CMPUT 412 - Experimental Mobile Robotics

Overview

This course is an experimental inquisition of the fascinating field of mobile robotics. Students will specifically be exposed to basic concepts, models, and algorithms in autonomous navigation of a mobile robot operating in indoor environments. The instruction of the course will be through the Robot Operating System (ROS), which provides libraries and tools to help software developers quickly create robot applications. A mobile robot vehicle will be provided to the students, to conduct real experiments. It is equipped with a range sensor as well as a camera for the robot to perceive its environment and make navigational decisions. The course will be developed incrementally, through demos and competitions. The robot tasks that define the demos and competitions will begin with simple motion control and evolve toward a comprehensive term project involving robot mapping, localization, path planning, object detection and homing.

Objectives

The objective of the course is for the student to gain an understanding of the basics in programming a mobile robot so that the student will be able to develop software for a physical mobile robot using the Robot Operating System or ROS. The students will learn how to model a robot physically and how to make use of sensory data for a robot to model its environment and navigate in the environment efficiently in a collision-free manner. The student will also be exposed to general issues and concepts in robotics.

Course Work

• Assignments
• Reports
• Projects