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Duration
LevelAdvanced Robot Control Systems (B-KUL-H06U9A)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contract
Bruyninckx Herman (coordinator) |
Bruyninckx Herman |
De Schutter Joris
Aims
The student is able to distinguish and explain the major engineering approaches behind Intelligent Robotic Systems, i.e., machines that move (themselves and/or objects in their environment) and sense what is going on in their (immediate) neighbourhood, in order to achieve a given goal under uncertain environment conditions.
For applying these approaches the student is able to use advanced engineering material, mostly in those robotics aspects in which K.U.Leuven has a strong research expertise: modelling and solving kinematics and dynamics of robot devices; motion and interaction specification and control; and task-directed and realtime 3D world perception.
The student is able to apply advanced robot control approaches in hands-on projects using state-of-the-art research equipment.
Previous knowledge
This course expects students to be familiar with beginning Master-level basics of engineering systems: control theory, kinematics, dynamics, programming, probability theory.
Content
The course starts with a handful of overview lectures:
- Overview of advanced robot control systems, from the systems-level perspective.
- Kinematics and dynamics of complex robot systems.
- Control: position, velocity, force, vision,
- Motion specification: instantaneous, local, global, redundancy resolution,
- Estimation and 3D perception: sensor and world modeling, Kalman Filter, Particle Filter, Bayesian networks,
The lectures are complemented by two hands-on sessions, in which students are introduced to working with some of the real robots in the lab.
The rest of the course is filled with an individual project, in which each student looks into some topics into more technical detail. Each student chooses the subject of his/her project, after consultation with the lecturers. During the project, the lecturers will schedule interactive discussion sessions with each student, for a total of about 4 hours.
Every student is expected to attend a "lecture" session in which (s)he presents his/her project to the other students: What are the problems under investigation? What are the research challenges? What solutions might be possible? How important is the problem in the overall context of intelligent robotics systems? What are the practical issues involved in bringing a theoretical solution towards real practice? Etc.
Course material
Articles and literature
Syllabus
Multimedia
Order of Enrolment
Mixed prerequisite:
You may only take this course if you comply with the prerequisites. Prerequisites can be strict or flexible, or can imply simultaneity. A degree level can be also be a prerequisite.
Explanation:
STRICT: You may only take this course if you have passed or applied tolerance for the courses for which this condition is set.
FLEXIBEL: You may only take this course if you have previously taken the courses for which this condition is set.
SIMULTANEOUS: You may only take this course if you also take the courses for which this condition is set (or have taken them previously).
DEGREE: You may only take this course if you have obtained this degree level.
FLEXIBLE (H04X3A) OR FLEXIBLE(H04X3B)
The codes of the course units mentioned above correspond to the following course descriptions:
H04X3A : Control Theory
H04X3B : Control Theory
Is also included in other courses
- Master in de ingenieurswetenschappen: werktuigkunde (Mechatronics and Robotics) 120 ects.
- Master in de informatica (uitdovend, enkel 2e fase) (Specialisation: Artificial Intelligence) 120 ects.
Activities
3.6 ects. Advanced Robot Control Systems: Lecture (B-KUL-H06U9a)
Content
The following aspects of robot systems are introduced: kinematics and dynamics, control, task and motion specification, sensor-based world perception and task execution monitoring. A system-level insight is emphasised.
This course is organized as guided self study: there are only a handful of lectures in class, and for the rest of the course the students work (individually) on a project of their own choice. That project is chosen after consulting the lecturers. The students can opt for a rather theoretical course (discussing papers), or for a software project (studying a concrete robotics algorithm and implementing it in simulation or in an existing robot). However, all students will have to follow two hands-on sessions, on a real robot system.
Aims
Students will learn what are the fundamental components of advanced robot control systems, and how the robot must/can interact with its environment, and with the task it has to perform.
Students will have insight in what are solved problems, and where the tough research challenges lie.
Students will learn the robustness and integration issues that make the difference between a research robot prototype and an industrial robotics product.
Students will be introduced to the large variety of complementary engineering domains that a systems level robot engineer has to be familiar with.
Description of learning activities
During the project, each student is expected to schedule interactive sessions with the lecturers (for a total of 4-5 sessions of each about one hour), in which (s)he explains the material that has been prepared, and critically discusses it with the lecturers. Students get ample and immediate feedback, in order to accelerate their learning, and to prevent surprises in the evaluation.
Course material
The lecturers provide some partial lecture notes, that each student will have to complement with literature searches, focused on the specific topics of the chosen project. Students should give a critical evaluation of the information resources that they use in each of the interactive sessions.
0.4 ects. Advanced Robot Control Systems: Exercises (B-KUL-H06V0a)
Aims
Each student follows two hands-on sessions, on a real robot system in the lab. These sessions introduce the students to various complementary aspects of an advanced robot control system: kinematics, control, estimation, modelling, systems-level software engineering.
Evaluation
Evaluation : Advanced Robot Control Systems (B-KUL-H26U9a)
Explanation
The course has no organized examination session: it uses continuous evaluation, based on the students' inputs during the four or five one-hour interactive session with the lecturer. The students are expected to be able to digest and present the material in a very critical way, and to show their creativity in identifying appropriate applications, open problems, or inherent limitations in the studied material.
