The aim of the Control Department is to develop automatic control techniques as a cross-discipline as the heart of socio-economic issues.

For researchers in automatic control, the main challenge is to suggest tools for analysis, control and diagnostics of dynamic systems in order to ensure an efficient, safe and reliable operation.

The highlight of this decade is the development of transportation networks, energy and information. This is due to more and more connected and heterogeneous systems, which leads to an overall increase in complexity. A first major challenge for the Control Department at Gipsa-lab is thus the study of complex systems. Meanwhile, the development of "embedded" systems, that is, roughly speaking, more and more autonomous systems in terms of information processing capacity and energy management (e.g. vehicles) is also for department a second big challenge for the next years.

Finally, our societies are increasingly demanding security of infrastructure and people, and also require prevention of industrial and environmental risks. Developing tools capable of guaranteeing dependability is one of the objectives of the department.

To meet these challenges, the control department has a matrix organization, consisting of around 4 disciplinary teams.

This structure contains some transverse projects, which, for some, are intended to go beyond the Control Department or even beyond the Gipsa-lab:

• Advanced mechatronics: drones, flying objects mimicking insect, robotic legs robot eel;
• Energy, water and environment: management of electrical networks, electrical blackouts prevention, diagnosis and control of electrical systems and water transport systems, water treatment, technology risk management;
• Micro and nano-systems: nano-manipulation, modeling and control of micro and nano systems, control systems "on chip";
• Automotive and transportation: management of transport networks and road traffic, onboard vehicle control (engine, chassis ...);
• Health: diagnosis of patients, management of health systems, medical tomography.