This talk covers several results focused on humans interacting with Cyber-Physical Systems: those systems whose computation, control, and communication aspects are tightly coupled. Human inputs to these systems has typically required significant training, which reduces the impact of these systems and the cost of their adoption. The main approach taken to mitigating issues in these systems is to utilize code generation and model based design, in order to utilize verification tools in domains for which they were not originally imagined, or whose complexity might prevent users from another domain from utilizing them. Applications covered include steerable/floating river sensors, autonomous ground and air vehicles, and energy prediction and control.
Dr. Jonathan Sprinkle is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. In 2013 he received the NSF CAREER award, in 2012 his team won the NSF I-Corps Best Team award, and in 2009, he received the UA's Ed and Joan Biggers Faculty Support Grant for work in autonomous systems. His research interests and experience are in systems control and engineering, and he teaches courses ranging from systems modeling and control to mobile application development and software engineering. Before coming to Arizona, Sprinkle was the Executive Director of the Center for Hybrid and Embedded Software Systems at UC Berkeley. He received his PhD in 2003 from Vanderbilt University.