Closed-loop flow control is gaining more and more interest in the last few years. Whereas most of the published results are based on simulation studies, this work explores the synthesis of closed-loop controllers for separated wall-bounded shear flows in experiments. A methodology and first results are presented for the robust control of a flow over a well established benchmark system, namely a backward-facing step. This system can be seen as a simple representation of the situation in a burner or behind a flame holder. Based on numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations and on experimental wind tunnel results, possible candidates for an online determination of an appropriate output variable are proposed. For our purpose, a substitute for the reattachment length is taken as the control variable. Simple black-box models are derived to describe the behaviour of the system in the vicinity of set-points. Based on these, different robust controllers are synthesised. As expected, these controllers show superior behaviour over the open-loop strategies mainly proposed in the flow control literature. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.