Abstract:

In 1665 the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens discovered the in-phase and anti-phase synchronization of two pendulum clocks hanging on the wall. This ‘sympathy’ of clocks, as Huygens called such coordinated motion, has been observed in different areas like physics, nature, biology and engineering. The study of synchronization relies on a thorough understanding of the underlying dynamics of (time-delayed) coupled systems and extends also to larger groups of coupled systems. The purpose of the talk is, on the one hand, to review a range of exiting and interesting examples of synchronized systems and in particular to focus on the means why pairs of coupled identical (oscillating) systems may exhibit identical oscillatory motion. On the other hand, I will seek to give an approach that is suited to achieve coordination in mechanical systems, like robotics or automotive applications. In the talk various (laboratory) applications will be given. 

Biosketch:

Professor Henk Nijmeijer (1955) obtained his MS and PhD degrees in Mathematics from the University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1979 and 1983, respectively. From 1983 till 2000 he was affiliated with the Department of Applied Mathematics of the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. Since, 1997 he was also part-time affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Since 2000, he is a full professor at Eindhoven, and chairs the Dynamics and Control group. He has published a large number of journal and conference papers, and several books, Henk Nijmeijer was editor in chief of the Journal of Applied Mathematics until 2009, corresponding editor of the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, and board member of the International Journal of Control, Automatica, Journal of Dynamical Control Systems, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics and the Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, and Hybrid Systems. He is editor of Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulations. He is a fellow of the IEEE since 2000 and was awarded in 1990 the IEE Heaviside premium. He is appointed honorary knight of the ‘golden feedback loop’ (NTNU) in 2011. His research interests are in the broad scope of dynamics and control and their applications. He is since 2011 an IFAC Council Member. Per January 2015 he is scientific director of the Dutch Institute of Systems and Control (DISC) with as the Technical University of Delft as host institute.