CSCI 235 - Intelligent Robotics
Fall 2018
Course Overview:
In this course, we will study the application of concepts from artificial
intelligence to solving problems in robotics. Each student will assemble
their own robot. Each robot will be assembled from a combination of an
Arduino microcontroller, motors, sensors, breadboards, cables, 3D printed
parts, and a Kindle Fire 7" tablet.
Tuesday class periods will typically consist of video
demonstrations of the work completed in the previous week, followed by
a lecture covering the week's new topic and project. Thursday class
periods may include some lecture material not completed on Tuesday, but
the majority of the Thursday class periods will consist of hands-on work
with the robots. Robots may be kept in the
lockers in the MARS Lab (MCReynolds 316) for use outside of class time.
This course carries an Odyssey Special Projects credit. In the last three
weeks of the semester, each student will complete a final project.
Each student must log at least 30 hours of work in order to earn this
credit.
At the end of this course, you will be expected to be able to:
- State a definition of what it means for a system to be a robot.
- Create and program a robot to perform an open-ended realistic task.
- Explain why a proposed control program will achieve a targeted observable behavior, and retrospectively explain its performance.
- Relate the physical quantities measured by sensors and generated by motors to computational abstractions in order to produce specified intelligent
behavior.
- Employ the following techniques to create an intelligent robot controller:
- PID control
- Behavior-based control
- Reinforcement learning
- Color image processing
- Image matching
- Supervised learning
- Neural networks
- Creation of maps
- Planning
Instructor:
Dr. Gabriel Ferrer
M.C. Reynolds 312
Office Hours:
By appointment. To make an appointment with me, visit
http://drferrer.youcanbook.me.
From there, you can see my availability and select an appointment time.
Also, please feel free to stop by whenever my door is open.
Class Web Page:
http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~ferrer/courses/235/
Lecture Time:
B4 (2:45-4:00, TR)
Final Exam Period:
Thursday, December 6, 8:30-11:30 am
Required Equipment: Every student in the course is expected
to purchase the necessary supplies to build themselves a robot. Most of the
supplies will be sold to students in a comprehensive bundle. Students will
also need to purchase or supply an Android tablet to serve as the robot's
CPU. Please inform the instructor if this creates a financial hardship;
limited funds are available to assist students in such a situation.
Grading:
This course will employ specifications grading. Each assignment will be
graded on a pass/fail basis. To earn a passing grade, the assignment must be
substantively complete; minor imperfections are perfectly acceptable. Final
course grades are earned based on the
number of completed passing assignments, as follows:
- To earn a D in the course, a student must complete:
- Project 1: Robot Concepts
- Project 4: Robot Assembly
- Project 5: Configuring Robot Motors (w/video)
- Project 6: Layered Mode Selection Logic (w/video)
- To earn a C in the course, a student must complete:
- Projects 1, 4, 5, and 6
- Two additional projects and videos
- The final project
- Course evaluation
- To earn a B in the course, a student must complete:
- Projects 1, 4, 5, and 6
- Four additional projects and videos
- The final project
- Course evaluation
- To earn an A in the course, a student must complete:
- All ten projects
- The final project
- Course evaluation
Revision Policy: If a submitted project is not of sufficient
quality to receive a passing grade, the student may resubmit it to the
instructor after the identified deficiencies are corrected. The instructor
reserves the right to disallow revisions as circumstances indicate.
Weekly Projects:
Every Tuesday, a project will be assigned. Students may complete projects
individually. Students are also welcome to work in teams of two.
In each project, students will program a robot to
perform a task using a new concept introduced that week, potentially
incorporating other concepts covered in previous weeks. Each project
will be due on the following Tuesday, with a brief video presentation
given in class. Some time will be available every Thursday
during the class period for work on that week's project.
Project logs and reports: For each project, each student
(even if part of a team) should submit an individual project report. Each
report includes the following:
- A project log, which in turn includes the following for every work session:
- Date of the work session, including start and end times.
- Goals for the session.
- Brief descriptions of activities undertaken.
- Observations of activities.
- Assessment of the degree to which session goals were met.
- Answers to project-specific questions.
- A conclusion detailing the degree of success of the project.
Project video presentations: On the due date
of each project, each team will play a video in class. The video should meet
the following constraints:
- It must be between 80 and 90 seconds in duration.
- For team projects, the video should be 160 to 180 seconds in duration.
- It should include brief narration of the strategy for the project.
- It should demonstrate the student's robots performing the required tasks
for the week's project. Narration should contextualize each demonstrated
activity.
Late Policy: If a student needs an extension, the
instructor must be notified by email by 4 pm on the day prior to the due date.
This notification email must state the duration of the requested extension. The
instructor reserves the right to decline a request for an extension, but
the intention is that most requests for extensions will be granted.
Final Project:
In the last three weeks of the semester, each student will undertake a final
project. In this final project, you will build and program a robot that
fulfills a contextualized purpose. A public demonstration will be made
of the robot's capabilities, and a paper reflecting upon lessons learned
will be submitted as well. In keeping with the Odyssey Special Project
guidelines, the project will require at least 30 hours of work. As with the
other course projects, final projects may be undertaken in teams.
Accommodations:
It is the policy of Hendrix College to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal and state law. Students should contact Julie Brown in the Office of Academic Success (505-2954; brownj@hendrix.edu) to begin the accommodation process. Any student seeking accommodation in relation to a recognized disability should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course.
Schedule