Control system serpent: Scientists propose new model for automation

In 360 BC, Plato wrote, "Whatever comes into existence, always comes as a whole." In 2016, scientists are using the same philosophy to develop a new automation model for robotic systems. "No phenomenon exists entirely alone. Each is a part of other phenomena," wrote Hua Chen, an associate professor at Hohai University, Chanzhou Campus, with YangQuan Chen, a professor at the School of Engineering, University of California, Merced. In a paper published in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (JAS), Chen and Chen proposed a new model for designing control systems used in automation.