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Northwestern University

Modern Robotics, Course 4: Robot Motion Planning and Control

Do you want to know how robots work? Are you interested in robotics as a career? Are you willing to invest the effort to learn fundamental mathematical modeling techniques that are used in all subfields of robotics? If so, then the "Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control" specialization may be for you. This specialization, consisting of six short courses, is serious preparation for serious students who hope to work in the field of robotics or to undertake advanced study. It is not a sampler. In Course 4 of the specialization, Robot Motion Planning and Control, you will learn key concepts of robot motion generation: planning a motion for a robot in the presence of obstacles, and real-time feedback control to track the planned motion. Chapter 10, Motion Planning, of the "Modern Robotics" textbook covers foundational material like C-space obstacles, graphs and trees, and graph search, as well as classical and modern motion planning techniques, such as grid-based motion planning, randomized sampling-based planners, and virtual potential fields. Chapter 11, Robot Control, covers motion control, force control, and hybrid motion-force control. This course follows the textbook "Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control" (Lynch and Park, Cambridge University Press 2017). You can purchase the book or use the free preprint pdf. You will build on a library of robotics software in the language of your choice (among Python, Mathematica, and MATLAB) and use the free cross-platform robot simulator V-REP, which allows you to work with state-of-the-art robots in the comfort of your own home and with zero financial investment.

Status: Virtual Environment
Status: Mathematical Modeling
IntermediateCourse32 hours

Featured reviews

JM

5.0Reviewed Jan 3, 2019

Really liked this class. More challenging than the typical Coursera fare.

PB

5.0Reviewed Feb 15, 2020

This course taught how to apply controls to robot motion planning.

ZI

5.0Reviewed Jun 15, 2022

First course from this specialization that deserves 5 stars. Programming assignments are MASSSIVE. Just don't give up !

HK

5.0Reviewed Jul 11, 2019

Highly Enjoyable. This course has augmented my intrigue in robotics. The programming assignments are interesting and the video lectures are very good.

AC

5.0Reviewed Feb 28, 2019

The Programming assignments are quite challenging but enjoyable at the same time. Learned a lot from this course.

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