Analytical Introduction to Robotics

Course Number EE 411/911a CS 471a
Course Title Analytical Introduction to Robotics
Instructor David J. Kriegman
Teaching Assistant Sudhakar Chelikani
Schedule TTh 11.30-12.45 in C031 Becton

Texts

Available from the Yale Bookstore
1. John Craig, Introduction to Robotics, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley, 1989.

2. Jean-Claude Latombe, Robot Motion Planning, Kluwer, 1991. (Optional)

3. R. Murray, Z. Li, and S. Sastry, A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation, CRC Press, 1994. (Optional, This is a more advanced text and readings will be suggested to augment the main text).

Syllabus

Week Dates             Topic and reading
1    Sep. 4	       Welcome, coordinate systems, rigid body transformations  [Chap. 1]
2    Sept. 9, 11       Rotation matrices, groups [Chap. 2, papers]
3    Sept. 16, 18      Mappings, tangent spaces, links, forward kinematics [Chap. 3, papers]
4    Sept. 23, 25      Inverse kinematics, singularities [Chap. 4]
5    Sept. 30, Oct. 2  Velocities, static forces, Jacobians [Chap. 5]
6    Oct. 7, 9         Trajectory generation and splines [Chap. 7]
7    Oct. 14, 16       Configuration space, geometric motion planning [Latombe, papers]
8    Oct. 21, 23       More motion planning, actuators  [Latombe, papers] 
9    Oct. 28, 30       Robot dynamics [Chap. 6, 8]
10   Nov. 4,6          Exam, linear control theory [Chap. 9]
11   Nov. 11, 13       Nonlinear control of robots [Chap. 10], 
                       Motion planning revisited [Khatib], [Koditschek & Rimon]
12   Nov. 18, 20       Visual Servoing (Guest lecturer, Greg Hager)
13   Dec. 2, 4         Hand-eye coordination (Guest lecturer, Greg Hager)
14   Dec. 11	       Project presentations (Reading Period)

Notes:
1. This syllabus is tentative and subject to change at a moments notice. Actual reading assignments will be given in class and will be from Craig, Latombe, Murray et. al. and papers distributed in class.
2. The exam date is tentative. It will occur when we've covered the material to this point.

Grading

Problem Sets: 30%
Hour Exam: 25%
Project: 45%

The late penalty for problem sets and programs will be 5\% per day until the solution keys are returned at which point no credit will be awarded.

There are two types of projects that can be pursued in this class. First, you may select a research project on the cutting edge of robotics theory or practice that will be guided by a mentor who is a faculty member or graduate student in robotics. Alternatively, you may elect to develop a system to perform some robotic task using the Mitsubishi manipulator that is located in the teaching lab. If you choose the later, there are a series of laboratory assignments that must also be completed. Details of the projects and lab will be covered in another handout.

Assignments

Lab

The following files contain useful code for the Mitsubishi Labs.