Dr Pablo Borja

Biography

I received my bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering and my master's degree in electrical engineering, specializing in control systems, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, in 2011 and 2013, respectively. Then, I obtained my PhD in "Automatique" from Paris-Saclay University, France, in 2017. From October to December 2015, I was a visiting Ph.D. student at the Institute of Cyber-Systems and Control at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. From January to February 2016, I was a visiting Ph.D. student at the Johann Bernoulli Institute at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. From 2017 to 2018, I was a postdoctoral researcher member of the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG) at the University of Groningen. From 2018 to 2021, I was a fellow of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and an ENTEG member at the University of Groningen. From 2021 to 2022, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Cognitive Robotics at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Since October 2022, I have been a lecturer in Control Systems Engineering at the University of Plymouth, UK.

Qualifications

Ph. D. in Automatique (Control Systems), Paris-Saclay University, France, 2017.
Master's in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Control Systems, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, 2014.
Bachelor's in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, 2011.

Professional membership

I am a member of the following societies:

IEEE
IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS)
International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)

Additionally, I am a corresponding member of the (IFAC) technical committee on Non-linear Control Systems (TC2.3).

Teaching

Teaching interests

During the academic year 2023/2024, I am teaching in the following courses:
CONT222 Engineering Mathematics and Control (Module lead)

MECH556 Autonomy Principles and Ethics
MECH544 Data Processing, Simulation and Optimisation of Engineering Systems

MARN341 Marine Engineering

During the academic year 2022/2023, I taught in the following courses:
CONT222 Engineering Mathematics and Control
MECH556 Autonomy Principles and Ethics

Previously, I was:
One of the lecturers of Mechatronics at the University of Groningen from 2018 to 2021.
The teaching assistant of Modeling and control of complex nonlinear engineering systems at the University of Groningen from 2018 to 2021.

Research

Research interests

My research interests encompass the following topics:

Nonlinear control methodologies and their applications, with an emphasis on physical systems.
Modeling of complex physical systems. In particular, energy-based models.
Dissipativity/passivity theory and passivity-based control.
Control applications in robotics.
Soft robotics.
Model reduction.

Publications

Journals

[J14] P. Borja, J. Ferguson, and A. J. van der Schaft “Interconnection Schemes in Modeling and Control” IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2023, vol. 7, no. -, pp. 2287-2292.
[J13] P. Borja, C. Chan-Zheng, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Stabilization of Physical Systems via Saturated Controllers With Partial State Measurements” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2023. Early access.
[J12] C. Chan-Zheng, P. Borja, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Tuning of Passivity-Based Controllers for Mechanical Systems” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2023. Early access.
[J11] N. Li, P. Borja, J. M. A. Scherpen, A. J. van der Schaft, and R. Mahoney “Passivity-Based Trajectory Tracking and Formation Control of Nonholonomic Wheeled Robots Without Velocity Measurements” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023. Early access.
[J10] P. Pustina, P. Borja, C. Della Santina, and A. De Luca “P-satI-D Shape Regulation of Soft Robots” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-8.
[J09] P. Borja, C. Della Santina, and A. Dabiri “On the Role of Coupled Damping and Gyroscopic Forces in the Stability and Performance of Mechanical Systems” IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2022, vol. 6, no. -, pp. 3433-3438.
[J08] P. Borja, J. M. A. Scherpen, and K. Fujimoto “Extended balancing of continuous LTI systems: a structure-preserving approach” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023 vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 257-271.
[J07] C. Chan-Zheng, P. Borja, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Tuning rules for a class of passivity-based controllers for mechanical systems” IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2021, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 1892-1897.
[J06] K. Hamada, P. Borja, J. M. A. Scherpen, K. Fujimoto, and I. Maruta “Passivity-based lag-compensators with input saturation for mechanical port-Hamiltonian systems without velocity measurements” IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2021, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1285-1290.
[J05] P. Borja, R. Ortega, and J. M. A. Scherpen “New results on stabilization of port-Hamiltonian systems via PID passivity-based control”. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2021, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 625-636.
[J04] J. G. Romero, A. Donaire, R. Ortega, and P. Borja “Global stabilisation of underactuated mechanical systems via PID passivity-based control”. Automatica, 2018, vol. 96, p. 178-185.
[J03] M. Zhang, P. Borja, R. Ortega, Z. Liu, and H. Su “PID Passivity-based control of port-Hamiltonian systems”. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2018, vol. 63, no. 4, p. 1032-1044.
[J02] P. S. Gandhi, P. Borja, and R. Ortega “Energy shaping control of an inverted flexible pendulum fixed to a cart.” Control Engineering Practice, 2016, vol. 56, p. 27-36.
[J01] P. Borja, R. Cisneros, and R. Ortega “A constructive procedure for energy shaping of port-Hamiltonian systems”. Automatica, 2016, vol. 72, p. 230-234.

Books

[B01] R. Ortega, J. G. Romero, P. Borja, and A. Donaire. PID passivity-based control of nonlinear systems with applications. Wiley-IEEE Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1-119-69416-8.

Chapters

[BC01] R. Ortega and P. Borja “Passivity-based control” Encyclopedia of Systems and Control, Baillieul J., Samad T. (eds). 2021 Edition, pp. 1684–1691. Springer, London. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-44184-5.

