Robotics and autonomous systems

Teaching team

• Patric Jensfelt - lecturer, responsble for the course
• Alper Aydemir - teaching assistant
• Andrzej Pronobis - teaching assistant

Intro

This course is an advanced course in computer science focusing on the broad, inter-disciplinary field of robotics where the students build and program an autonomous robot.

The KTH robotics course webpage

Aim

After the course the student should be able to

• describe basic concepts and technologies in the broad and interdisciplinary field of robotics,
• describe the possibilities and limitations for robot technology of today
• analyze a technical problem from a holistic viewpoint
• develop a strategy for solving and solve a problem using available methods and tools
• make descisions based on acquired knowledge
• assess quality of own work and work by others
• work in a project setting
• communicate knowledge - orally and in writing

Course description

The course is divided into two parts, one that covers theory (lectures and lab) and one for practice (project). The course runs over two periods which rought cover one of these parts each. The majority of the work will be done in period 2 (the project).

Theory

The theoretical part of the course deals with fundamental concepts in robotics, kinematics and navigation. This part of the course consists mainly of the lectures and a lab assignment.

We will try to avoid too much of the normal teacher-speaks, students-listen paradigm for the lectures and instead discuss the different topics in the book together. The lectures will therefore more be like a combination of seminar and workshop. There are several reasons for this. The assumption is that everyone has read the material before each meeting and thus comes prepared. The goal with each meeting is that everyone gets a chance to get their questions answered so that we leave knowing what is required to know about that topic in the course. This promotes a deeper approach to learning and allows us to use the time together more efficiently than simply reciting the book.

The lecturer will present the material in a condensed form for about 30 min approximately. As you can imagine 30min is not that much and there is no way that all the material can be covered in that time. Every student attending the lecture is supposed/assumed to have read the material dealt with. You should also collect the questions that you got when reading the material and write these down so that they can be discuessed during the lecture.

After the lecture you will be divided into groups and you will be given about 30min to discuss the material within the group. This is an excellent time to try to get your questions answered with the help of follow students. A number of questions will be handed out to the groups to discuss around.

At the end of the lecture we will discuss the findings of each group in full class again.

Note that the lectures are supposed to be an instrument for learning and not assessment. You are required to participate actively in the lectures and related activities but what you do does not affect your grade (other than pass/fail). The lectures situtation is thus a "safe" environment where no question is too simple or stupid and learning is the only goal.

The lectures and the project will mostly deal with mobile robotics. However, a large part of industrial robotics today deals with industrial robots, i.e. manipulators. There will be one lab during the course where you will gain some experience with working a simulated robot arm.

Contact

If you have any questions regarding the course you can contact

• Lecturer: Patric Jensfelt, patric@nada.kth.se , 08-790 6731 (general questions)
• Lab assistant TBA (questions about the project)