Port-Based Thinking in Modeling and Control of All Physical Systems

Semi-plenary Lecture by Stefano Stramigioli at ECC 2025.

Abstract:
Stemming from the work of Henry M. Paynter introducing bond graphs in the late 1950s, the system theory of port-Hamiltonian systems has quickly developed thanks the pionirring work of Bernhard Maschke and Arjan van der Schaft. And yet, such powerful ideas are not as widely spread as they should even if they give solutions to many problems in modeling and control of complex physical systems. In this presentation I will introduce the basics of such ideas and show the power in its application in modeling the complex interaction of a fluid and the deformable elasticity of the wings of a robotics bird.

Bio:
Stefano Stramigioli received the M.Sc. with honors (cum laude) in 1992 and the Ph.D with honors (cum laude) in 1998. He is currently full professor in Advanced Robotics. He is an IEEE Fellow, an ERC AdG and ERC PoC laureate and member of the Royal Holland Society of Science and Humanities (KHMW). He is currently leading a growing group of about 60 people. He has been among other Editor in chief of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, AdCom member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, founder and chair of the Electronic Products and Services of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and he has been serving as Vice President for Membership of the same society for two consecutive terms also in the past. His scientific interest is in the covariant and port-based physical modeling and control of complex physical systems. He has been teaching Modeling, Control and Robotics for under and post-graduates for many years. He has around 450 publications including 4 books.