In a deep dive into the challenges of autonomy and control, the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics hosted Joel W. Burdick from the California Institute of Technology as the Fall 2025 Tedori-Callinan Distinguished Lecturer. Speaking to full auditorium, Burdick presented his talk, “Robotic Predictions are Hard, Especially About the Future,” exploring how autonomous systems can make reliable decisions in uncertain environments.
Burdick, the Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at Caltech, shared his research on how robots can predict and respond to the uncertain actions of surrounding agents—such as vehicles, pedestrians, or other robots—when only partial and noisy data are available. From autonomous cars to racing drones and ocean-going cranes, these systems must continuously anticipate the future to operate safely.
During his lecture, Burdick introduced a novel approach to approximating a predictive Koopman operator in real time, allowing autonomous systems to better estimate and quantify uncertainty in their environment. His method integrates these probabilistic predictions within a model predictive control framework, ensuring robust, real-time collision avoidance. Through a series of experiments featuring ground robots, drones, and maritime systems, Burdick demonstrated how advanced mathematical modeling and engineering ingenuity can push the limits of safe, intelligent autonomy.
Burdick’s career includes recognition from the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Program, the Office of Naval Research, and awards for teaching excellence from Caltech’s undergraduate and graduate communities. His contributions have been further acknowledged with the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award and multiple IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation best paper honors.
The Tedori-Callinan Lecture Series, endowed through the generosity of Letty Tedori-Callinan and her husband Jim, continues to honor Letty’s late father, Fred Tedori Sr., an advocate for education who inspired his daughters to pursue engineering. Letty, an alumna of MEAM, exemplified the department’s core values—curiosity, creativity, diligence, and precision—through her own academic and professional achievements.