MECH ENG 4124 - Robotics M
North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2021
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General Course Information
Course Details
Course Code MECH ENG 4124 Course Robotics M Coordinating Unit School of Mechanical Engineering Term Semester 1 Level Undergraduate Location/s North Terrace Campus Units 3 Contact Up to 4 hours per week Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y Incompatible MECH ENG 4027 Assumed Knowledge MATHS 1012, MECH ENG 2019 & MECH ENG 3028 Assessment Assignments, Final exam Course Staff
Course Coordinator: Dr Tien-Fu Lu
Course Timetable
The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.
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Learning Outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
1 Explain the basics of robotic systems; 2 Define the needs, acquire necessary information and select appropriate robots for various industrial applications; 3 Explain robot design and development processes, and their vast applications; 4 Apply the knowledge learned for the design and development of simple robotic aspects; 5 Explain the principles of and apply robot kinematics, dynamics, motion planning, trajectory generation and control; 6 Explain the basics of other robotic topics covered in the course (i.e. machine vision, mobile robot, etc); 7 Recognise the responsibility of engineers for the safety issues and the importance associated with the use of robots for various applications; 8 Demonstrate the ability to work in a team based small projects and effectively use
interpersonal communication skills to produce productive solutions;
The above course learning outcomes are aligned with the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standard for the Professional Engineer.
The course is designed to develop the following Elements of Competency: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
University Graduate Attributes
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:
University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s) Deep discipline knowledge
- informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
- acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
- accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
1-5,8 Critical thinking and problem solving
- steeped in research methods and rigor
- based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
- demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
1-4,8 Teamwork and communication skills
- developed from, with, and via the SGDE
- honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
- encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
1,8 Career and leadership readiness
- technology savvy
- professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
- forward thinking and well informed
- tested and validated by work based experiences
2-5,7-8 Intercultural and ethical competency
- adept at operating in other cultures
- comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts
- able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes
- demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges
2-8 Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
- a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal
- open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers
- able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate
4-6,8 -
Learning Resources
Required Resources
- Text book: Craig, J. J., Introduction to Robotics, Mechanics and Control, 3rd Edition, Addison Wesley, 2005 (available from Unibooks)
- Lecture notes available as printed copy from the Image & Copy Centre at the beginning of the semester and electronic copy available via MyUni;
Recommended Resources
Recommended Reading:
- LOW, K.H., “Robotics, principles and systems modeling,” 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2004
- Schilling, R. J., Fundamentals of Robotics - Analysis & Control, Prentice Hall, 1991;
- Lewis, F. L., Abdallah, C. T., Dawson, D. M., Control of robot manipulators, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993;
- Web sites, such as: www-sop.inria.fr/saga/personnel/merlet/merlet_eng.html.
- Other materials including journal and conference papers provided through out the semester.
Online Learning
Course related materials including announcements, lecture notes, tutorial materials, project information and so on will be made available in MyUni. Students are asked to access MyUni regularly (preferred at least once a week) for the course related information and materials throught out the semester. For more information, please visit MyUni Support.
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Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes
- Lectures to cover the contents described in Section 1.1 course description and enhanced by videos and real life examples.
- Tutorials to support the covered contents adopting problem-solving principles.
- Assignments for students to exercise the knowledge learned.
- Small project to integrate not only the contents covered in the lectures but also to extend further beyond. Basic research skills will be briefed to students and it will require students to choose areas of interests to carry out one team based small scale project each group and write reports.
Workload
The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
In addition to fours hours a week for lectures, tutorial and project activities in classes, averaged three hours per week are estimated to be necessary to review the contents learned and work on assignments, tutorial questions and one team based project to achieve good learning results.
