Mech 468/568 Robotics

This is a conjoint course that can be taken by undergraduate and graduate students. It is an introduction to robotics. The field of robotics can be divided into three categories: (1) Industrial robots that are used for welding, painting, assembly, material handling, etc., (2) Mobile robots (with wheels) such as the Mars rover and, (3) Walking robots which are in research labs around the world. The emphasis of this course is on industrial robots with some coverage of mobile robots. It consists of four main sections:

• Introduction to subsystems of robots
• Robot kinematics, force/torque analysis, trajectory planning
• Mobile robots, navigation algorithms
• Robot programming

Course outcomes:

Students will be able to:

• Apply spatial position and orientation description of an object through the use of coordinate systems and transforms.
  
• Simulate robot motion
• Deliver project presentations
• Describe the impact of robotics in a contemporary issue, such as healthcare, environmental, etc.
• Interface devices to a robot.
• Program a robot to provide solutions for practical problems.

Course syllabus [PDF]