. CSE360/460-010: An Introduction to Mobile Robotics MWF 0810-0900 AM, Spring 2008

Announcements

• 07 May 08:  We had an exciting finish to the 2008 IMR Grand Challenge! All three teams were able to finish the event. Video highlights for each team are posted here: team1 [wmv] team2 [wmv] team3 [wmv]
• 22 Apr 08:  The project description is posted. You will be assigned into groups on Wednesday.
• 16 Apr 08:  The deadline for homework 5 has been extended to 25 April before class.
• 12 Apr 08:  Homework 5 is posted.
• 29 Mar 08:  Sanjiv Singh (CMU) will be giving a seminar talk on 15 April at 4PM. Please plan to attend.
• 29 Mar 08:  Lab 2 is posted. If you have not sent me times of your availability, please do so ASAP!
• 18 Mar 08:  Homework 4 is posted. It is due 28 Mar 08 before class. Start early!
• 19 Feb 08:  Lab 1 is Posted, and will be from 20-22 Feb. It is due 29 Feb 08 before class.
• 18 Feb 08:  Homework 3 is Posted! It is due 27 Feb 08 before class.
• 05 Feb 08:  I've merged all of the perception lectures into a single pdf.
• 01 Feb 08:  Great news. Homework 2 is posted! It is due Monday, 11 Feb 08 before class.
• 29 Jan 08:  Added a reference for GPS.
• 29 Jan 08:  Beginning to flush out the course schedule.
• 25 Jan 08:  Homework 1 is posted. It is due next Friday, 1 Feb 08, BEFORE class.
• 13 Jan 08:  First day of Class. Welcome!
  

Course Description
In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of mobile robot kinematics, perception, localization, navigation, and motion planning.  The primary objective of this course is for students to build a "toolbox" of prominent algorithms necessary for implementing intelligent, autonomous robot behaviors.  To help motivate the work, we will examine real-world robot platforms as case studies. Students will then implement the same algorithms in software using Matlab as the development platform. Simualations will be augmented by laboratory assignments that will expose the students to sensor systems commonly used in the mobile robotcs field.

Prerequisites

• Math 23 Analytic Geometry and Calculus III or equivalent
• Math 205 Linear Methods or equivalent or equivalent
• CSE 109 Systems Programming or equivalent programming experience in C/C++

Instructor
John Spletzer
Office Hours:  MWF 5:00-6:00 PM and by appointment

Course Materials
For this course, we will be using the Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots text by Siegwart and Nourbakhsh.  We will also be making use of the following online materials (and others), plus selected papers:

1. Peter Dana (University of Colorado) has an excellent overview on the Global Positioning System.
2. Matlab Tutorial & Documentation, Mathworks web site
   
3. Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC)
• A one page summary from CVOnline
• The original paper (15 pages - you can only access this from the Lehigh server)
  
4. Particle Filters
• D. Fox et al, Bayesian Filtering for Location Estimation, University of Washington, 2003
  
• S. Thrun, Probabilistic Algorithms in Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University, 2000
5. Kalman Filters
• G. Welch & G. Bishop, An Introduction to the Kalman Filter, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 2001
6. Motion Planning: 
• “Motion Planning Using Potential Fields”,  R. Beard & T. McClain, BYU, 2003

Grading

The breakout of course grading  is as follows:

• Homework assignments:  50%
  
• Laboratory assignments:  10%
  
• Class project:  20%
  
• Class attendance/participation - particularly for the graduate presentations (undergraduate):  20%
• Presentation (graduate):  20%

Homework assignments are individual assignments.  Discussing the homework with another student is fine.  However, each student must submit there own work!

ALL ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A PASSING GRADE IN THIS CLASS.

Grades will be assigned acording to the following distribution:
.

A	92-100	C	72-76
A-	90-91	C-	70-71
B+	87-89	D+	67-69
B	82-86	D	62-66
B-	80-81	D-	60-61
C+	77-79	F	00-59

Late Policy:  Assignments are due PRIOR to class on the due date.  Late assignments will not be accepted UNLESS you have made arrangements with the instructor prior to the due date. 

Plagiarism: I will submit any case of suspected copying to the University Committee on Discipline. Often, when the discipline committee finds a student guilty of copying, the penalty is a WF in the course. If the Committee on Discipline finds your guilty of the charge of copying and does not assign a WF, I reserve the right to assign the grade of F.   NO COPYING OF PROGRAMMING ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TOLERATED!

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:  If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodations, please contact both your instructor and the Office of Academic Support Services, University Center C212 (610-758-4152) as early as possible in the semester. You must have documentation from the Academic Support Services office before accommodations can be granted.

Tentative Schedule
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^M ^M

DATE	TOPICS	NOTES	ASSIGNMENT
13 Jan 08	Administrative and Introduction	pdf
15 Jan 08	Math Review
17 Jan 08	Background	pdf
23 Jan 08	Locomotion & Kinematics	pdf	Homework 1 Matlab skeleton Test input data
29 Jan 08	Perception	pdf	Homework 2 Sample Input File Sample makeRobot.m file Sample moveRobot.m file Homework 3 Matlab skeleton Color Segmentation Test video - Cinepak version (26 MB) Edge detection test video - Cinepak version (21 MB) Processed ball tracking video
20-22 Feb 08	Robo-Lab Part 1	pdf
25-27 Feb 08	Feedback Control	pdf
3-7 March 08	Spring Break!
10-12 March 08	Voting Algorithms	pdf	Homework 4
14 March - 9 April 08	Localization	pdf	Homework 5 make_map.m make_robot.m move_robot.m sample simulation 1 sample simulation 2
31 Mar - 2 April	Robo-Lab 2	pdf
11 April 08	C. Gao, "Estimation and Control for the ATRS"
14-16 Apr 08	Motion Planning	pdf
18 April 08	J. Derenick, "Robust Road Segmentation for the DARPA Urban Challenge"	pdf
21-25 April 08	Graduate Student Presentations (Sands, Tallman, Gardner)	pdf - pdf - pdf
7 May 08	Final Project	pdf