related projects primarily working on new materials and Geo-sensing technics. Also, he experienced a large tunnel project in Japan as a technical manager for two years. After returning from the construction site in 2015, he moved to Singapore, for his PhD program at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). After being involved in the collaborative research between NTU and Kajima, he started to work at KaTRIS from 2019. He received many awards including the Rocha Medal 2021 by International Society of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering.
