Module 22382 (2013)
Syllabus page 2013/2014
06-22382
Robot Programming
Level 1/C
Links | Outline | Aims | Outcomes | Prerequisites | Teaching | Assessment | Books | Detailed Syllabus
The Module Description is a strict subset of this Syllabus Page. (The University module description has not yet been checked against the School's.)
Relevant Links
See the Module Web Page for further information.
Outline
This module teaches basic AI and robotic programming skills through a series of team exercises using small, mostly prebuilt, robots. Regular exercises will give each team the skills to build up a robot capable of tackling a competitive, arena-based, task that includes a variety of AI-requiring sub-problems.
Aims
The aims of this module are to:
- present some of the core problems in building and programming intelligent robots (design trade-offs, choices of sensors etc.)
- illustrate how problems can be decomposed
- demonstrate how Java can be used to implement AI algorithms (e.g. informed search) and robot control paradigms (e.g. feeback controllers, the subsumption architecture)
- present good programming and debugging practice in Java in an applied setting
Learning Outcomes
| On successful completion of this module, the student should be able to: | Assessed by: | |
| 1 | implement and deploy Java programs on a robot using the tools provided | Continuous Assessment |
| 2 | apply AI and Java knowledge to implement some classic AI/robotics representations and techniques | Continuous Assessment |
| 3 | develop a modular robotic system over an extended period of time | Continuous Assessment |
Restrictions, Prerequisites and Corequisites
Restrictions:
None
Prerequisites:
None
Co-requisites:
None
Teaching
Teaching Methods:
Lectures, labs, group work.
Contact Hours:
Assessment
- Sessional: continuous assessment (100%), via regular group exercises, assessed via demonstration and code submission.
- Supplementary (where allowed): By repeat only
- Execises will increase in complexity over time. Early exercise will encourage the development of basic skills and techniques. Later exercises will require the application of these skills to solve more advanced problems.
Recommended Books
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher, Date |
| Maximum LEGO NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains (2nd Edition) | Brian Bagnall | Variant Press., 2009 |
| Artificial Intelligence | Rob Callan | Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 |
| Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition) | S Russell & P Norvig | Prentice Hall, 2003 |
| Big Java (3rd Ed) | Cay Horstmann | John Wiley, 2008 |
Detailed Syllabus
-
Basic knowledge
- The NXT hardware.
- The leJOS Java software.
- Software Engineering for Robot Programming
- Dealing with sensors and motors
- Motor control.
- Event handling and polling.
- The basic NXT sensors.
- Colour-based vision and the NXTCam
- Sensor-based control
- Feedback control
- The Subsumption Architecture
- More advanced knowledge
- Java collections: ArrayList, Stack and Queue
- Sorting
- Generic programming
- Search-based control
- Uniformed search
- Informed search
- Adversarial search
- Navigation
- Mapping and localisation
- Probabilistic road maps
Last updated: 18 Aug 2011
Source file: /internal/modules/COMSCI/2013/xml/22382.xml
Links | Outline | Aims | Outcomes | Prerequisites | Teaching | Assessment | Books | Detailed Syllabus