Instructor: Rod Grupen, Room CS274
Office hours: TBD

Instructor: Oliver Brock, Room CS246
Office hours: Tue & Wed 3:00-4:00pm

Mobile Manipulation

Robots that combine the capabilities of locomotion and dexterous manipulation are at the verge of being mass produced. This development is spearheaded by large companies such as Honda with their humanoid robot ASIMO and Sony with QRIO, the humanoid successor to the robotic dog AIBO. What will these robots be capable of? In this seminar we will survey important contributions in the robotics literature relating to mobile manipulation, including topics such as bipedal locomotion, dexterous manipulation, coordination of mobility and manipulation, task descriptions, and entertainment applications.

Format of the Class

During each class a group of students (generally 2) will give presentations on a particular subject related to mobile manipulation. For each subject several seed papers will be provided. These can be used as starting points for a literature search. Students are expected to find the most relevant papers for a particular subject and to develop an insight into the main research directions in the particular area.

Presentations

• Presentations should contain an overview of the particular subject area and its relvance to mobile manipulation, list prominent researchers and laboratories in this area, and provide a brief description of the main approaches to the problem.
• Subsequently two or three of the most interesting or promising approaches will be discussed in more detail. The focus of the presentation should be on concepts and ideas (not long derivations of equations). To present these approaches most effectively, short reviews of relevant background concepts should be included.
• Presentations should conclude with a list of open problems or ideas for research projects.

Grading

Grading will be based on class participation and the quality of the presentation. Slides for the presentations and additional links to references will be posted on the class web site.