Course Announcement for Fall: Mobile Robotics

[Jerry]

Mobile Robotics: Integrated System Design
A Multidisciplinary Robotics Course Open to CS, ECE, IME, and ME Students

CS 490        Section 001 MW 3-4:15
ECE 492    Section 004 MW 3-4:15
IME 492    Section 001 MW 3-4:15
ME 492    Section 001 MW 3-4:15

A mobile robot is an integrated mechanical, electrical, and computational system that can function in the physi-cal world. Unbound from the shackles of the stationary desktop, a mobile robot must include a variety of meth-ods to navigate, perceive, and problem solve.

This course presents an integrated systems view of robotics with topics including vision, motion planning, mo-bile mechanisms, kinematics, and sensors. Students will construct sensors, actuators, and robots which are driven by a microcontroller. Each project will reinforce the principles discussed in lectures. Students will work in multidisciplinary teams consisting of an electrical/computer engineer, a mechanical engineer, a computer sci-entist and an industrial engineer. This course will also cover some current work in robotics, which includes cur-rent robot research, applications, and competitions.
Prerequisites
CS   Prerequisite CS 340 or consent of instructor: Dr. Weinberg
ECE    Prerequisite ECE 326 or consent of instructor:   Dr. Engel   
IME    Prerequisite ECE 210 & ME 262 or consent of instructor: Dr. Karacal
ME    Prerequisite ME 350 or consent of instructor: Dr. Krauss

Student teams will build robots using the XBC Xport robot controllers. These controllers use the processing power of the Sony Gameboy for high-speed computing and increased memory.  The XBC interfaces with the CMU color cam for real-time image processing.
   
NEW and IMPROVED for this course:   
iCreate robot from iRobot: The development version of the popular roomba robot vacuum cleaner will be used as the basis for robot creations. 

[raptor]

I'm in.

[Ross Mead]

My favorite course to be involved with, but, alas, I will not be TAing it this time around... :(

Good luck to all of those who sign up!  :-)

[bandyguy]

Too bad I'm taking 340 this coming fall, maybe in the spring  :-(

[Bryan]

My favorite course to be involved with, but, alas, I will not be TAing it this time around... :(

Good luck to all of those who sign up!  :-)

Haven't you graduated yet?

[William Grim]

First, you will love the robots.  Then, you will grow weary of the robots.  Next, you will grow angry with the robots and them incessantly spinning the wrong direction and want to see if they'll glide off the 3rd floor.  Finally, the class will be finished, and you will again love the robots a year later.

[Kaitlyn Schmidt]

First, you will love the robots.  Then, you will grow weary of the robots.  Next, you will grow angry with the robots and them incessantly spinning the wrong direction and want to see if they'll glide off the 3rd floor.  Finally, the class will be finished, and you will again love the robots a year later.

Grim, I think you pegged the situation to a T.  Yes.  That's exactly how things work when robots are involved.  I hate to love robots.  I love to hate robots.  Robots are so much joy, yet also so much soul crushing pain... T_____T  (My senior project is a robot.)

[Ross Mead]

Haven't you graduated yet?

I graduate in December, but I stuck around to finish up some projects.  I'm leaving for graduate school at the end of the summer.

First, you will love the robots.  Then, you will grow weary of the robots.  Next, you will grow angry with the robots and them incessantly spinning the wrong direction and want to see if they'll glide off the 3rd floor.  Finally, the class will be finished, and you will again love the robots a year later.

Sooooo true... sooooo true... :lol:

The class is difficult, but is a great multidisciplinary experience! :D