ME 449 Robotic Manipulation
Spring Quarter 2014
- Instructor: Prof. Kevin Lynch
- Office hours: TBD
- Meeting: 11-11:50 MWF, Tech LG68
- course website: http://hades.mech.northwestern.edu/index.php/ME_449_Robotic_Manipulation
Course Summary
Mechanics of robotic manipulation, computer representations and algorithms for manipulation planning, and applications to industrial automation, parts feeding, grasping, fixturing, and assembly.
Grading
Grading for the course will be based on student lectures, problem sets and a final project. There will be no exams. The final project, due during finals week, will take the form of a conference paper analyzing a manipulation problem, building on another research paper, or implementing a simulation.
Course Text
"Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control," F. C. Park and K. M. Lynch. These course notes will be undergoing revision throughout the quarter; check the timestamp in the table of contents.
Assignments
Final Project
Approximate Syllabus
Configuration Space
- degrees of freedom, Grubler's formula, parameterizations, holonomic and nonholonomic constraints (classes 1-2)
Rigid-Body Motions (classes 3-6)
- rotation matrices, Euler angles, exponential coordinates, unit quaternions
- angular velocities
- rigid-body motions
- spatial velocities
Forward Kinematics
- product of exponentials formula (classes 7-8)
Velocity Kinematics and Statics
- coordinate, space, and body Jacobians (classes 9-10)
- statics of open chains, singularities, manipulability (classes 11-12)
Inverse Kinematics
- 2R example, numerical methods, and redundant open chains (classes 13-14)
Dynamics of Open Chains
- Lagrangian formulation, dynamics of a single rigid body (classes 15-16)
- inverse and forward dynamics of open chains, dynamics in task space (classes 17-18)
Trajectory Generation
- definitions and time-optimal time scaling (classes 19-20)
Motion Planning
- overview, foundations, and complete path planners (classes 20-21)
- grid methods and the RRT sampling method (classes 22-23)
Robot Control
Grasping and Manipulation
- contact kinematics and planar graphical methods (classes 24-25)
- form closure (class 26)
- contact forces, planar graphical methods, and force closure (classes 27-28)
- other manipulation (classes 29-30)
