The City College of New York

Department of Electrical Engineering

G5501: Introduction to ROBOTICS


Course Objective:

To expose graduate students/senior undergraduate students with the fundamental issues related to the research and applications of robotic systems. The course covers both robot manipulators and mobile robots. Students will be able to learn the mathematic tools for modeling, analysis, and control of a robotic system. The students will be able to gain the knowledge of robot kinematics, dynamics, motion planning, trajectory generation, sensing, and robot controller design. 

General Information:

Description: Graduate level course,  3 credits, Fall semester every year. Senior undergraduates can take this course with instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: EE371 (Linear feedback Systems) Lecture Time: Tue. 6:30pm-9:00pm             
Instructor Prof. John (Jizhong) Xiao      Location: Steinman Hall, T-512
Office: Steinman Hall, Room T534 Office Hours: TuTh. 1:00pm -2:00pm or by appointment
E-mail: jxiao@ccny.cuny.edu Tel: 212-650-7268
Website:  CCNY Robotics Lab: http://134.74.16.73/     Dr. Xiao's Personal website:  http://www-ee.ccny.cuny.edu/www/web/jxiao/jxiao.html

Textbooks:

1. Robotics --- Control, Sensing, Vision and Intelligence, K. S. Fu, R. C. Gonzalez, C. S. G. Lee, McGraw-Hill, 1987, ISBN 0-07-022625-3. (Out of print, course pack will be available before class)

2. Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots, Roland Siegwart, Illah R. Nourbakhsh, The MIT Press, 2004, ISBN 0-262-19502-X. (Available at CCNY bookstore)

Reference books:

1. Introduction to AI Robotics, Robin R. Murphy, The MIT Press, 2000, ISBN 0-262-13383-0. 

2. Introduction to Robotics: Analysis, Systems, Applications, Saeed B. Niku, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-061309-6.

3. Sensors for Mobile Robots --- Theory and Application, H. R. Everett, A. K. Peters, Ltd, ISBN 1-56881-048-2.

4. Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics, Gregory Dudek, Michael Jenkin, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-56876-5.

5. Introduction to Robotics, Phillip John McKerrow, 1990, ISBN 0-201-18240-8.

6. Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery, Charles E. Wilson, J. Peter Sadler, Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 0-201-35099-8.

7. Fundamentals of Robotics --- Analysis and Control, Robert J. Schilling, Prentice Hall, 1990, ISBN 0-13-344433-3.

  You can find these books (new or used books) from Amazon.com.

Tentative Topics:

Introduction: historical development of robotic systems,  research perspectives
Robot Manipulators: homogeneous representation, robot kinematics and dynamics models, path and trajectory planning, robot motion control
Mobile Robots: kinematics model and dynamic model of wheeled mobile robots, motion planning and trajectory generation, navigation and maping
Robot Sensing: visual and non-visual sensors

Course Schedule and Update:

Week and date Lecture notes Homework Comment
Week 1 (Aug. 30) Introduction: ppt format, PDF format; video: 1) automat 2) tea dole 3) industrial robot 4) Shakey 5) Stanford Cart 6) PUMA 7) ARM Dexterity 8)Field Robots 9)Service Robot 10) AI-1 11) AI-2 12) Autonomous Robot  13) Humanoid 14) Sony Qrio   Lecture notes updated.
Week 2 (Sept. 6) Kinematics I: ppt format, PDF format HWK1 Lecture notes updated. HWK1 due date: Sept. 13 before class
Week 3 (Sept. 13) Kinematics II: ppt format, PDF format HWK2 Lecture notes updated. HWK2 due date: Sept. 20 before class
Week 4 (Sept. 20) Jacobian: ppt format, PDF format HWK3 Lecture notes updated. HWK3 due date: Sept. 27 before class
Week 5 (Sept. 27) Dynamics: ppt format, PDF format HWK4 Lecture notes updated. HWK4 due date, Oct. 7 (Friday).
Week 6 (Oct. 4) NO CLASSES (College Open)    
Week 7 (Oct. 11)  Monday Schedule    
Week 8 (Oct. 18) Manipulator Control: ppt format, PDF format
Week 9 (Oct. 25) Course Review and Q&A section: ppt format, PDF format    
Week 10 (Nov. 1) Midterm Exam, 6:45pm~8:45pm, T-512    close book, close note, one page note allowed
Week 11 (Nov. 8) Midterm Exam Evaluation: ppt format

Mobot: Mobile Robot: ppt format, PDF format

Required Readings: 

Structural properties and classification of kinematic and dynamic models of wheeled mobile robots; Campion, G.; Bastin, G.; Dandrea-Novel, B.; IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, Volume: 12 , Issue: 1 , Feb. 1996, Pages:47 - 62

HWK5 You are required to redo the questions which you didn't answer correctly in the Midterm Exam. Attach your new answers with your exam and submit them together by Nov. 22 before the class. 

Lecture notes updated. 

HWK5 due date: Nov. 15 before class.

Week 12 (Nov. 15) Robot Sensing & Sensors: ppt format, PDF format

Required Readings: 

Mobile robot positioning ---- sensors and techniques; J. Borenstein, H. R. Everett, L. Feng, and D. Wehe; Journal of Robotic Systems, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp231-249, 1997.

Measurement and correction of systematic odometry errors in mobile robots; J. Borenstein, L. Feng; IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp869-880, 1996.

HWK6 Lecture notes updated.

HWK6 due date: Nov. 22 before class.

Week 13 (Nov. 22) Motion Planning: ppt format, PDF format HWK7 Lecture notes updated. 

HWK7 due: Nov. 29 before class 

Nov 24-27 (Thanksgiving) NO CLASS    
Week 14 (Nov. 29) Mapping: ppt format, PDF format HWK8 Lecture notes updated

HWK8 due: Dec. 6 before class

Week 15 (Dec. 6) Localization and course summary: ppt format, PDF format

Reading: paper1, paper 2, paper3, paper4, paper5

  Lecture notes updated.
Week 16 (Dec. 13) Final Exam, Coverage: Mobile robot, close-book with one-page note   6:30pm-9:00pm, T512
Final Exam week "The Fall 2005 Course and Teacher Survey has been e-mailed to all students using their CCNY e-mail address. The deadline for submitting the survey is the last day of Final Examinations. Please encourage your students to respond to this survey."             --- CCNY administration  I will not submit your final grades until 70% of students have done the survey. Your survey will have nothing to do with your grades. 

The Score board is online. Please check your grades and report any errors. I will submit your final grades shortly.

Some students reported that they didn't receive the E-mail regarding the course survey. Please check your "CCNY email" again. And if you still cannot find it, then it is up to you to take any actions: forget about it or contact CCNY administration about the issue. Either action you take will not affect your grades.