ME 449 Robotic Manipulation

Spring Quarter 2014

• Instructor: Prof. Kevin Lynch
• Office hours: Mon 3-4 PM, Wed 4-5 PM, Tech B222, Adam: Fri 2-3 PM, Tech B230
• 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

• Assignment 1, due Monday 4/14 at the beginning of class
• Assignment 2, due Monday 4/28 at the beginning of class

Approximate Syllabus

Student videos are due at least 48 hours before the first class they will be used for.

Configuration Space

reading: Chapter 2

• degrees of freedom, Grubler's formula, parameterizations, holonomic and nonholonomic constraints (classes 1-2)

Rigid-Body Motions (classes 3-6), through Fri April 11

reading: Chapter 3, but you may skim/skip 3.2.2, 3.2.4

• rotation matrices, Euler angles, exponential coordinates, unit quaternions
• angular velocities
• rigid-body motions
• spatial velocities

Forward Kinematics, through Wed April 16

reading: Chapter 4, but you may skim/skip 4.1 and 4.2.3

• product of exponentials formula (class 7; Patrick Afrifah and Matthew Patrick)
  • Intro to Product of Exponentials
  • Intro 2 (Talking about alternative form of Product of Exponentials)
  • An example of product of exponentials
  • Another example

Velocity Kinematics and Statics, through Wed April 23

reading: Chapter 5

• coordinate, space, and body Jacobians (classes 8-9)
• statics of open chains, singularities, manipulability (classes 10-11; Kevin Siegler and Andrew Welter)
  • Spatial forces
  • Jacobian and joint torques
  • Singularities
  • A second singularity example
  • Manipulability ellipsoid

Inverse Kinematics, through Mon April 28

reading: Chapter 6, but you may skip 6.1

• 2R example, numerical methods, and redundant open chains (classes 12-13)

Dynamics of Open Chains, through Wed May 7

reading: Chapter 8.1 and 8.2 on Lagrangian formulation, rest of the chapter on Newton-Euler and task space coords

• Lagrangian formulation, dynamics of a single rigid body (classes 14-15; Harry Briggs and Stefan Hyde)
• Newton-Euler inverse and forward dynamics of open chains, dynamics in task space (classes 16-17; Ahalya Prabhakar and Ben Richardson)

Trajectory Generation, through Mon May 12

reading: Chapter 9, but you may skip 9.2 and 9.3

• definitions and time-optimal time scaling (classes 18-19; Wentao Chen and Chi Zhang)

Motion Planning, through Wed May 21

reading: Chapter 10 through 10.5.1

• overview, foundations, and complete path planners (classes 20-21; Siddharth Jain)
• grid methods and the RRT sampling method (classes 22-23)

Robot Control

optional: Chapter 11

Grasping and Manipulation, through Wed June 4

reading: Chapter 12

• contact kinematics, planar graphical methods, and form closure (classes 24-25)
• contact forces, planar graphical methods, and force closure (classes 26-27; Xiang Chen and Xiaobin Xiong)
• other manipulation (classes 28-29; Max Shepherd and Zack Woodruff)

Archive

• ME 449 Spring 2012