Course Description

This is a 3 credit module for the course Topics in robotics, and can be reported as (part of) any of DD3353, DD3354, or DD3355. This means that you must contact the examiner of the Topics in robotics course in order to be registered and get credit for this module.

Summary:
This is an overview course of the state of the art in robot control. Students will become acquainted with historic and contemporary literature, as well as the most common problems and techniques used to control manipulators.

Learning outcomes:
It is expected that after completing the course the student should be able to:
- account for the main problems in robot control, and solutions that have been proposed to these problems.
- account for the strengths, weaknesses, and other distinguishing qualities of well-known techniques for robot control.
- implement robot control techniques described in the literature.

Course structure:
The course will begin with two lectures summarizing the field, its problems, and relevant literature. The students will then each choose an individual topic, and related literature, with the assistance of the course teachers.

Students will each study their chosen topic in depth, implementing the techniques described on their chosen hardware platform or in simulation. Each student will then give a presentation to the group on the specifics of their topic, including background, problem description, theory and techniques. The presentation will include a demonstration of their implementation work. Students working in simulation environments will be expected to implement a wider range of techniques, and do a comparative study, while students working on hardware platforms may choose to implement a single technique, due to the difference in expected implementation times.

Students wanting to do hardware implementations are expected to ensure access to their target platform(s) on their own, as the course has very limited resources for supplying hardware.