ME/CS 132b, Spring 2015
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Advanced Robotics: Navigation and Vision |
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Instructors
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Teaching Assistants (me132-tas@caltech.edu)
Course Piazza Site: piazza.com/caltech/spring2015/mecs132b/home |
Announcements
- The first lecture on 3/31 at 1:00pm in Room 24 BBB will give an Overview of the course.
Course Information
Prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites for the course, and some of the required background material will be reviewed during the first weeks of lecture. The instructional content of ME/CS 132(b) is largely independent of the material in ME/CS 132(a), but students are expected to be able to use the experimental lab equipment introduced in the lab at the end of ME/CS 132(a), and are expected to be able to apply the sensor processing and mapping techniques learned in the first quarter. The greater emphasis on a final project in this quarter will require a good comfort level with computer programming in at least one of the following languages: C, C++, Python, or MATLAB.
Grading
ME/CS 132(b) is primarily a project-based course. The grade will be based on 2 homeworks (30% of total grade) and one lab assignment (10% of total grade). Sixty percent (60%) of the grade will be based on a final project which is due during finals period. The final project can potentially be done in teams, with the instructor's approval.
- Homework: Homework is usually due ten days after it is assigned, and is intended to test your comprehension of material covered during lectures. You can choose to turn in a hard copy in class or send an electronic copy to the TA. If you are unable attend the lecture, contact the TA to find an alternative way to turn in your homework.
- Labs: Students will form groups of 2-3 people and perform lab experiments together. The lab will consist of implementing and testing basic algorithms on a mobile robot, and demonstrating the result, as well as submitting a copy of the code underlying the lab demonstration. This lab will occur after most of the course material has been covered in lecture, and is intended to help you prepare for the final project. Its timing is also intended to spark ideas for the final project proposal, so students are advised to use it as an exploratory device rather than stick to the bare bones of the assignment.
Collaboration Policy
Students are encouraged to discuss and collaborate with others on the homework. However, you should write your own solution to show your own understanding of the material. You should not copy other people's solution or code as part of your solution. You are allowed to consult the instructors, the TAs, and/or other students. Outside reference materials can be used except for solutions from prior years or similar courses taught at other universities. Outside materials must be cited if used. All our activities in this course will be governed by the Caltech Honor Code.
Piazza
Students are highly encouraged to post questions and answers on the course piazza site.
- The site will be monitored on business days by the course staff. Students can expect an answer within one business day.
- Students are expected to communicate in a professional manner.
Course Texts
There is only one required textbook, which is freely available on the web:
- Planning Algorithms by Steve LaValle (Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 2006).
- The book website is here; If you plan to continue work in the field of robotics, then you should consider buying the text. A copy has been placed on reserve at the library.
Some of the course material is better covered in these optional references:
- Principles of Robot Motion: Theory, Algorithms, and Implementation, by H. Choset, K. Lynch, S. Hutchinson, G. Kantor, W. Burgard, L. Kavraki, and S. Thrun , MIT Press, 2007.
- Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots by R. Siegwart and I. R. Nourbakhsh, MIT Press, 2004.
The Thrun, Burgard, and Fox book used last quarter will continue to be a useful optional reference:
- Probabilistic Robotics by Sebastian Thrun, Wolfram Burgard, and Dieter Fox, MIT Press, 2005.
This book is most likely to come in handy for some choices of final project. If you have bought the above book, then hold on to it for this quarter. If you haven't yet got the book, it is not necessary to purchase it, as there is very little specific information from that text that is needed this quarter. In any case, a copy has been placed on reserve at the library.
Lecture Schedule/handouts/homeworks/lab
| Week | Date | Topic | Reading | Homework |
| 1 | 31 Mar (Tu) | Course Overview: Introduction to Motion Planning | Lavalle Chapter 1 | -N/A- |
| 2 Apr (Th) | Reference Frames, Kinematics and Configuration Spaces | -N/A- | ||
| 2 | 7 Apr (Tu) | C-space Planning | Notes on the Star Algorithm; Notes on configuration space Obstacles | Homework 1 due 04/17/15 |
| 9 Apr (Th) | Potential Functions and Navigation Functions | -N/A- | ||
| 3 | 14 Apr (Tu) | Cell Decompositions and Roadmaps | Lavalle 249-280 | -N/A- |
| 16 Apr (Th) | Voronoi Decomposition and Visibility Graphs | -N/A- | ||
| 4 | 21 Apr (Tu) | Graph Search | Lavalle 264-280 | Homework 2 due 05/01/15 |
| 23 Apr (Th) | D* Algorithm, Intro to Sampling-Based Planners | -N/A- | ||
| 5 | 28 Apr (Tu) | Sampling-Based Methods: PRM, RRT and variants | Lavalle pages 28-39 | -N/A- |
| 30 Apr (Th) | Bug Algorithms | -N/A- | ||
| 6 | 4 May (Tu) | Lab Week | -N/A- | |
| 7 May (Th) | Lab Week | -N/A- | ||
| 7 | 11 May (Tu) | Lab Week | -N/A- | |
| 14 May (Th) | Lab Week | Project Proposal due 05/15/15 | ||
| 8 | 18 May (Tu) | Multi-Robot Motion Planning (tentative) | -N/A- | |
| 21 May (Th) | Special Topics (TBD) | -N/A- | ||
| 9 | 25 May (Tu) | No class -- travel to ICRA | -N/A- | |
| 28 May (Th) | No class -- travel to ICRA | -N/A- |
Homework/Labs
- Homework 1
- Subject: configuration space obstacles of planar polygonal bodies.
- Due Date: Friday, April 17, 2015 by 5pm.
- Homework 2
- Subject: 2D roadmaps.
- Due Date: Fri, May 1, 2015 by 5pm.
- Lab 1
- Subject: Wall Following.
- Due Date: Thurs, May 16, 2013 by 5pm.
- Template Code: This takes care of (most of) the occupancy grid and is one way to started. Change planning.png in the configs folder to change the obstacles in Player/Stage. The only parts you have to follow are those that interface your code with the robot. We care about seeing the robot navigate around an L-shaped obstacle and that your code is commented so we can understand what you're doing.
Final Project Information
- Final Project
- Pre-proposal Due Date: Fri, May 15, 2015 by 5pm (in electronic copy) to the instructor
- Project Due Date: Wed, June 10, 2015 by 5pm (Sat, June 6 by 5pm for seniors)
