Schedule
All assignments are due at 3:00pm.
| Date | Topic | Reading | Assignments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, 24 Aug | Introduction and Overview, Robot Mechanisms | Ch 1 | |
| Mon, 27 Aug | The Robot Operating System | ROS intro, Ch 1–2 | Proj 1 out |
| Topic 1 | Simulation | ||
| Wed, 29 Aug | Applications of Simulation | Ch 2.0–2.2 | HW 1 out |
| Fri, 31 Aug | Numerical Integration | Ch 2.3.0–2.3.1 | |
| Mon, 3 Sep | No class – Labor Day | ||
| Wed, 5 Sep | Numerical Differentiation | Ch 2.3.2–2.3.3 | |
| Topic 2 | Kinematics | ||
| Fri, 7 Sep | Rigid Body Abstraction | Ch 3.0–3.1 | Proj 1 due; Proj 2 out |
| Mon, 10 Sep | Mobile Robot Motion and Constraints | Ch 3.2.0–3.2.1 | |
| Wed, 12 Sep | Mobile Robot Steering Kinematics | Ch 3.2.2 | |
| Fri, 14 Sep | Rotations and Rotation Matrices | Ch 3.3.0–3.3.1 | |
| Mon, 17 Sep | Euler Angles, Axis-Angle, Quaternions | Ch 3.3.2–3.3.4 | |
| Wed, 19 Sep | Properties of Rotations | Ch 3.4 | HW 1 due; HW 2 out |
| Fri, 21 Sep | Rigid Motions and Homogeneous Transforms | Ch 3.5 | Proj 2 due |
| Mon, 24 Sep | Kinematic Chains | Ch 3.6–3.7 | |
| Wed, 26 Sep | DH Parameters | ||
| Fri, 28 Sep | Inverse Kinematics; Intro Velocity Kinematics | Ch 3.8–3.9.2 | |
| Mon, 1 Oct | The Jacobian | Ch 3.9.3–3.9.4 | Proj 3 out |
| Topic 3 | Optimization | ||
| Wed, 3 Oct | Basics: Gradients, Critical Points | Ch 4.0–4.1 | |
| Fri, 5 Oct | In-class prelim | ||
| Mon, 8 Oct | No class – Fall Break | ||
| Wed, 10 Oct | Iterative Methods: Newton’s Method | Ch 4.2.0–4.2.1 | HW 2 due; HW 3 out |
| Fri, 12 Oct | Iterative Methods: Gradient Descent | Ch 4.2.2 | |
| Mon, 15 Oct | Constrained Optimization: Lagrange Multipliers | Ch 4.3.1 | |
| Wed, 17 Oct | Lagrange Multipliers in Robotics | ||
| Fri, 19 Oct | Constrained Optimization: Linear Programming | Ch 4.3.2 | |
| Mon, 22 Oct | Linear Programming Software | QP with CVXOPT (reference) |
Proj 3 due; Proj 4 out |
| Topic 4 | Control | ||
| Wed, 24 Oct | Principles of Control Design | Ch 5.0–5.1 | |
| Fri, 26 Oct | PID Control | Ch 5.2 | HW 3 due; HW 4 out |
| Mon, 29 Oct | Path-Following Control | Ch 5.3 | |
| Wed, 31 Oct | Controller Performance and Tuning | Ch 5.4 | |
| Fri, 2 Nov | Model-Predictive Control | Ch 5.5 | |
| Mon, 5 Nov | Stability | Ch 5.6 | |
| Wed, 7 Nov | Topic TBA | ||
| Topic 5 | Uncertainty | ||
| Fri, 9 Nov | Nondeterminism and Stochasticity; Probability Basics | Ch 6.0–6.2 | |
| Mon, 12 Nov | Random Variables and Probability Distributions | Ch 6.3 | Proj 4 due; Proj 5 out |
| Wed, 14 Nov | Statistical Moments | Ch 6.4 | HW 4 due; HW 5 out |
| Fri, 16 Nov | In-class prelim | ||
| Mon, 19 Nov | Multiple Random Variables | Ch 6.5 | |
| Wed, 21 Nov | No class – Thanksgiving Break | ||
| Fri, 23 Nov | No class – Thanksgiving Break | ||
| Mon, 26 Nov | Bayes’ Rule; Bayes Filters | Ch 6.6–6.7 | |
| Wed, 28 Nov | The Markov Assumption | Ch 6.8 | |
| Fri, 30 Nov | Entropy | Ch 6.9 | |
| Mon, 3 Dec | Topic TBA | HW 5 due | |
| Fri, 7 Dec | — | Proj 5 due | |
| Thu, 13 Dec | Final Exam (take-home) due at 11:30am |