The Mechanical Systems Control Laboratory (MSC Lab) at UC Berkeley is led by Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Department of UCB in 1974, and currently holds Cheryl and John Neerhout, Jr. Distinguished Professorship. MSC Lab has been working on vehicle automation and control for over 30 years, including participating the Demo’ 97 collaborating with California PATH.

In the past decade, research of MSC lab has focused on intelligent/autonomous systems and their interaction with humans from manufacturing (industrial robots) to transportation (autonomous vehicles). The synergy between model-based control and machine learning has been emphasized, and the research program covers safe and efficient planning/control, interactive prediction/decision, robust perception/localization, as well as simulation/test/dataset in collaboration with many industrial partners on autonomous driving. Several recent publications on autonomous driving by laboratory members received Best Student Paper or Best Paper Finalist in flagship conferences on robotics and intelligent vehicle/transportation, such as IROS, ITSC and IV.

Professor Tomizuka received AACC Richard E. Bellman Heritage Award (highest lifetime achievement award for US control system engineers and scientists). He also received Soichiro Honda Medal from ASME “for pioneering and sustained contributions in applying modern systems and control theory to the comprehensive analysis and control algorithm development of automated vehicle lateral guidance, which has inspired further developments in the field”.