UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Computer Science Department

 

 

CMPSCI 403

Foundations of Robotics

Fall 2020

 

Rod Grupen

 


Course Information

This class is designed as a first course in robotics. We will cover the basics of robotics including: motor control, spatial representations, actuation, signal processing, motion planning, and machine learning (time permitting) in robotics.

Students will build a simulation of a mobile manipulator in order to reinforce the readings and the written exercises. Over the course of the semester, a library of hierarchical skills will be built to support an increasingly integrated robotic application.

Lecture: Mon, Weds, Fri 11:15-12:05, zoom meeting credentials in email

Credit: 3 units

Instructors:
      Rod Grupen (lecturer), grupen at cs dot umass dot edu, Office Hours: Fridays 12:30-2:30 PM zoom link in email
      Daniel Marew (TA), dmarew at cs dot umass dot edu, Office Hours: Mondays 2:00-4:00 PM zoom link in email
      Apurva Swarnakar (CA), aswarnakar at umass dot edu, Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00-2:00 PM zoom link in email
      Deepanshu Pariyani (CA), dpariyani at umass dot edu Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:00-3:00 PM zoom link in email

Basis for Your Grade:

Grading Policy: Discussion regarding projects is encouraged, but every student must complete all of the work submitted for a grade independently. Assignments generally include open-ended problems that may require the student to make assumptions and use concepts discussed in class to support their conclusions. This can involve explanation and/or analysis that is not explicitly part of the question. These problems require careful write-ups with short discussions and the presentation is part of the grade. Code is submitted separately and should not be submitted in your project write up---instead, the mathematical basis of the code and experimental results that prove that the code is correct should be included.

Late Policy: Assignments should be handed in by 11:59 PM on the posted due date, after that time, they are considered 1 day late. I will offer up to four late days for every assignment with a penalty of 5% of your score for every late day. After four days, the assignment will receive a zero.

Many of the materials created for this course are the intellectual property of the instructor. This includes, but is not limited to, the syllabus, lectures, assignments, and course notes. Any use, distribution or sale of such materials requires the permission of the instructor. It is a violation of university policy and copyright laws to reproduce, for distribution or sale, any of this content.

grupen "at" cs "dot" umass "dot" edu