Schedule

All assignments are due at 3:00pm.

Date Topic Reading Assignments
Fri, 30 Aug Introduction and Overview, ROS Intro ROS intro, pp 9–25
Mon, 2 Sep No class – Labor Day
Wed, 4 Sep Introduction and Overview, Robot Mechanisms Ch 1
Topic 1 Simulation
Fri, 6 Sep Applications of Simulation Ch 2.0–2.2
Mon, 9 Sep ROS with Ross ROS intro, Ch 3–4
Wed, 11 Sep Numerical Methods Ch 2.3.0–2.3.3
Fri, 13 Sep Tips for new programmers CP 1* and PS 1 due
Topic 2 Kinematics
Mon, 16 Sep Rigid Body Abstraction Ch 3.0–3.1
Wed, 18 Sep Mobile Robot Motion and Constraints Ch 3.2.0–3.2.1
Fri, 20 Sep Mobile Robot Steering Kinematics Ch 3.2.2 PS 2 due
Mon, 23 Sep Debugging strategies in ROS
Wed, 25 Sep Rotations and Rotation Matrices Ch 3.3.0–3.3.1
Fri, 27 Sep Euler Angles, Axis-Angle, Quaternions Ch 3.3.2–3.3.4 PS 3 due
Mon, 30 Sep Properties of Rotations Ch 3.4
Wed, 2 Oct Rigid Motions and Homogeneous Transforms Ch 3.5 CP 2 due
Fri, 4 Oct Kinematic Chains Ch 3.6 PS 4 due
Mon, 7 Oct DH Parameters Ch 3.7
Wed, 9 Oct Inverse Kinematics; Intro Velocity Kinematics Ch 3.8–3.9.2
Fri, 11 Oct In-class prelim
Mon, 14 Oct No class – Fall Break
Wed, 16 Oct The Jacobian Ch 3.9.3–3.9.4
Topic 3 Uncertainty
Fri, 18 Oct Models of Uncertainty in Robotics Ch 4.0–4.2
Mon, 21 Oct Sensor and Actuator Characteristics Ch 4.3
Wed, 23 Oct Estimators Ch 4.4–4.5 CP 3 due
Fri, 25 Oct Bayes’ Rule; Bayes Filters Ch 4.6–4.7 PS 5 due
Mon, 28 Oct The Markov Assumption Ch 4.8
Wed, 30 Oct Entropy Ch 4.9
Topic 4 Optimization
Fri, 1 Nov Potential Fields Ch 5.0–5.1 PS 6 due
Mon, 4 Nov Trajectory Optimization Ch 5.2
Wed, 6 Nov Iterative Methods for Kinematics
Fri, 8 Nov Constrained Optimization: Lagrange Multipliers Ch 5.3.1 PS 7 due
Mon, 11 Nov Lagrange Multipliers in Robotics
Wed, 13 Nov Constrained Optimization: Linear Programming Ch 5.3.2 CP 4 due
Fri, 15 Nov Linear Programming Software QP with CVXOPT
(reference)
Topic 5 Control
Mon, 18 Nov Principles of Control Design Ch 6.0–6.1
Tue, 19 Nov PS 8 due
Wed, 20 Nov PID Control Ch 6.2
Fri, 22 Nov In-class prelim
Mon, 25 Nov Position, Velocity, and Force Control
Wed, 27 Nov No class – Thanksgiving Break
Fri, 29 Nov No class – Thanksgiving Break
Mon, 2 Dec Path-Following Control Ch 6.3
Wed, 4 Dec Controller Performance and Tuning Ch 6.4
Fri, 6 Dec Model-Predictive Control Ch 6.5 CP 5 due
Mon, 9 Dec Stability Ch 6.6 PS 9 due
Fri, 20 Dec Final Exam (take-home) due at 9:00am

* CP = coding project
PS = problem set