Smart people in focus: Gabriel Lima

Meet Gabriel Lima, Postdoctoral Researcher at Smart Systems | University of Turku

How can intelligent control and machine learning revolutionize our understanding and management of complex dynamical systems?

With over 20 publications in journals, conferences, and book chapters, Gabriel’s research explores advanced algorithms to enable smarter, adaptive solutions across diverse applications, bridging theory and real-world challenges.

What are your interests?
“I am driven by the challenge of understanding complex dynamical systems and developing ways to manage them for smooth, safe, and orderly behavior. As a hobby, I enjoy playing video games and swimming in rivers or at the beach (when the weather’s nice). And, of course, having a beer now and then never hurt anyone! :)”

What is your research about?
“My research focuses on intelligent control applied to mechanical and mechatronic systems, such as mobile robots, ROVs, robotic manipulators, and electrohydraulic systems. These controllers integrate machine learning algorithms into common robust control approaches, empowering them with the ability to predict system dynamics, adapt to environmental changes, learn from interactions, and maintain robustness against sudden perturbations. Another focus of my research is reinforcement learning, a machine learning paradigm essential for controlling dynamical systems. It enables adaptive decision-making by learning optimal strategies directly from system interactions, even in uncertain and complex environments. Both intelligent control and reinforcement learning algorithms have also been applied to the control of phenomenological models that describe pathological behaviors, such as epilepsy and arrhythmias.”

Gabriel’s work, supervised by Prof. Wallace Moreira Bessa, is connected to both the Intelligent Work Machines – IWM Doctoral Pilot programme and the Digital Waters Flagship.