Nak-Seung Hyun won the Best Contribution Award at the Georgia Tech Decision and Control Laboratory Graduate Student Symposium, held on April 24 at the Georgia Tech Student Center Ballroom. Hyun is a Ph.D. student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and is advised by Erik Verriest.

The title of Hyun’s award winning presentation was “Optimal Obstacle Avoiding Trajectory Generation Using Root Locus Principles.” Hyun works on a project focused on biomimetic locomotion, and one of the problems that he addresses is how to search for an optimal path while clearing some obstacles.

Optimality can mean "minimum time," "maximal safety," or "minimal energy,” and it is of interest to determine such a path with minimal computational effort. One method to exploit is to adapt a well-known standard graphical technique from control theory (that was developed for entirely different purposes and is known as the Root Locus) and use it in this new problem setting. It brings together beautiful mathematics, physical insight, and sound engineering. Path planning is a central task in mobile robotics, with applications extending to search and rescue, monitoring, self-driving machinery or cars, or entertainment.