Introduction to Robotics CSCI 4830/7000

This class will teach the basics of how robots can move (locomotion and kinematics), how they can sense (perception), and how they can reason about their environment (planning).

Lecture materials are supported by computer exercises using the simulation software “Webots”. Exercises will cover programming of basic sensors, actuators and perception algorithms and are geared to prepare the students to participate in the online competition “RatsLife” (http://www.ratslife.org) within the framework of the class. In RatsLife two miniature robots “E-Puck” are competing against each other in a virtual maze about available chargers. The students will work in teams of 2 to 3 and develop controllers for the robots putting concepts taught in class into practice. Students will also have the ability to launch their controllers on a set of real e-Puck robots in Switzerland and watch their performance remotely.

Textbook: “Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots”, Siegwart and Nourbakhsh, The MIT Press, 2004.

Prerequisites: programming experience in C/C++ and/or Java.

Time: Monday and Wednesday, 05:30pm-06:45pm

Location: ECCS 1B12 (Monday), exercises in ECCS 128 (CSEL lab) on Wednesday

Exercises: Course Wiki

Guest Lecture: Kalman Filter, Matthew Kirchner, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division

Introduction to Robotics CSCI 4830/7000

Fall 2010

Robotics brings together various engineering disciplines to create autonomous machines that can sense, manipulate, and reason about their environment.

This course provides an introduction to sensors and actuators used in robots as well as their computational principles.