Nathaniel Guy

, Graduate student at the University of Washington

Answered 7 years ago · Author has 85 answers and 281.8K answer views

AI use in Control Theory?

You're right that there are massive overlaps between the fields of control theory and
artificial intelligence. Higher-level control algorithms often look a lot like, and borrow
heavily from, the field of AI. There is actually a name for this multidisciplinary
intersection; it's called Intelligent control. (Feel free to peruse the Wikipedia article to get
started learning about what's already out there.)

Note that classical control theory, however, cannot as readily adopt AI-based approaches
as modern control theory. Classical control theory is bound to the set of linear systems,
and the vast majority of real-world systems we would wish to examine with intelligent
control are non-linear. Modern control theory, with its state-space representations and
their ability to encapsulate non-linear relationships in a compact, vector-based fashion, is
far more conducive to applying the techniques used in AI and machine learning.

Also, refer to the topic How does control theory relate to AI, particularly in the realm of
robotics? Is one a subset of the other? Are they different approaches to the same
problem? Does one have limitations that the other doesn't? Where does “intelligent
control” come in? for many other responses to a similar question.