Robotics (202-25161) - Spring 2001-2002
Course Outline
Introduction to Robotics
Computer Science Department
General Description and Goals
The ROBOTICS course is primarily for graduate students, open
to undergraduates. It consists of an
introduction to issues in robotics, focusing mainly
on artificial intelligence aspects, and with a limited in-depth
study focusing on the robot-building lab (RBL).
The course includes experimentation on a mobile robot simulator -
the soccer simulation package. It offers
a chance for doing a small hands-on project in robotics, and a handle
on a possible research topic for graduate students.
Material Covered in Course
Theoretical material covered in course
- The interface between planning and control
- Interface with the environment - sensors and effectors
- Temporal reasoning
- Knowledge based planning
- Planning under uncertainty
- Controlling inference (meta-reasoning)
- Probabilistic Reasoning
- Learning
- Integrated planning and execution
- Path-planning
- Multi-gent coordination (new addition, due to robocup task)
Practical material (in laboratory sessions):
- Robot Building Laboratory (RBL): interfacing and commands
- RBL: Robot team competition
- The soccer simulator: introduction
- Controlling a mobile robot player
- Sensing in soccer simulation
- Mapping in an uncertain environment
- Path planning
- Multi-agent coordination for soccer simulation
Syllabus
T. L. Dean and M. P. Wellman: Planning and Control,
Morgan Kaufmann, 1993.
Articles from the research literature (handed out).
Simulator manuals and Robocup competition rules.
Course Requirements
The course consists of 4 weekly lecture sessions (``hours''), and
one exercise/lab session, the latter to be held as 2 hours
every other week. The course is for 4.5 point credits, and there
will be no final exam. Instead, the requirements are:
Mid-term exams (2, each worth 20%)
The RBL project (40%)
Other assignments (20%)
Prerequisites
Open to Graduate students and
GOOD 3rd year CS or engineering students, or higher.
Prerequisites: Probability, and one elective course related to
robotics, such as logic programming, artificial intelligence,
(or another AI course, such as decision making), control theory,
computational geometry,
or instructor's permission.
Note to non-CS students: advanced computer literacy is assumed. That is,
if you don't know the programming languages, you are assumed
to be able to catch up on your own.