Prof. Jessy Grizzle Honored with Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize from IEEE Control Systems Society

Jessy Grizzle, Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professor of Engineering, has been selected to receive the 2012 Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society. This prestigious honor recognizes distinguished contributions to control systems science and engineering. Jessy’s work in nonlinear system theory has been applied to automotive applications, and more recently bipedal robots, and has had a fundamental impact on the field.

As recipient of the Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize, Prof. Grizzle will deliver the plenary Bode Lecture at the 2012 51st IEEE Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC). The award was announced at the 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, held in conjunction this year with the European Control Conference.

Prof. Grizzle’s research interests include: analysis and feedback control of nonlinear systems; control of bipedal robot locomotion; automotive powertrain control; hybrid electric vehicles; nonlinear discrete-time systems; and medical applications of feedback control.

Most recently Prof. Grizzle has focused his attention on the bipedal robot known as MABEL. Since 2008, when MABEL was built, he and his students have been advancing the state-of-the-art in feedback control design as they improve MABEL’s ability to walk, navigate bumpy terrain, and run. Running at a pace of 6.8 miles per hour, she is now the fastest known bipedal robot with knees.

For more than two decades Prof. Grizzle worked with the automotive industry, most recently in the area of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. In collaboratioh with Ford Motor Company, he and his former student, Dr. Dan Opila, employed control theory to optimize fuel economy while allowing for drivability.

Prof. Grizzle was named to the Scientific American Top 50 Technologists of 2006 for his work with the robot RABBIT. He received the Control Systems Technology Award of the IEEE Control Systems Society for the development of fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly automotive powertrains through innovative application of control theory, the George S Axelby Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, and the Ford Innovation Award.

He also received the College of Engineering Atwood Award (highest faculty achievement award within the College), the University of Michigan Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, and the U-M Henry Russel Award (for distinguished scholarship and teaching).

Prof. Grizle is coauthor of the book, Feedback Control of Dynamic Bipedal Robot Locomotion. He is a Fellow of IEEE and of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC).