15-384 satisfies CS application requirement
15-384 satisfies 12 units of ECE coverage requirement in Signals & Systems area
15-384 satisfies the Dynamics & Manipulation requirement of the Robotics Minor

Informally, the prerequisites are a year of calculus, a year of programming, and familiarity with matrix algebra. It's hard to track the changing course numbers and availability, but here's the current attempt:

• Calculus: 21-121 and 21-122 (Calc I and II), or the 4 mini-courses 21-115 through 21-118
• Programming: 15-127 (Intro to Programming and Computer Science)
• Matrix algebra, satisfied by any one of
  • 18-200 (Mathematical Foundations of EE),
  • 21-241 (Matrix Algebra),
  • 21-341 (Linear Algebra), OR
  • permission of instructor.

Also helpful, but not required, is a course on classical mechanics.

This class is mainly about the kinematics and programming of robotic mechanisms. We also spend some time on dynamics, control, sensor and effector design, and automatic planning methods. The fundamental techniques apply to arms, mobile robots, active sensor platforms, and all other computer-controlled kinematic linkages. Arms are the primary application, and we will do some lab exercises to program our Denso robot arms to do something interesting. At the end of the year we will have a tournament involving some manipulation skill. In past years we have had soccer shootout, darts, and a variety of other tournaments.

You can get a better feel for what will be involved in the class by looking at last year's website.