MCS 5403: Robotics Programming

Summer E 2006, Department of Math and Computer Science
Lawrence Technological University

Day/Time: Wed 5:45-9:35pm
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisite: [C++ or Java], Data Structures* & Operating Systems*  (*) Official requirement in the catalog

Location: S221 in the beginning of the semester. Then we will move to CW51 (lab: CW21)

Instructor: CJ Chung, Ph.D.

  • Offices: S112 and CW21
  • Phone: (248) 204-3504
  • Fax: (248) 204-3518 (this fax number is for the whole building and senders should be sure to place instructor's name on the fax)
  • Dept. Secretary: (248) 204-3560
  • Math/CS Drop Box: in front of S120 door. Please put instructor's name and time of submission on your work.
  • Email: CHUNG@ltu.edu
  • Class Web page www3.ltu.edu/~chung/robot/se05.htm for syllabus, announcements, and lecture notes, etc.
  • Blackboard at my.ltu.edu
  • Office Hours: Wed 4:00-4:50pm in S112 or CW21

Required Text

  • Autonomous Robots by G. A. Bekey, MIT Press, 2005, 0-262-02578-7
  • Any Java textbook (or C++ book for AIBO projects)
  • NQC manuals and LeJos documentations (will be provided by the instructor)

Recommended Texts

  • Introduction to AI Robotics by Murphy
  • Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots by Sigwart and Nourbakhsh, MIT Press, 2004
  • Core Lego Mindstorms Programming, Brian Bagnall
  • The Unofficial Guide to LEGO(R) Mindstorms(TM) Robots, J Knudsen, O'Reilly, 1999
  • Definitive Guide to LEGO(R) Mindstorms(TM), Dave Baum, Apress
  • Any artificial intelligence, neural-nets, and fuzzy logic textbooks
  • Cambrian Intelligence, R. Brooks, MIT press
  • Robot, H. Moravec, Oxford Univ. Press

Robot Kits, Tools and Software to be used

  • (LTU) laptop computer
  • Laptop Robot using Java
  • Lego Mindstorms: RCX code, RoboLab (LabView), NQC, Java LeJos
  • AIBO using C++
  • Various sensors for smart house and baby monitoring system

Internet Resources: Please visit the Instructor's Homepage Robo Research Button at http://qbx6.ltu.edu/chung as well as the class web page at http://qbx6.ltu.edu/chung

Course Contents

  • Introduction to Robotics
  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Robot Learning
  • Introduction to Real-time embedded systems development
    • Characteristics of real-time systems/software
    • Concurrent programming, Message passing systems, and Modeling Finite State Machines
    • Design methodologies for real-time systems using SDL and Petri-net
  • Introduction to
    • Laptop Robots
    • Lego Mindstorms
    • Other robotics platforms such as AIBO ERS-7
  • Robotics Paradigms
    • PID control
    • Reactive Paradigm
    • Adaptive Control
    • Fuzzy Logic Control
    • Evolutionary Robotics
  • Introduction to Robot Locomotion (wheeled, 4 legged, 6 legs, biped)
  • Introduction to Robot Self-localization, Navigation and Mapping
  • Sensor fusion
  • Introduction to Robot Vision
  • Introduction to cooperative robotics

Tentative Schedule

Date

Event

Note

5-17

First Day of Class

Preliminary test

6-10~12

IGVC in Traverse City

Welcome to come to the competition at Selfridge Air National Guard base.

6-14

IGVC video presentation

 

7-12

Final Written Exam, Last Day for W

Exam: 5:45-7:00pm

7-19

Preliminary Robot Demo

No lecture

7-26

Final Robot Demo and Presentation

Open to the public

Class Format and Grading: Total 200 points

  • Homeworks and Projects: 140 points
  • Final exam: 60 points

This score will be translated into a letter grade based upon the percentages given below.

 

A

91-100%

C+

75-78%

A-

89-90%

C

71-74%

B+

85-88%

C-

69-70%

B

81-84%

D+

65-68%

B-

79-80%

D

60-64%

Possible Class Projects

  • RoboParade (L2Bot and Lego)
  • Robofest 2007 Game Design
  • Join the IGVC team as an associate member
  • AIBO robot soccer, robot goalie
  • Investigation on the DARPA challenge
  • Smart House, Smart Baby Monitoring System
  • Others

Class Policies

  • Attendance is essential to doing well in the course. The exams will focus primarily (but not exclusively) on material presented in the lectures and labs.
  • If you are unable to attend a meeting, it is your responsibility to obtain the material from other students, Bb, class web pages, or instructor.

Exam. Policies

  • There will be no makeup exams will be given.
  • Closed books, closed notes, and closed neighbors. Some parts of the exam may be open book.

Policy on late homework or project

  • Full credit at the beginning of class on the due date
  • 10% deduction per day (24 hours)

Intellectual Property and Copyrights

All the deliverables may be reused/modified/upgraded by other students and/or the instructor later on for educational purposes. The instructor will make sure to give appropriate credits and acknowledgements to the student in that case. The instructor believes that the student has the intellectual property right of the system the student developed. However, since it is done in a class at LTU, it is also requested that the student should give appropriate credits and acknowledgements to the instructor as well as the University, if the system is used and/or commercialized after the class.

 

Policy on Academic Misconduct

Each student must comply with the University Academic Honor Code at http://www.ltu.edu/currentstudents/honor_code_offenses.asp

 

(5/17/06)