Robotics: Dynamics and Control (edX)

In this course, part of the Robotics MicroMasters program, you will learn how to develop dynamic models of robot manipulators, mobile robots, and drones (quadrotors), and how to design intelligent controls for robotic systems that can grasp and manipulate objects.

We will cover robot dynamics, trajectory generation, motion planning, and nonlinear control, and develop real-time planning and control software modules for robotic systems. This course will give you the basic theoretical tools and enable you to design control algorithms.

Using MATLAB, you will apply what you have learned through a series of projects involving real-world robotic systems.

What you'll learn

- The dynamics of robot arms, mobile robots and quadrotors

- Position and force control for robots

- How to generate complex trajectories

- The basics of configuration spaces for robotic systems

- Controller synthesis and stability

Course Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction and Motivation

Week 2: Rigid Body Motions

Week 3: Dynamics of Robot Arms

Week 4: Projects: Modeling of robot arms/mobile robots

Week 5: Quadrotor Dynamics

Week 6: Time, Motion and Trajectories

Week 7: Trajectory Generation

Week 8: Projects: Controller Design

Week 9: Force Control

Week 10: Lyapunov Stability Theory

Week 11: Multirobot path planning

Week 12: Projects: Control of robot arms/mobile robots

Prerequisites

Good working knowledge of the following undergraduate subjects is required:

- Linear algebra

- Rigid body dynamics

- Multivariable calculus

- Ordinary differential equations

The knowledge of basic computer science data structures such as graphs, link lists, etc. is preferred, but students may also choose to learn these skills on their own. The class projects will also require knowledge of MATLAB and programming in C or C++.