CSC 431A - Introduction to AI Robotics - Spring 2008

T, Th: 15:10 - 16:40: Sverdrup 202

Robot components, robotic paradigms, mobile robots, task planning, sensing, sensor fusion, basic control concepts. This course satisfies the writing requirement.

Prerequisite: CSC 210

Instructor: Karen T. Sutherland
Office: Sverdrup 203E // Lab: Sverdrup 7
Email: suther@navigation.augsburg.edu
Phone: 612-330-1341
Office Hours: T, Th: 16:45 - 18:00 or by appt. (Held in Sverdrup 7)

Text: Maja Mataric, The Robotics Primer, MIT Press, 2007.

Requirements:
Midterm exam: 100 pts Final exam: 200 pts
Projects: 100 pts Homework: 100 pts

Assignments are to be emailed to your instructor when due. Late assignments will be accepted up to the next class meeting with a 20% penalty. There will be a major team-based robot project. Each team will keep a journal of robot project progress and will create an html document to be incorporated into a class Web page. These html documents will be written in simple html using ASCII text. User documentation and detailed documentation will also be a part of this project. A passing grade on the project is required in order to pass the course.

Course Outline:

WeekTopics Chapter(s)
1/15 - 1/17Introduction to Robotics 1 - 3
1/22 Metropolis Film
1/24 Mindstorm Lab
1/29 Basics 4
1/31Flatland Film
2/5 - 2/7Movement 5 - 7
2/12 - 2/14 Sensing 8, 9
2/19 - 2/21Control 10, 11
2/26 - 2/28Representation and Planning 12, 13
3/4 Midterm Exam
3/6Subsumption Architecture 14
3/11Thinking and Acting 15
3/13DARPA Grand challenge Video
3/18 - 3/20Spring Break - No class
3/25 - 3/27Navigation 16
4/1 - 4/3 Behaviors 17, 18
4/8 - 4/10Localization 19
4/15 - 4/17Team Robots, Learning 20, 21
4/22 - 4/24 New Developments in Robotics, Review for final 22

The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, 29 April, 15:15 - 17:15