About this course: How can we create agile micro aerial vehicles that are able to operate autonomously in cluttered indoor and outdoor environments? You will gain an introduction to the mechanics of flight and the design of quadrotor flying robots and will be able to develop dynamic models, derive controllers, and synthesize planners for operating in three dimensional environments. You will be exposed to the challenges of using noisy sensors for localization and maneuvering in complex, three-dimensional environments. Finally, you will gain insights through seeing real world examples of the possible applications and challenges for the rapidly-growing drone industry. Mathematical prerequisites: Students taking this course are expected to have some familiarity with linear algebra, single variable calculus, and differential equations. Programming prerequisites: Some experience programming with MATLAB or Octave is recommended (we will use MATLAB in this course.) MATLAB will require the use of a 64-bit computer.
Created by: University of Pennsylvania
Taught by: Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
School of Engineering and Applied Science
| Basic Info | Course 1 of 6 in the Robotics Specialization |
| Commitment | 4 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction to Aerial Robotics
Welcome to Week 1! In this week, you will be introduced to the exciting field of Unmanned Aerial Robotics (UAVs) and quadrotors in particular. You will learn about their basic mechanics and control strategies and realize how careful component selection and design affect the vehicles' performance. This week also provides you with instructions on how to download and install Matlab. This software will be used throughout this course in exercises and assignments, so it is strongly recommended to familiarize yourself with Matlab soon. Tutorials to help you get started are also provided in this week.
16 videos, 4 readings
- Video: Quadrotors
- Video: Key Components of Autonomous Flight
- Video: State Estimation
- Video: Applications
- Video: Meet the TAs
- Reading: Setting up your Matlab programming environment
- Reading: Matlab Tutorials - Introduction to the Matlab Environment
- Reading: Matlab Tutorials - Programming Basics
- Reading: Matlab Tutorials - Advanced Tools
- Video: Basic Mechanics
- Video: Dynamics and 1-D Linear Control
- Video: Design Considerations
- Video: Design Considerations (continued)
- Video: Agility and Maneuverability
- Video: Component Selection
- Video: Effects of Size
- Video: Supplementary Material: Introduction
- Video: Supplementary Material: Dynamical Systems
- Video: Supplementary Material: Rates of Convergence
Graded: 1.1
Graded: 1.2
WEEK 2
Geometry and Mechanics
Welcome to Week 2 of the Robotics: Aerial Robotics course! We hope you are having a good time and learning a lot already! In this week, we will first focus on the kinematics of quadrotors. Then, you will learn how to derive the dynamic equations of motion for quadrotors. To build a better understanding on these notions, some essential mathematical tools are discussed in supplementary material lectures. In this week, you will also complete your first programming assignment on 1-D quadrotor control. If you have not done so already, please download, install, and learn about Matlab before starting the assignment.
19 videos
- Video: Rotations
- Video: Euler Angles
- Video: Axis/Angle Representations for Rotations
- Video: Angular Velocity
- Video: Supplementary Material: Rigid-Body Displacements
- Video: Supplementary Material: Properties of Functions
- Video: Supplementary Material: Symbolic Calculations in Matlab
- Video: Supplementary Material: The atan2 Function
- Video: Supplementary Material: Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of Matrices
- Video: Supplementary Material: Quaternions
- Video: Supplementary Material: Matrix Derivative
- Video: Supplementary Material: Skew-Symmetric Matrices and the Hat Operator
- Video: Formulation
- Video: Newton-Euler Equations
- Video: Principal Axes and Principal Moments of Inertia
- Video: Quadrotor Equations of Motion
- Video: Supplementary Material: State-Space Form
- Video: Supplementary Material: Getting Started With the First Programming Assignment
Graded: 2.1
Graded: 1-D Quadrotor Control
WEEK 3
Planning and Control
Welcome to Week 3! We have developed planar and three-dimensional dynamic models of the quadrotor. This week, you will learn more about how to develop linear controllers for these models. With this knowledge, you will be required to complete the second programming assignment of this course, which focuses on controlling the quadrotor in two dimensions. We encourage you to start working on the assignment soon. This week ends with a discussion on motion planning for quadrotors.
9 videos
- Video: 3-D Quadrotor Control
- Video: Time, Motion, and Trajectories
- Video: Time, Motion, and Trajectories (continued)
- Video: Motion Planning for Quadrotors
- Video: Supplementary Material: Minimum Velocity Trajectories from the Euler-Lagrange Equations
- Video: Supplementary Material: Solving for Coefficients of Minimum Jerk Trajectories
- Video: Supplementary Material: Minimum Velocity Trajectories
- Video: Supplementary Material: Linearization of Quadrotor Equations of Motion
Graded: 2-D Quadrotor Control
Graded: 3
WEEK 4
Advanced Topics
Welcome to Week 4! So far, we have gone over the basics of developing linear controllers for quadrotors and motion planning. In this last week of the course, we will discuss some more advanced material on how to enable quadrotors to perform more agile maneuvers and to operate autonomously in teams. Note that the last programming assignment on quadrotor control in three dimensions uses material from the previous weeks. It is strongly recommended to start the assignment as soon as possible.
5 videos
- Video: Nonlinear Control
- Video: Control of Multiple Robots
- Video: Adjourn
- Video: Supplementary Material: Introduction to the Motion Capture System by Matthew Turpin
Graded: 4
Graded: 3-D Quadrotor Control
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University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
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Ratings and Reviews
Very good course. Prof. Kumar teaches in a lucid manner and the supplementary material is really helpful. One suggestion is that there could be one assignment on working with ode45 function and solving hte ODEs. This was mostly given in all the assignments.
Very interesting and very well prepared. I appreciate the instructors carefully constructed explanations and clarity. I understood there were no technical prerequisites required to take this course, but the material is not easy anyone lacking a science (e.g. engineering) background.
I was required to study the material and pull out my old text books to refresh on most of the topics. Also without any basic linear algebra and Matlab knowledge, the course could be very challenging.
Good content. Good community. Quality Assignments.
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SY
The course is informative and thorough. Professor Kumar does a brilliant job of explaining all the concepts as thoroughly within the permitted time. The supplementary videos are extremely helpful in understanding all the calculations and derivations in the course videos.