Autonomous and Mobile Robotics (AMR)

Prof. Giuseppe Oriolo

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Automatica e Gestionale
Sapienza Università di Roma


General Information
timetable 26 Sept - 21 Dec 2023, Mon 10:00-12:00, Tue 10:00-12:00, Thu 09:00-11:00, room B2 DIAG
office hours Thu 14:00-16:00, room A209 (DIAG, Via Ariosto 25) or by appointment
e-mail oriolo [at] diag [dot] uniroma1 [dot] it
AMR website http://www.diag.uniroma1.it/~oriolo/amr
AMR Google Group AMR_GG (membership is restricted, see below) 

Important news


Audience

This 6-credit course can be taken by students of the Master Programs in "Artificial Intelligence and Robotics" and in "Control Engineering" of Sapienza University of Rome.


Objective

The course presents the basic planning/control methods for achieving mobility and autonomy in mobile robots.


Preliminary syllabus for 2023/2024


Textbooks

- Siciliano, Sciavicco, Villani, Oriolo, Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control, 3rd Edition, Springer, 2009 (also available in Italian by McGraw-Hill)
[chapters 11 and 12 cover lectures on Configuration space, Wheeled Mobile Robots 1-5, Localization 1, Motion Planning 1-3]

- Choset, Lynch, Hutchinson, Kantor, Burgard, Kavraki, Thrun, Principles of Robot Motion: Theory, Algorithms and Implementations, MIT Press, 2005
[a useful reference for the whole course; chapter 8 covers lectures on Localization 2-3]

- Siciliano, Khatib, Eds., Handbook of Robotics, Springer, 2008
[
a useful reference for the whole course]

All these books are available in the DIAG library.

Miscellaneous Material

- 2022/2023: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2022/2023: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2021/2022: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2021/2022: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2020/2021: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2020/2021: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2019/2020: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2019/2020: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2017/2018: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2017/2018: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2016/2017: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2016/2017: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2015/2016: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2015/2016: Midterm Class test with solution
- 2014/2015: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2014/2015: Final Class test with solution
- 2013/2014: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2013/2014: Final Class test with solution
- 2012/2013: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2012/2013: Final Class test with solution
2011/2012: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2011/2012: Final Class test with solution
- 2010/2011: Final projects proposal and assignments
- 2010/2011: Class test 1 with solution , Class test 2 with solution
- 2009/2010: Final projects
- 2009/2010: Class test 1 with solution, Class test 2 with solution

- Lectures from previous years:
    * An introduction to the NAO humanoid (slides)
    * Motion planning in practice: An introduction to Kite and V-REP
(slides)
    * Case study: Vision-based localization and navigation for humanoid robots (slides)

    * Case study: Whole-body motion planning for humanoid robots
(slides)
    * Case study: Real-time evasive motions for humanoid robots
(slides)
    * Case study: Collision in human-robot collaboration: Avoidance, detection, and reaction (slides)
    * Case study: Visual servoing for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (slides)

- A control brush-up:
    * a review of stability theory
    * basics of stabilization via feedback
(in Italian)

- How to read a research paper (written for RPI's students but good for everyone)


Software

- MATLAB/Simulink code (folders sometimes include a ReadMe file with specific instructions)

    * unicycle path planning via differential flatness (UnicyclePathPlanning_Flatness.m)
    * Cartesian/posture regulation of a unicycle (Regulation.zip)
    * odometric localization of a unicycle (OdometricLocalization.zip)
    * unicycle posture regulation using odometric localization (OdometricLocalizationWithinPostureRegulation.zip)
    * a PRM-based planner for a 2R manipulator (12_7.zip)
    * an RRT-based planner for a unicycle
(12_8.zip)
    * a 2D point planner based on a numerical navigation function
(12_13.zip)
   Names 12_xx are due to the fact that these are the solutions ("s") of problems 12.xx of the book "Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control".

- An application for computing C-obstacles for a 2R manipulator
(2R_C_Space). Includes a topologically correct representation of the C-space (a torus) and an RRT-planner. The application runs on Mac, Linux and PC; see the instructions in the README file. An email address for sending feedback and bug reports to the developer (Pouya Mohammadi) is contained in the "About" tab.


Grading       

Students that are enrolled in the 2nd year of their master and are attending AMR for the first time can pass the exam via midterm test (50%) + final project (50%); or midterm test (50%) + final test (50%). Otherwise, one must take take a conventional exam, which may be written and/or oral.


Master Theses at the Robotics Laboratory

Master Theses on the topics studied in this course are available at the DIAG Robotics Lab. More information can be found here.
Questions/comments: oriolo [at] diag [dot] uniroma1 [dot] it