ME/CS 132b, Spring 2012

Advanced Robotics: Navigation and Vision

Instructors Dr. Larry Matthies (coordinator), lhm@jpl.nasa.gov Drs. Thomas Howard and Yoshiaki Kuwata Lectures: Tue/Thu, 1-2:30 pm, 306 TOM Office hours: by appointment

Teaching Assistant (me132-tas@caltech.edu) Scott Livingston (slivingston @ the Institute) Office hours: Mondays 16:00-17:00, and Tuesdays 17:00-18:00, both in SFL 2-4 Course Mailing List: me132-students@caltech.edu (sign up)

Course Information

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for the course. ME 115 ab (Introduction to Kinematics and Robotics) is recommended but not necessary. Students are expected to have basic understanding of linear algebra, probability and statistics. We will review some of the required background materials during the first week of lectures. Besides these, students should have some prior programming experience and know at least one of the following languages: C, Python, or MATLAB. Depending on the background of the class, we will hold tutorials for some of the programming languages to help students get started.

Grading

There are no midterm/final exams for this course. The grade will be based on (1) homework assignments (40%), (2) a week-long lab (20%), and (3) a course project 40%). Homework assignments will be due one week from the date that they are assigned. Students will be able to use up to three (3) grace period days to turn in weekly homework assignments without penalty. Late homework will also be accepted without penalty with a letter from the health center or the Dean. Late homework not covered by either Grace period days or an appropriate letter will be assessed a penalty of 25% per day. Please email the TA and indicate the number of late days you have used on the homework. Grace period days cannot be used for the lab report or for the term project report.

• Homework: Homework is usually due in one week after it is assigned. You can choose to
  • turn in a hard copy in class,
  • place a copy in the TA's mailbox in Annenberg building,
  • or email an electronic copy to the TA.

If you are unable attend the lecture, contact the TA to find an alternative way to turn in your homework.

• Course Project: Grading for the term project will be a weighted combination of navigation task success, focus task results, and presentation. Each member in the group will receive the same grade. All group members are expected to participate equally throughout all facets of the term project.

Homework Guidelines

• On the back of the first page of your homework, write down the number of hours you have spent, including reading. This will help us keep track of the amount of homework and adjust future assignments if necessary.
• Justify your answers. This will help us assign partial credits to your assignment even if the results are incorrect. On the other hand, we will deduct points if only results are shown without the necessary derivations.
• You are encouraged to use professional libraries (such as OpenCV) for reading/writing files and analogous tasks. However, you cannot use functions which the homework implies you have to write yourself.
• You will be given code examples in a few languages (MATLAB, C++, Python), but you are free to use any language with which you are comfortable.
• You are responsible for the parameters you choose. If we give you a “reasonable” value for a parameter that does not appear to work, you should try other values.

For electronic submissions (including your code):

• Package code, data, and answers in a single .zip or .tgz file.
• Email the writeup as a single file to the TAs. Do not upload multiple files for different parts of the writeup. The file must not be in proprietary formats (e.g. MS Word, Mathematica notebook). We recommend using PDF format to guarantee portability.
• Separate code & commentary: do not write your discussion/derivation in the source files, but in a separate report file, clearly labeled as such.
• Include instructions/scripts that allow reproducing your experiments with relatively little effort. For example, include a script “main.m” that calls the other files.

Collaboration Policy

Students are encouraged to discuss and collaborate with others on the homework. You are free to discuss general ideas about the problem. However, you should write your own solution to show your own understanding of the material. You cannot copy other people's solution as part of your solution. You cannot share code for homework or look at other people’s code. Reading aloud your code does not count as discussion. You are allowed to consult the instructors, the TAs, and/or other students. Outside reference materials can be used except for solutions from prior years or similar courses taught at other universities. Outside materials must be cited if used.

Course Texts

The required textbook is (also freely available online):

• Steven M. LaValle, Planning Algorithms, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Supplemental Material

• A* explanation from (Russell and Norvig, 2003).

Lecture Notes

Week	Date	Topic	Instructor
1	3 Apr (Tu)	Overview, Kinematic and Dynamic Models (part 1, part 2)	Tom Howard
	5 Apr (Th)	Motion Simulation	Yoshi Kuwata
2	10 Apr (Tu)	Search Spaces I	Tom Howard
	12 Apr (Th)	Search Spaces II	Tom Howard
3	17 Apr (Tu)	Search Algorithms I	Yoshi Kuwata
	19 Apr (Th)	Search Algorithms II	Tom Howard
4	24 Apr (Tu)	Sensor-Based Planning I	Yoshi Kuwata
	26 Apr (Th)	Sensor-Based Planning II	Yoshi Kuwata
5	1 May (Tu)	Week-long lab
	3 May (Th)	Week-long lab
6	8 May (Tu)	Term Project Overview and Kickoff
	10 May (Th)	Case Studies	TBD
7	15 May (Tu)	Term Project Mentor Meetings
	17 May (Th)	Term Project Mentor Meetings
8	22 May (Tu)	Term Project Progress Presentations
	24 May (Th)	Term Project Progress Presentations (cont.)
9	29 May (Tu)	Term Project Mentor Meetings
	31 May (Th)	Term Project Mentor Meetings
10	5 June (Tu)	Term Project Final Presentations
	7 June (Th)	Term Project Final Presentations (cont.)

Homework

• Homework 1 (Due 12 April)
• Homework 2 (Due 19 April)
• Homework 3 with materials (Due 26 April)
• Homework 4 with materials (Due 10 May)
• Navigation Lab with materials (Lab report and code due 10 May)

Project

• [ Description] (draft)
• [ Schedule lab time]