Conference Papers

[C19] C. Chan-Zheng, P. Borja, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Dead-zone compensation via passivity-based control for a class of mechanical systems” 12th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems, 2023.
[C18] T. Coleman, G. Franzese, and P. Borja “Damping design for robot manipulators” 15th International Workshop on Human-friendly Robotics, 2022.
[C17] N. Javanmardi, P. Borja, M. J. Yazdanpanah, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Distributed formation control of networked mechanical systems” IFAC Conference on Networked Systems (NECSYS), 2022.
[C16] P. Borja, A. Dabiri, and C. Della Santina “Energy-based shape regulation of soft robots with unactuated dynamics dominated by elasticity” RoboSoft, 2022.
[C15] P. Borja, J. L. van der Veen, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Trajectory tracking for robotic arms with input saturation and only position measurements”. IEEE 60th Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2021.
[C14] N. Li, P. Borja, A. J. van der Schaft, J. M. A. Scherpen, and L. Chen “Angle formation of double integrator with bearing and velocity information” 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, 2021.
[C13] C. Chan-Zheng, P. Borja, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Passivity-based control of mechanical systems with linear damping identification” 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, 2021.
[C12] K. Hamada, P. Borja, K. Fujimoto, I. Maruta, and J. M. A. Scherpen “On Passivity-Based High-Order Compensators for Mechanical Port-Hamiltonian Systems Without Velocity Measurements” 3rd IFAC Conference on Modelling, Identification and Control of Nonlinear Systems, 2021.
[C11] C. Chan-Zheng, P. Borja, N. Monshizadeh, and J. M. A. Scherpen “Exponential stability and tuning for a class of mechanical systems”. European Control Conference (ECC), 2021.
[C10] D. Jeltsema and P. Borja “On linearity, phasors and steady–state response of electrical circuits” 12th International Conference and Exhibition on Electrical Power Quality and Utilisation, 2020, Krakow, Poland.
[C09] T. C. Wesselink, P. Borja and J. M. A. Scherpen “Saturated control without velocity measurements for planar robots with flexible joints.” IEEE 58th Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2019, pp. 7093-7098, Nice, France.
[C08] R. Reyes-Báez, P. Borja, A. J. van der Schaft, and B. Jayawardhana “Virtual mechanical systems: an energy-based approach” Congreso Nacional de Control Automático (CNCA), 2019, pp. , 465–470, Puebla, Mexico.
[C07] P. Borja and J. M. A. Scherpen “Stabilization of a class of passive systems using alternate storage functions.” IEEE 57th Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2018, pp. 5634-5639, Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
[C06] P. Borja, R. Ortega, and E. Nuño “New results on PID passivity-based controllers for port-Hamiltonian systems.” 6th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, 2018, pp. 175–180, Valparaı́so, Chile.
[C05] J. G. Romero, A. Donaire, R. Ortega, and P. Borja “Global stabilisation of underactuated mechanical systems via PID passivity-based control”. 21st IFAC World Congress, 2017, pp. 9577–9582, Toulouse, France.
[C04] A. Macchelli, P. Borja, and R. Ortega “Control by interconnection of distributed port-Hamiltonian systems beyond the dissipation obstacle.” 5th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, 2015, pp. 99–104, Lyon, France.
[C03] P. Borja, R. Cisneros, and R. Ortega “Shaping the energy of port-Hamiltonian systems without solving PDEs.” IEEE 54th Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2015, pp. 5713–5718, Osaka, Japan.
[C02] R. Ortega and P. Borja “New results on control by interconnection and energy-balancing passivity-based control of port-Hamiltonian systems.” IEEE 53rd Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2014, pp. 2346–2351, Los Angeles, California, USA.
[C01] P. Borja and G. Espinosa. “Seguimiento de trayectorias para sistemas mecánicos subactuados vı́a IDA-PBC.” Congreso Nacional de Control Automático (CNCA), 2013, pp. 17–23, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

Other Publications

[E1] P. Borja, C. Della Santina, L. Peternel, and E. Torta (Eds.) Human-Friendly Robotics 2022: HFR: 15^th International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol. 26, Springer Nature.

Personal

Conferences organised

I have been the (co-)organizer of the following events:

The workshop titled "Energy-based modeling and control of mechanical systems: theory and applications" at the 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC). The conference took place in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2022. Check the websites https://cdc2022.ieeecss.org/ and https://sites.google.com/view/energy-based-methods-cdc2022/home.
The 15th International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics, which took place in Delft, The Netherlands, in September 2022. Check the website https://sites.google.com/view/hfr2022/home.
The invited session "Passivity Based Control of Mechanical and Electromechanical Systems" at the 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control (LHMNC). The conference took place in Berlin, Germany, in October 2021. Check the website https://lhmnlc21.org/.

Other academic activities

I have been the (co-)chairman of the following sessions at international conferences:

(Chairman) "Passivity Based Control of Mechanical and Electromechanical Systems" at the 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control (LHMNC). Berlin, Germany, 2021.
(Chairman) "Geometry" at the 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control (LHMNC). Berlin, Germany, 2021.
(Co-chairman) "Passivity-based control" at the 3rd IFAC Conference on Modelling, Identification and Control of Nonlinear Systems (MICNON). Tokyo, Japan, 2021 (virtual).
(Co-chairman) "Stability of Nonlinear Systems" at the American Control Conference (ACC). New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 2021 (virtual).

Additionally, I was the chairman of the following sessions:

"Nonlinear & Hybrid Control Systems II" at the 39th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control. Elspeet, The Netherlands, 2020.
"Nonlinear Control B" at the 37th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control. Soesterberg, The Netherlands.

Profiles

Lecturer in Control Systems Engineering

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)