People of Science Ep.1

How a Melbourne research engineer uses control theory, optimisation and behavioural science to unclog traffic

MEET TODAY’S GUEST

Ronny Kutadinata, PhD - Senior Technology Leader, National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO)

Ronny is the kind of engineer who wears a hi-vis vest instead of a lab coat. After a PhD on traffic signal optimisation from Unimelb, he joined Australian Road Research Board and Deakin University before finally landing his current role at NTRO, where he uses concepts of control theory to deploy transport tools for road agencies across Australia & New Zealand.

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You’re reading LessonsLearned, the weekly newsletter that turns complex science into daily conversations you can have at a coffee shop. Today’s issue is an interview rather than the usual paper summary, but I promise you’ll still get the same level of insight.

— Team LessonsLearned

THE INTERVIEW

Reprogramming Traffic With Ronny Kutadinata

In this conversation, I sat down with Ronny to learn how control theory can be applied to make smoother commutes in cities. He explains how multi-agent reinforcement learning can retime a whole corridor in seconds, and what keeps public agencies from launching tech that already works in simulation.

I asked him how he balances scientific data with human factors and what it really takes to move an idea from MATLAB to a live network. Here’s what he had to say.

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