MOTION AND MANIPULATION 2009/2010

Teacher: Frank van der Stappen

Motion and manipulation are key issues in the field of robotics and automation, but also play a major role in virtual environments and games. We will study models and planning problems for tasks that involve motion or manipulation. The motion planning problem is concerned with finding a path for an entity between an initial and final placement during which it avoids collision with the obstacles that are present in its environment. Our study of manipulation planning will concentrate on grasping and tasks involving simple actions such as pushing. The emphasis in manipulation will be on the design of industrial systems that are based on simple hardware elements performing simple physical actions. Geometry is a major parameter in the definition, modeling, and planning of manipulation and motion tasks.

Literature

Parts of Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the online book Planning Algorithms by Steven M. LaValle, parts of Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the book Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation by Matthew T. Mason, and parts of Chapters 1 and 2 from the no longer available book Fundamentals of Robotics: Analysis and Control by Robert J. Schilling. Copies of the relevant pages of the latter book will be made available for reference. These chapters are supplemented by slides and class-room notes.

Exam form

The final grade depends on a written test (60 %) and a technical summary (40 %).

Written test

Here are the grades for the written test of November 6, 2009.

The test covers all material treated in class plus all designated chapters from the aforementioned books. The grade for the written test should be at least 5.0 to pass the entire course. An example of a written test can be found here (in ps-format).

Technical summary

The summary consists of a written 10-page (approximately 5000-word) report in English and a 15-minute discussion of the report with the teacher. The report should explain (in depth, yet in your own words) the ideas, techniques and algorithms presented in two (assigned) papers on a specific subject. The grade for the technical summary should be at least 5.0 to pass the entire course. Subjects will be assigned on a random basis; requests for a specific subject will not be honored. Here is the list of subjects in .doc-format. The numbers in the list below correspond to the numbers of the subjects. Send a request to the teacher if your name does not yet appear on the list. Subjects will be assigned on a random basis; requests for a specific subject will not be honored. Make sure you get the full journal version, and not just some short conference version. All papers are available from our library. Some of the papers can also be found here. Hand in a paper copy of your summary report before or on October 30, 2009.

The 15-minute discussions will take place in Centrumgebouw Noord C226. The first discussions are scheduled for Monday November 16:

Additional discussions take place in Wednesday November 18:

Course schedule

The schedule below shows the tentative (!) dates and times.

Wed Sep 9 15:00-17:00 Introduction. -
Fri Sep 11 9:00-11:00 L: Section 3.1; S: Sections 2.1. slides(ppt)
Wed Sep 16 15:00-17:00 NO CLASS! -
Fri Sep 18 9:00-11:00 S: Sections 2.2, 2.3, 2.4. slides(ppt)
Wed Sep 23 15:00-17:00 S: Sections 2.5, 2.6, 2.7. slides(ppt)
Fri Sep 25 9:00-11:00 L: Sections 2.8, 2.9, 3.2, 3.3 slides(ppt)
Wed Sep 30 15:00-17:00 No Class: Teacher sick
Fri Oct 2 9:00-11:00 L: Sections 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 slides(ppt)
Wed Oct 7 15:00-17:00 L: Sections 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 slides(ppt)
Fri Oct 9 9:00-11:00 L: Sections 5.5, 5.6, 5.3
Wed Oct 14 15:00-17:00 notes on collision detection; L: Section 6.1
Fri Oct 16 9:00-11:00 L: Sections 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 slides(ppt)
Wed Oct 21 15:00-17:00 M: Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, slides(pdf),
Fri Oct 23 9:00-11:00 M: Sections 2.6, 3.2, 3,3, 4.1, 4.2 slides(ppt), slides(pdf), slides(pdf), slides(ppt)
Wed Oct 28 15:00-17:00 M: Sections 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.6, 5,7, 7.4 slides(pdf), slides(pdf), slides(ppt)
Fri Oct 30 9:00-11:00 Example exam January 3, 2007 (see above)

L = Planning Algorithms by Steven M. LaValle,
M = Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation by Matthew T. Mason,
S = Fundamentals of Robotics: Analysis and Control by Robert J. Schilling.

frankst@cs.uu.nl,