Dynamic Physical Systems Conventional control theory requires a mathematical model to predict the behaviour of a process so that appropriate control decisions can be made.
Many processes are too complicated to model accurately.
Often, not enough information is available about the process' environment. When the system is too complicated or the environment is not well understood, an adaptive controller may work. An adaptive controller learns how to use the control actions available to meet the system's objective. The process is treated as a 'black box' and the program interacts with it by conditioned response. Each box represents a region of the problem space.