Course Syllabus

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This course is an introduction to the field of robotics, focusing on dynamics and grasping and manipulation. It covers the fundamentals of kinematics, dynamics, and control of robot manipulators, robotic vision, and sensing. 

Course Content

The course is a sequel to EE 106A/Bioengineering C125 and EE206A which covers kinematics, dynamics and control of a single robot. This course will cover dynamics and control of groups of robotic manipulators coordinating with each other and interacting with the environment including people. Concepts will include an introduction to grasp modeling with friction, grasp planning, and Dex-Net a data driven approach to robust robot grasping and manipulation based on a data set of 3D object models that currently includes over 10,000 3D object models and 2.5 million parallel-jaw grasps.. The course will also cover constrained manipulation, perception guided manipulation, including concepts of holonomy and non-holonomy. Throughout, we will emphasize design and human-robot interactions and applications in manufacturing, service robotics, and locomotion.

Logistics

This course will be taught in a seminar style, with homework, three small projects/labs, and a final project.  All submissions will go through GradeScope, which you all should have been added to.  A piazza page has been created for students to discuss homeworks and projects.  Note that there will be no exams in this course.

The required text is Richard Murray, Zexiang Li and S. Shankar Sastry: "A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation" (first edition digitally available here). Additional lectures will cover active perception and recent advances in grasping and robotics complete with guest lectures, and may require additional reading.  

If you need disability-related accommodations in this class, if you have emergency medical information you wish to share with us, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform us immediately. Please see the professor or GSIs privately after class or in the office.

Course Information

Lectures

Day Time Instructors Location
TuTh 9:30am-11:00pm

Ruzena Bajcsy 

Shankar Sastry

Ken Goldberg

 521 Cory

 

Discussions

Day Time Instructors Location
Tu 3:30-4:30pm Katie Driggs-Campbell / Jeff Mahler 299 Cory
Th 3:30-4:30pm Katie Driggs-Campbell / Jeff Mahler 299 Cory

 

Instructors

Role Name email Office Hours
Professor Ruzena Bajcsy bajcsy@eecs.berkeley TuTh 1:00-3:00pm  719 SDH
Professor Shankar Sastry sastry@coe.berkeley By Appointment
Professor Ken Goldberg goldberg@berkeley Wed 2:00-3:00pm  425 SDH
GSI Katie Driggs-Campbell katie.the.headta@gmail Mon 9:30-11:00am  212 Cory
GSI Jeff Mahler jeff.b.mahler@gmail Wed 3:30-5:00pm  283E Soda

Note that appointments can be made with any of the instructors or GSIs, if needed.

Labs

The lab in 119 Cory is open for use for the mini-labs/projects and the final project. The robots/hardware will be shared.  Reserve time on the calendars below.

Time-share calendars:

Robot Calendar
Baxter link
UR5 link
Hand link

 

Grading Break Down

Homework  20%
Lab 1 15%
Lab 2 15%
Lab 3 15%
Final Project 35%

 

Lecture Schedule

Lecturer Key:

  • RB = Prof. Ruzena Bajcsy
  • SS = Prof. Shankar Sastry
  • KG = Prof. Ken Goldberg
  • FP = Dr. Florian Pokorny
  • RM = Rob Matthews
  • AB = Aaron Bestick

Most resources such as slides and related papers can be found in the "Files-Lectures" section.

Lecture    Date Topic Lecturer Notes and Additional Resources
1 01/19/16    Introduction RB
2 01/21/16 Review of Rigid Body Motion SS MLS Chapter 2
3 01/26/16 Review of Manipulator Kinematics SS MLS Chapter 3
4 01/28/16 Robot Dynamics SS MLS Chapter 4, Sections 2 & 3
5 02/02/16 PD Control RB
6 02/04/16 Trajectory Tracking RB MLS Chapter 4, Section 5
7 02/09/16 Constrained Manipulation I SS MLS Chapter 4, Section 6
8 02/11/16 Intro to Grasping FP MLS Chapter 5, Section 1
9 02/16/16 Constrained Manipulation II SS
10 02/18/16 Grasp Quality Metrics FP

MLS Chapter 5, Sections 2 & 3

Carlo Ferrari & John Canny, "Planning Optimal Grasps"

Suarez et al., "Grasp Quality Measures"

Nguyen, "Constructing Force Closure Grasps"

Scribed Lecture Notes
11 02/23/16 Grasp Planning KG

MLS Chapter 5, Section 4

Springer Handbook of Robotics Chapter 28: Grasping

Antonio Bicchi, "On the Closure Properties of Robotic Grasping"

Prof. Goldberg's Handwritten Lecture Notes

Scribed Lecture Notes
12 02/25/16 Robust Grasping KG, FP Orienting Polygonal Parts without Sensors, Algorithmica 1993
13 03/01/16 Cooperative Grasping I SS
14 03/03/16 Cooperative Grasping II RB
15 03/08/16 Cooperative Grasping III RB
16 03/10/16 Tactile Perception & Hand Dynamics I RB
17 03/15/16 Tactile Perception & Hand Dynamics II RB
18 03/17/16 Coordinated Lifting of Rigid Objects I RB
19 03/29/16 Human-Robot Collaboration AB
20 03/31/16 Non-holonomic Constraints I SS
21 04/05/16 Non-holonomic Constraints II SS
22 04/07/16 Active and Exploratory Perception I RB
23 04/12/16 Active and Exploratory Perception II RB
24 04/14/16 Selected Topics: Caging & Cloud Robotics I KG, FP
25 04/19/16 Selected Topics: Caging & Cloud Robotics II KG, FP
26 04/21/16 Selected Topics: Caging & Cloud Robotics III   KG, FP      
27 04/26/16 Selected Topics: Assistive Robotics I RM
28 04/28/16 Selected Topics: Assistive Robotics II RM

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due