Learning Activities Summary
Introduction to robotic systems (1 hours lecture)
- definitions for various robotic terms
- industrial robots and applications
- mobile robots and applications
- parallel robots and applications
- New development and trends of robotics
Spatial descriptions (1 hour lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- coordinate frames
- coordinate translation and rotation
- homogeneous transformation
- compound transformation
- raw-pitch-yaw and euler angles
- inversed rotation matrix
Kinematics (3.5 hours lectures, 2 hours tutorial)
- forward kinematics
- denavit-hartenberg notation
- joint space and cartesian space
- inverse kinematics
- solvability of the inverse kinematics problems
- algebraic solution and geometric solution
- pieper’s solution
- kinemtaics of parallel robots
Jacobians (3.5 hours lectures, 1hour tutorial)
- linear and rotational velocity of rigid bodies
- motion of the links of a robot
- velocity propagation from link to link
- angular and linear velocities of robot links
- Jacobians
- singularities
- static forces propagate from link to link
- Jacobians in force domain
Dynamics (4 hours lectures, 2 hours tutorial)
- Lagrangian formulation
- Kinetic and potential energy
- Euler dynamic formulation
- the force and torque acting on a link
Trajectory generation (2 hours lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- introduction
- joint space schemes
- cartesian schemes
Position and force control (1.5 hours lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- control of manipulators
- control law partitioning
- trajectory following control
- nonlinear and varying systems
- model-based control for manipulators
- current industrial robot control systems
Wheeled mobile robots (1.5 hours lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- classification of wheels
- mobile robot locomotion
- kinematics of wheeled mobile robot
- basic control of wheeled mobile robot
Image processing and analysis (1.5 hours lectures)
- histogram, edges, and other basics
- applying filters and noise reduction
- convolution mask
- sampling and quantization
- thresholding and connectivity
- binary image
- thresholding and hough transform
- segmentation
- binary morphology operations
- image analysis
- object recognition
- stereo imaging
- change detection
Machine vision for change detection using mobile camera (1.5 hours lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- SIFT
- Issues related to illumination changes
- Issues related to mobile camera
- Change detection methods
Introduction to underwater, air and space robots (2 hours lectures, 1 hour tutorial)
- underwater robots
- aerial robots
- space robots
Robot plume tracing (1.5 hours lectures)
- insect robot and environment simulation
- plume and plume propagation
- plume tracking algorithms
- obstacle detection and avoidance
Indoor localization (1 hours lecture)
- problems of current indoor localization
- Angle-of-arrival method
- Received-signal-strength method
- Time-of-arrival method
Mobile robot trajectory generation (1.5 hours lectures)
- Vector field based method
- Time-dependent trajectory generation
Small robotic project laboratory/simulation work (10 hours project work)
In total, there are 38 hours lectures and tutorials. The number of hours for lectures; tutorial and project work are subject to vary slightly.
Specific Course Requirements
Not applicable.
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Assessment
The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:
- Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
- Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
- Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
- Assessment must maintain academic standards.
Assessment Summary
Assessment Task Weighting (%) Individual/ Group Formative/ Summative Due (week)* Hurdle criteria Learning outcomes Assignments 20 Individual Summative Weeks 2-12 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Small group project 10 Group Summative Week 12 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Exam 70 Individual Summative Exam week 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Total 100
This assessment breakdown complies with the University's Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation modified arrangements have been made to assessments to facilitate remote learning and teaching. Assessment details provided here reflect recent updates.
There are 4 quiz and 4 assignments for this course. All are placed in MyUni under "Assignments" and released accordingly for you to access, to work on, and to submit on-line for all students locally as well as remotely. Each quiz and assignment will be released when the designed topics are covered by the respective lecture(s) and tutorial(s). You shall have two weeks time before submission is due.
In terms of final examination, if there is to be any change, this page will be updated to provide relevant information.Assessment Related Requirements
Continuous assessment is required which needs the students to pass the assignments (averaged) and project to sit for the final examination.
Assessment Detail
- Assignments: Assignments will be set and related to the topics described in Section 4.3 learning activity summary.
- Project: Some small scale contemporary robotic projects will be given to students to choose from.
- Final exam: The final exam will be set to test the robotic knowledge learned.
Submission
Assignments and project report (hardcopy) need to be submitted with cover sheet to the submission box, which has the correct course label, located on level 2 of Engineering South building before the deadline. Students are required to use TURNITIN and attached the report to their project reports. Electronic copy of project report as well as programs developed for the project also need to be submitted to the email address that will be specified at the beginning of the semester. Every one day late submission (both assignments and project report) will incur 10% mark deduction. Due dates may be extended with genuine reasons which needs to communicate with the lecturer face-to-face or by emails. The turn-around timeline on assessments and the provision of feedback is two weeks after the submission deadline.
Course Grading
Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:
M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme) Grade Mark Description FNS Fail No Submission F 1-49 Fail P 50-64 Pass C 65-74 Credit D 75-84 Distinction HD 85-100 High Distinction CN Continuing NFE No Formal Examination RP Result Pending Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.
Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.
Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.
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Student Feedback
The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.
SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
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Student Support
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Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
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- Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy
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- Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Policy
- Student Grievance Resolution Process
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