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++.