Introduction to Robotics

Organsiation

Lecturer: Dr.-Ing. Christoph Steup

Tutorials: Sebstian Mai,Dr.-Ing. Christoph Steup

Credits: 5 CP / 6 CP

Times and Dates

Lecture

  • Wednesdays 15:15 - 16:45
  • Room: G22A - 112
  • Date: 12.04.2023 - 12.07.2023

Link to LSF

Tutorials

Group 1
  • Time: Wednesday 09:15 - 10:45
  • Room: G29-K58
  • Date: 26.04.2023 - 12.07.2023
Group 2
  • Time: Tuesday 11:15 - 12:45
  • Room: G29-336
  • Date: 25.04.2023 - 11.07.2023
Group 3
  • Time: Friday 09:15 - 10:45
  • Room: G22A-218
  • Date: 28.04.2023 - 07.07.2023
Group 4
  • Time: Friday 11:15 - 12:45
  • Room: G29-336
  • Date: 28.04.2023 - 07.07.2023

Link to LSF

Language 

  • Lecture: English 
  • Tutorials: English/German as necessary

Assignment to Curriculum:

Typical Placement in Curriculum: B.Sc. INF, WIF, INGIF, CV, from 3. Semester

  • B.Sc. CV - WPF Informatik
  • B.Sc. INF WPF Informatik / WPF Technische Informatik
  • B.Sc. INGINF WPF Informatik / WPF Technische Informatik
  • B.Sc. WIF-WPF Gestalten & Anwenden

Approximated Effort

Total: 150 h

  • 2h per Week Lecture = 26h
  • 2h per Week Exercise = 26h
  • approx. 3h Recap and Self study of Lecture per Week ~ 40h
  • approx. 5h Preparation of Exercise Tasks per Week ~ 58h

Prerequisites (recommended)

  • Einführung in die Informatik
  • Intelligente Systeme

Registration

You need to register for the lecture in LSF. We will discuss the exercise slots and distribute students to exercise groups in the first lecture.

Goals

  • Understanding the Structure of Complex Robotic Systems
  • Building Complex Robots and Robotic Systems from Building
    Blocks
  • Aspects of Robotic Systems and their Impact on Performance
  • Developing Robotic System Software using ROS
  • Extending Single Robot Systems to Multi-Robot Systems
  • Developing Application-Specific Behavior using Standard
    Behaviors for Navigation and Path Planning

Content

The lecture Introduction to Robotics will teach students the fundamental concepts of robotics from a top-down perspective, focused on mobile robots.

The lecture starts with some exemplary robotic systems to show the variety of system in action today. Afterwards, multiple views on robotics systems are shown, which highlight different aspects like communication, behavior, movement, and system setup. The lecture continues with a description of multiple communication paradigms typically used in the robotic context and their relation to physical communication mechanisms. The next topic highlights some components typically found for perception and actuation like cameras, LiDARs, Distance Sensors, linear and revolute motors and piezo actuators. Afterwards, mechanisms to combine perception and actuation using low-level control mechanisms are shown. The shown mechanisms are reactive behaviors based on rule-sets and state-machines and feed-back-based control. Additionally, some kinematic models for movement of robots are highlighted like differential drive, Ackerman steering and holonomic movement. The next part of the lecture focus on localization of mobile robots using external mechanisms like Triangulation and Trilateration and internal mechanisms like SLAM and landmark tracking. The last two parts of the lecture discuss algorithms for path-and trajectory planning, and the extension to multi-robot systems. 

The exercises to the lecture will highlight the concepts of the lecture with practical examples based on robotic simulations in ROS with the Gazebo simulator.

 

Lectures

In this section, you will find the slides of the lectures with and without contained videos. The password for all the materials is shown in Moodle for registered course members only.

You can find the lecture recordings on Mediasite in the Introduction to Robotics Channel.

# Date Topics Slides (small) Slides large Update
00 19.04.2023 Organization Chapter 0    19.04.2023: Update Dates and Room of Lecture and Exercise
01 26.04.2023 Robot Types and Robot State Chapter 1 Chapter 1  
02 03.05.2023 Behaviours and Reliability Chapter 2 Chapter 2  
03 10.05.2023 Data Flow and Components Chapter 3 Chapter 3  
04 17.05.2023 Sensor Types and Uncertainty Chapter 4 Chapter 4  
05 24.05.2023 More Sensor Types and Actuators Chapter 5 Chapter 5  
06 31.05.2023 Communication Chapter 6 Chapter 6  
07 07.06.2023 Localization Chapter 7    
08 14.06.2023 State Estimation and Fusion Chapter 8    
09 21.06.2023 SLAM Chapter 9 Chapter 9  
10 28.06.2023 Control Chapter 10 Chapter 10  
11 05.07.2023 Planning Chapter 11    
12 12.07.2023 Multi-Robot Systems Chapter 12    

 

Tutorials

 

Date Topic Assignment Slides
25.04. Introduction to Assignment 1 assignment 1: Turtlesim  slides (updated)
02.05. Submission Assignment 1 / Introduction to Assignment 2 assignment 2: Reactive Behavior  slides
09.05. Tutorial / Q&A    
16.05. Submission Theory Sheet 1  Sheet 1  
23.05. Submission Assignment 2    
30.05. Introduction to Assignment 3    slides (updated)
06.06. Tutorial / Q&A    
13.06. Submission Theory Sheet 2  Sheet 2  
20.06. Submission Assignment 3    
27.06. Introduction to Assignment 4    slides
04.07. Submission Theory Sheet 3  Sheet 3 + Code  
11.07. Submission Assignment 4    

 

 

Examination

Oral Exam after the end of the lecture period

To be eligible for the exam, you need to have taken part in the exercise and solved:

  • 66% of all theoretical tasks
  • 4 of 4 practical tasks

Students requiring a "Schein" will get it automatically after fulfilling the requirements for the exam.

 

Exam Registration

Please register for the exam until Friday, June 30, 12:00AM.

  • To register for the "Schein" please write an email to steup@ovgu.de, if you have not done so previously.
  • To register for the oral exam, you have to fill and submit a registration form: Registration form.
  • Use this poll to register your appointment for the exam
    • Username: participant
    • Pick exactly one time-slot (11:00-13:00, or 13:00-15:00)
    • Maximum 3 students per time-slot (first come, first served)
    • If no more time-slots fit your schedule, we try to find another appointment together
  • Please put the registration forms into the letterbox in front of room G29-012 (Sabine Laube) until June 30, 12:00AM.

The exam will take place in Room G29-412.

You do not need to give an oral exam to receive the "Schein".

Literature

Last Modification: 17.07.2023 - Contact Person: Webmaster