Online courses directory (10358)

We think of Robotics as the science of building devices that physically interact with their environment. The most useful robots do it precisely, powerfully, repeatedly, tirelessly, fast, or some combinations of these. The most interesting robots maybe even do it intelligently. This course will cover the fundamentals of robotics, focusing on both the mind and the body.

We will learn about two core robot classes: kinematic chains (robot arms) and mobile bases. For both robot types, we will introduce methods to reason about 3-dimensional space and relationships between coordinate frames. For robot arms, we will use these to model the task of delivering a payload to a specified location. For mobile robots, we will introduce concepts for autonomous navigation in the presence of obstacles.

Class projects will make use of ROS - the open-source Robot Operating System (www.ros.org) widely used in both research and industry. Computer requirements for working on the projects will include a computer set up with Ubuntu Linux and high bandwidth internet access for downloading and installing ROS packages.

Flying drones or robot manipulators accomplish heavy-duty tasks that deal with considerable forces and torques not covered by a purely robot kinematics framework. Learn how to formulate dynamics problems and design appropriate control laws.

In this course, part of the Robotics MicroMasters program, you will learn how to develop dynamic models of robot manipulators, mobile robots, and drones (quadrotors), and how to design intelligent controls for robotic systems that can grasp and manipulate objects.

We will cover robot dynamics, trajectory generation, motion planning, and nonlinear control, and develop real-time planning and control software modules for robotic systems. This course will give you the basic theoretical tools and enable you to design control algorithms.

Using MATLAB, you will apply what you have learned through a series of projects involving real-world robotic systems.

How do you create robots that operate well in the real world? Learn the key math concepts and tools used to design robots that excel in navigating our complex, unstructured world in environments such as aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and healthcare.

In this course, part of the Robotics MicroMasters program, you will learn how to apply concepts from linear algebra, geometry and group theory and the tools to configure and control the motion of manipulators and mobile robots.

You will also learn how to use MATLAB, the standard robotics programming environment and learn step by step how to use this mathematical tool to write functions, calculate vectors and produce visualizations. You will get hands on experience applying your knowledge to projects using various simulations in MATLAB.

How do robots climb stairs, traverse shifting sand and navigate through hilly and rocky terrain?

This course, part of the Robotics MicroMasters program, will teach you how to think about complex mobility challenges that arise when robots are deployed in unstructured human and natural environments.

You will learn  how to design and program the sequence of energetic interactions that must occur between sensors and mechanical actuators in order to ensure stable mobility. We will expose you to underlying and still actively developing concepts, while providing you with practical examples and projects. 

How do robots “see”, respond to and learn from their interactions with the world around them? This is the fascinating field of visual intelligence and machine learning. Visual intelligence allows a robot to “sense” and “recognize” the surrounding environment. It also enables a robot to “learn” from the memory of past experiences by extracting patterns in visual signals.

You will understand how Machine Learning extracts statistically meaningful patterns in data that support classification, regression and clustering. Then by studying Computer Vision and Machine Learning together you will be able to build recognition algorithms that can learn from data and adapt to new environments.

By the end of this course, part of the Robotics MicroMasters program, you will be able to program vision capabilities for a robot such as robot localization as well as object recognition using machine learning.

Projects in this course will utilize MATLAB and OpenCV and will include real examples of video stabilization, recognition of 3D objects, coding a classifier for objects, building a perceptron, and designing a convolutional neural network (CNN) using one of the standard CNN frameworks.

Parts for Bit-zee and It-zee. Tools for Bit-zee and It-zee. 1. Bit-zee. 2. Bit-zee (long version). 3. Bit-zee Bot Introduction. 4. Bit-zee planning and propulsion. 5. Bit-zee's bits. 6. Bit-zee's chassis/frame. 7. Bit-zee's wheel mounts and fenders. 8. Bit-zee's component mounting holes. 9. Bit-zee's batteries. 10. Improving the battery wires. 11. Connecting Bit-zee's power wires and on-off switch. 12. Bit-zee's motors. 13. Why does Bit-zee need a motor controller?. 14. Bit-zee's motor controller. 15. Attaching and wiring Bit-zee's motor controller. 16. Attaching Bit-zee's Arduino. 17. How to hotwire a digital camera. 18. Attaching Bit-zee's digital camera. 19. Bit zee's 5 Volt power distribution board. 20. Hacking and attaching a digital recorder/player to Bit-zee. 21. Making a power connector for the Arduino. 22. Attaching Bit-zee's prototype board. 23. Connecting the motor controller to the Arduino. 24. Connecting Bit-zee's camera to the Arduino. 25. Bit-zee's bumper switches. 26. Bit-zee's eyes. 27. Bit-zee's IR sensor. 28. Bit-zee's shell. 29. Camera wiring update. 30. Load the Code for It-zee and Bit-zee.

6th graders learn to build a Spider robot. Parts list for Spider. Tools list for Spider. 1 Spider parts and tools. 2 Hacking Spider's click n' stick. 3 Creating the battery and motor mounts for Spider. 4 Attach Spider's click n' stick base to the batteries and thread his wires. 5 Attach Spider's motor controller and wire his motors. 6 Connect Spider's power switch and run the power wires to the motor controller. 7 Attach and adjust the Spider's bezel. 8 Attach Spider's wheels. 9 Make the connnectors for Spider's Arduino Nano. 10 Spider Connect the power and signal wires from the motor controller to the Arduino. 11 Attach Spider's LED eyes. 12 Connect Spider's stablizer bar. 13 Spider's Romance. 14 Teaching Spider to dance. 15 Ben Eater's Spider Bot.

3rd graders build robots at Santa Rita Elementary School. Parts list for Spout. Tool list for Spout. See inside Spout's motors and switches. Spout 1. Spout 2. Spout 3. Spout 4. Spout 5. Spout 6. Spout 7. Spout 8. Spout 9. Spout 10. Spout 11.

1 Spout Introduction. 2 Attach Spout's lever switches and motors. 3 Attach Spout's wires and connectors. 4 Attach Spout's sliding switches and resistors. 5 Connect Spout's antenna. 6 Attach Spout's LED eyes. See inside Spout's motors and switches.

This course was created for the "product development" track of MIT's System Design and Management Program (SDM) in conjunction with the Center for Innovation in Product Development.  After taking this course, a student should be able to:

• Formulate measures of performance of a system or quality characteristics. These quality characteristics are to be made robust to noise affecting the system.
• Sythesize and select design concepts for robustness.
• Identify noise factors whose variation may affect the quality characteristics.
• Estimate the robustness of any given design (experimentally and analytically).
• Formulate and implement methods to reduce the effects of noise (parameter design, active control, adjustment).
• Select rational tolerances for a design.
• Explain the role of robust design techniques within the wider context of the product development process.
• Lead product development activities that include robust design techniques.