Coursera
Explore
  • Browse
  • Search
  • For Enterprise
  • Log In
  • Sign Up

Robotics: Mobility

OverviewSyllabusFAQsCreatorsPricingRatings and Reviews

HomePhysical Science and EngineeringMechanical Engineering

Robotics: Mobility

University of Pennsylvania

About this course: How can robots use their motors and sensors to move around in an unstructured environment? You will understand how to design robot bodies and behaviors that recruit limbs and more general appendages to apply physical forces that confer reliable mobility in a complex and dynamic world. We develop an approach to composing simple dynamical abstractions that partially automate the generation of complicated sensorimotor programs. Specific topics that will be covered include: mobility in animals and robots, kinematics and dynamics of legged machines, and design of dynamical behavior via energy landscapes.


Created by:  University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

  • Daniel E. Koditschek

    Taught by:  Daniel E. Koditschek, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering

    School of Engineering and Applied Science
Basic Info
Course 3 of 6 in the Robotics Specialization
Commitment4 weeks of study, 2-4 hours/week
Language
English
How To PassPass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings
3.8 stars
Average User Rating 3.8See what learners said
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction: Motivation and Background
We start with a general consideration of animals, the exemplar of mobility in nature. This leads us to adopt the stance of bioinspiration rather than biomimicry, i.e., extracting principles rather than appearances and applying them systematically to our machines. A little more thinking about typical animal mobility leads us to focus on appendages – limbs and tails – as sources of motion. The second portion of the week offers a bit of background on the physical and mathematical foundations of limbed robotic mobility. We start with a linear spring-mass-damper system and consider the second order ordinary differential equation that describes it as a first order dynamical system. We then treat the simple pendulum – the simplest revolute kinematic limb – in the same manner just to give a taste for the nature of nonlinear dynamics that inevitably arise in robotics. We’ll finish with a treatment of stability and energy basins. Link to bibliography: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics-mobility/resources/pqYOc
8 videos, 3 readings, 2 practice quizzes
  1. Video: 0.0.0 What you will learn in this course
  2. Video: 1.0.0 What you will learn this week
  3. Video: 1.1.1 Why and how do animals move?
  4. Video: 1.1.2 Bioinspiration
  5. Video: 1.1.3 Legged Mobility: dynamic motion and the management of energy
  6. Reading: Setting up your MATLAB environment
  7. Reading: MATLAB Tutorial I - Getting Started with MATLAB
  8. Reading: MATLAB Tutorial II - Programming
  9. Video: 1.2.1 Review LTI Mechanical Dynamical Systems
  10. Video: 1.2.2 Introduce Nonlinear Mechanical Dynamical Systems: the dissipative pendulum in gravity
  11. Practice Quiz: 1.2.2 Nonlinear mechanical systems
  12. Video: 1.2.3 Linearization & Normal Forms
  13. Practice Quiz: 1.2.3 Linearizations
Graded: 1.1.1 Why and how do animals move
Graded: 1.1.2 Bioinspiration
Graded: 1.1.3 Legged Mobility: dynamic motion and the management of energy
WEEK 2
Behavioral (Templates) & Physical (Bodies)
We’ll start with behavioral components that take the form of what we call “templates:” very simple mechanisms whose motions are fundamental to the more complex limbed strategies employed by animal and robot locomotors. We’ll focus on the “compass gait” (the motion of a two spoked rimless wheel) and the spring loaded inverted pendulum – the abbreviated versions of legged walkers and legged runners, respectively.We’ll then shift over to look at the physical components of mobility. We’ll start with the notion of physical scaling laws and then review useful materials properties and their associated figures of merit. We’ll end with a brief but crucial look at the science and technology of actuators – the all important sources of the driving forces and torques in our robots. Link to bibliography: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics-mobility/resources/pqYOc
8 videos
  1. Video: 2.0.0 What you will learn this week
  2. Video: 2.1.1 Walking like a rimless wheel
  3. Video: 2.1.2 Running like a spring-loaded pendulum
  4. Video: 2.1.3 Controlling the spring-loaded inverted pendulum
  5. Video: 2.2.1 Metrics and Scaling: mass, length, strength
  6. Video: 2.2.2 Materials, manufacturing, and assembly
  7. Video: 2.2.3 Design: figures of merit, robustness
  8. Video: 2.3.1 Actuator technologies
Graded: 2.1.1 Walking like a rimless wheel
Graded: 2.1.2 Running like a spring-loaded pendulum
Graded: 2.1.3 Controlling the spring-loaded inverted pendulum
Graded: 2.2.1 Metrics and Scaling: mass, length, strength
Graded: 2.2.2 Materials, manufacturing, and assembly
Graded: 2.2.3 Design: figures of merit, robustness
Graded: 2.3.1 Actuator technologies
WEEK 3
Anchors: Embodied Behaviors
Now we’ll put physical links and joints together and consider the geometry and the physics required to understand their coordinated motion. We’ll learn about the geometry of degrees of freedom. We’ll then go back to Newton and learn a compact way to write down the physical dynamics that describes the positions, velocities and accelerations of those degrees of freedom when forced by our actuators.Of course there are many different ways to put limbs and bodies together: again, the animals can teach us a lot as we consider the best morphology for our limbed robots. Sprawled posture runners like cockroaches have six legs which typically move in a stereotyped pattern which we will consider as a model for a hexapedal machine. Nature’s quadrupeds have their own varied gait patterns which we will match up to various four-legged robot designs as well. Finally, we’ll consider bipedal machines, and we’ll take the opportunity to distinguish human-like robot bipeds that are almost foredoomed to be slow quasi-static machines from a number of less animal-like bipedal robots whose embrace of bioinspired principles allows them to be fast runners and jumpers. Link to bibliography: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics-mobility/resources/pqYOc
6 videos
  1. Video: 3.0.0 What you will learn this week
  2. Video: 3.1.1 Review of kinematics
  3. Video: 3.1.2 Introduction to dynamics and control
  4. Video: 3.2.1 Sprawled posture runners
  5. Video: 3.2.2 Quadrupeds
  6. Video: 3.2.3 Bipeds
Graded: 3.1.1 Review of kinematics (MATLAB)
Graded: 3.1.2 Introduction to dynamics and control
Graded: 3.2.1 Sprawled posture runners
Graded: 3.2.2 Quadrupeds
Graded: 3.2.3 Bipeds
Graded: Simply stabilized SLIP (MATLAB)
WEEK 4
Composition (Programming Work)
We now introduce the concept of dynamical composition, reviewing two types: a composition in time that we term “sequential”; and composition in space that we call “parallel.” We’ll put a bit more focus into that last concept, parallel composition and review what has been done historically, and what can be guaranteed mathematically when the simple templates of week 2 are tasked to worked together “in parallel” on variously more complicated morphologies. The final section of this week’s lesson brings you to the horizons of research into legged mobility. We give examples of how the same composition can be anchored in different bodies, and, conversely, how the same body can be made to run using different compositions. We will conclude with a quick look at the ragged edge of what is known about transitional behaviors such as leaping. Link to bibliography: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics-mobility/resources/pqYOc
10 videos, 2 practice quizzes
  1. Video: 4.0.0 What you will learn this week
  2. Video: 4.1.1 Sequential and Parallel Composition
  3. Video: 4.2.1 Why is parallel hard?
  4. Video: (SUPPLEMENTARY) 4.2.2 SLIP as a parallel vertical hopper and rimless wheel
  5. Practice Quiz: (SUPPLEMENTARY) 4.2.2 SLIP as a parallel composition
  6. Video: 4.2.3a RHex: A Simple & Highly Mobile Biologically Inspired Hexapod Runner
  7. Video: (SUPPLEMENTARY) 4.2.3b Clocked RHex gaits
  8. Practice Quiz: (SUPPLEMENTARY) 4.2.3b Clocked RHex gaits
  9. Video: 4.3.1 Compositions of vertical hoppers
  10. Video: 4.3.2 Same composition, different bodies
  11. Video: 4.3.3 Same body, different compositions
  12. Video: 4.3.4 Transitions: RHex, Jerboa, and Minitaur leaping
Graded: 4.1.1 Sequential and Parallel Composition
Graded: 4.2.1 Why is parallel hard?
Graded: 4.2.3a RHex
Graded: 4.3.1 Compositions of vertical hoppers
Graded: MATLAB: composition of vertical hoppers
Graded: 4.3.2 Same composition, different bodies
Graded: 4.3.3 Same body, different compositions
Graded: 4.3.4 Transitions

FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

Help from Your Peers
Help from Your Peers

Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

Certificates
Certificates

Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.

Creators
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.
Pricing
Purchase Course
Access to course materials

Available

Access to graded materials

Available

Receive a final grade

Available

Earn a shareable Course Certificate

Available

Ratings and Reviews
Rated 3.8 out of 5 of 334 ratings
Lokesh Bisht

great learning

MP

Overall, the course was very interesting. I would have probably learned the material better if there was supplementary reading material listed for the course. I also would have liked more engaging and challenging Matlab assignments that were more than just tuning gains.

K0r01

the problem of mobility can not be well covered in short time, but this course gives a good introduction to problems applications and reference materials

AD

By this course , being the student and begineer in the study of Robotics.

this course gave me the extent knowledge of Robotics:mobility.

thankyou professor and coursera team providing such good stuffs online to the people like us.



You May Also Like
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Computational Motion Planning
1 course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Computational Motion Planning
View course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Perception
1 course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Perception
View course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Estimation and Learning
1 course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Estimation and Learning
View course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Aerial Robotics
1 course
University of Pennsylvania
Robotics: Aerial Robotics
View course
Georgia Institute of Technology
Control of Mobile Robots
1 course
Georgia Institute of Technology
Control of Mobile Robots
View course
Coursera
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
© 2018 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
  • Coursera
  • About
  • Leadership
  • Careers
  • Catalog
  • Certificates
  • Degrees
  • For Business
  • For Government
  • Community
  • Partners
  • Mentors
  • Translators
  • Developers
  • Beta Testers
  • Connect
  • Blog
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Tech Blog
  • More
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Accessibility
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Directory
  • Affiliates