16-311 Introduction to Robotics
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Welcome to 16-311 Spring 2018!


Description:
This course presents an overview of robotics in practice and research with topics including vision, motion planning, mobile mechanisms, kinematics, inverse kinematics, and sensors.

In course projects, students construct robots which are driven by a microcontroller, with each project reinforcing the basic principles developed in lectures. Students usually work in teams of three: an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, and a computer scientist. Groups are typically self-formed except for the first lab.

This course will also expose students to some of the contemporary happenings in robotics, including current robotics research, applications, robot contests and robot web surfing.

Who should take
this class:
Juniors, seniors, and advanced sophomores interested in robotics. Familiarity with programming and basic calculus is required. Students should also know or plan to learn the following.

Course policies:
Lecture: Students are not permitted to enter after class has started. Electronic devices are prohibited.
Lab: All members must be on time to demo.
Homework: All homework must be submitted on time.

Locations and times:
Lecture: Monday & Wednesday
10:30am-11:50am
NSH 1305
Recitation: Tuesday
4:30pm-5:50pm
NSH 1305
Lab: Tuesday
Take the place of recitation
Robotics Education Laboratory
NSH 3206

Communication:
Email: 16-311-s18-tas (at) lists.andrew.cmu.edu
Piazza: Sign up here: S2018 Piazza page

Personnel:
Prof. Howie Choset

choset (at) cs.cmu.edu
NSH 3205

Peggy Martin
(Howie's secretary)

pm1e (at) andrew.cmu.edu
NSH 3207

Hannah Lyness (M)
(Head TA)


hlyness (at) andrew.cmu.edu
TAs:

Nathalie Domingo (E)
Valentina (Val) Kozina (C)
Hans Kumar (M)
Katie Lam (M)
Jae-Eun (Esther) Lim (M)
Ian Lo (C)
Zixu (Elias) Lu (E)
Zack Masciopinto (M)
Isabel Murdock (E)
David Neiman (T)
Diya Nuxoll (M)
Spencer Persaud (M)
Atulya Ravishankar (E)
Mehar Singh (M)
Samantha (Sam) Speer (E)
Angelina (Angel) Zhou (C)
Zheyao (Stefan) Zhu (M)

ndomingo (at) andrew.cmu.edu
vik (at) andrew.cmu.edu
hansk (at) andrew.cmu.edu
klam1 (at) andrew.cmu.edu
jaeeunl (at) andrew.cmu.edu
ilo1 (at) andrew.cmu.edu
zixul (at) andrew.cmu.edu
zpm (at) andrew.cmu.edu
iem (at) andrew.cmu.edu
dneiman (at) andrew.cmu.edu
dnuxoll (at) andrew.cmu.edu
spersau1 (at) andrew.cmu.edu
aravisha (at) andrew.cmu.edu
meharsin (at) andrew.cmu.edu
snspeer (at) andrew.cmu.edu
ajzhou (at) andrew.cmu.edu
zheyaoz (at) andrew.cmu.edu

Here, the color and letter following the student's name indicates their primary undergraduate major ((C) indicates Computer Science, (E) indicates Electrical and Computer Science, (M) indicates Mechanical Engineering and (T) indicates Mathematics).


Teams:
Teams for the first lab are randomly assigned. The second lab is individual. Students will self-select their lab groups for the remainder of the labs. It is recommended that you select a member of each of the main majors represented in the course (CS, ECE and MechE). You are allowed to change groups, however it is difficult if you are the only group that needs a change in the class. Here is the team contract that will be signed upon the distribution of the LEGO Mindstorms kits:Team Contract.

Text:
Robotics, Vision, and Control, Peter Corke, Springer, 2011.

The text is not required for the course, but can serve as a reference.

Related Texts:
Introduction to Robotics, John J. Craig, Addison-Wesley Publishing, Inc., 1989.

Machine Vision, D.H. Ballard and C.M. Brown, Prentice-Hall, 1982.

Robot Motion Planning, J.C. Latombe, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.

Introduction to Robotics, P. J. McKerrow, ISBN: 0201182408

Homework: 
Assignments will be distributed via the web. Hard copies will not be distributed in class. Assignments are due at the specified dates and times. Late assignments will not be accepted for grading under any condition.

All group members must be present for demos. A student not present for the demo will receive a zero, unless under extreme circumstances.

Historically, students will have their lowest homework dropped if they submit every single assignment.

Labs:
Self-paced collaborative lab projects will complement the weekly lectures of Introduction to Robotics. Whereas the lectures emphasize the underlying math and algorithms of each sub-discipline of robotics, the projects will emphasize the pragmatic facets of implementing robotic and mechatronic devices. The labs give students an education that go well beyond robotics into fields like control, embedded systems, programming, signal processing, interfacing, and electronics.

Grading:
60% Homeworks
15% Midterm
25% Final

Lectures:
No student may record or tape any classroom activity without the express written consent of Howie Choset. If a student needs to record or tape classroom activities, the student should contact the Office of Disability Resources to request an appropriate accommodation.

Health:
This course is designed to give students an introduction to the principles and passion required in robotics. We realize that this requires a great deal of time and energy. As you know, your health comes first. Please reach out if you feel that you are becoming unhealthy. Here are some great resources: Healthy Campus Site, CaPS, Mindfullness Room, Paws to Relax, your course staff.

Last updated 4/17/2018 by Hannah Lyness
(c) 1999-2018: Howie Choset, Carnegie Mellon