Instructor Contact Information

office hour: Wednesday 9:45-10:45 AM, Friday 1-2 PM, or by appointment
office: GDC 3.418
email: todd AT cs.utexas.edu

Teaching Assistant

Shweta Gulati
office hours: Tuesday 11 AM to Noon, Friday 2-3 PM
location: GDC 3.414B (BWI Lab)
email: shweta.gulati AT utexas.edu

Student Mentors

Josan Munoz
office hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5 PM
location: GDC 3.414B (BWI Lab)
email: j.munoz802 AT gmail.com

Nick White
office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2-4 PM
location: GDC 3.414B (BWI Lab)
email: britishnickk AT gmail.com

Prerequisites

Good programming skills, preferably in C and/or C++. Some background in artificial intelligence is recommended but not essential.

Syllabus and Text

Assignments

Reading, written, and programming assignments will be updated in the table below. A tentative schedule for the entire semester is posted. But the readings and exercises may change up until the Tuesday before they are due (1 week in advance).
You can go directly to the final project page. To see your grades go to Blackboard.

Piazza

Please enroll in the class on Piazza.
The class is listed as CS378B as Piazza only allows one class to have the CS378 number.
Important class information may be sent to this list. It is the student's responsibility to be subscribed.

Wiki

The class will also make extensive use of a wiki. Reading responses, project updates, and other project information will be posted on the class wiki: http://farnsworth.csres.utexas.edu/bwi/index.php/CS378/Main_Page

Philosophy and Goal

The foremost goal of this course is to expose the student to the full range of activities required of a real-life computer science researcher. It turns out that computer scientists rarely read textbooks, sit silently in lectures, work on programming assignments with correct and complete answers, or take exams. Rather, they

• read about and critically assess original research;
• speak in public;
• collaborate effectively with peers;
• devise solutions and/or approaches to open-ended problems; and
• write about these solutions and/or approaches.

This course presents an opportunity for students to help decide whether they would enjoy going on to graduate school and an eventual career as a computer science researcher. In particular, students will be required to read published research papers, write brief reactions to them, participate in class discussions, propose and execute a solution to a challenging open-ended problem, and write about their work. They will be given an opportunity to collaborate with other students on the final project.

Content Overview

This course is focused on developing a building wide intelligence (BWI) for the new computer science building. The idea is to have a pervasive intelligence throughout the building, in the form of robots, kiosks, display screens, and cameras. These robots will perform a variety of tasks, such as leading people to their destinations or locating a person in the building.

The main goal of this course is to complete a small research project, advancing the abilities of the current BWI system.

There will be incremental programming assignments to introduce students to the robots and the existing codebase. These will lead to a final project on the robots. Students are encouraged to work in groups for the last programming assignment and the final project.

Participation in the class discussions will also form a significant part of the grade. Class meetings will consist of discussions based on assigned readings and updates on project progress.

Course Requirements

Written responses to readings (10%):

Weekly readings will be posted on the class website on Tuesday to be due the following Tuesday. Students should post responses to the readings on the class wiki, under the appropriate heading (i.e. "Week x Readings"). Be sure to post your name and the date with your response! Credit will be based on evidence that you have done the readings carefully. Students should also comment and discuss other student's reading responses on the wiki. The response should include a summary of the reading along with any of the following:

Insightful questions;

Clarification questions about ambiguities;

Comments about the relation of the reading to previous readings;

Critiques on the research;

Critiques on the writing style or clarity;

Thoughts on what you would like to learn about in more detail;

Possible extensions or related studies;

Thoughts on the paper's importance; and

Summaries of the most important things you learned.

These responses will be graded on a 10-point scale and graded mostly on written expression and coherence of argument (most questions will not have a ``right'' answer). Responses will be due by 9pm on Monday. Responses received between then and 11a.m. on Tuesday will be deducted 1 point (for a maximum score of 9). Responses received between then and 11a.m. on Thursday will be deducted 2 points (for a maximum score of 8). Responses received after that will be deducted 4 points (for a maximum score of 6).

These deadlines are designed both to encourage you to do the readings before class and also to allow us to incorporate some of your responses into the class discussions.

New papers (10%):

Every Tuesday by 12:30pm, students should post at least one new paper to the wiki database of related papers. Please add the paper and list your name and the Week next to it. Collecting these relevant papers will be useful for the whole class, as it will serve as a good reference for groups as they perform research on various topics.

Project updates (10%):

After the project proposals in week 7, students should post updates on their project progress to the class wiki, under the appropriate heading (i.e. "Project Updates for Week x") by 12:30 pm on Thursdays. Students should also comment and discuss other student's project updates on the wiki. In addition, a significant portion of class time will be spent discussing project progress and discussing possible problems and solutions with the class.

Class participation (10%):

Students are expected to be present in class having completed the readings and participate actively in the discussions.

Initial programming assignments (20%):

A series of 2 incremental programming assignments will be assigned during the first half of the semester. Their purpose is to familiarize you with the robots and software you will be using in the final project. Each project is worth 10% of your final grade.

Project proposal draft (5%):

Midway through the semester, you will propose a topic for your final project. The proposal will be in written form. More details are available on this page.

Project progress report (10%):

The progress report is mainly a revision of the proposal. It should take into account comments given on the proposal. Expect it to require significant rewriting, as opposed to just editing of the proposal. In addition, it should include an update on progress to date and likely a revision of plans for the project. More details are available on this page.

Final project and written report (25%):

The grade for the final project will be based upon the final product and the written report, which should detail what was done. More details are available on this page.

Extension Policy

If you turn in your assignment late, expect points to be deducted. No exceptions will be made for the written responses to readings-based questions (subject to the ``notice about missed work due to religious holy days'' below). For other assignments, extensions will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but in most cases they will not be granted.

For the penalties on responses to the readings see above (under course requirements). For other assignments, by default, 5 points (out of 100) will be deducted for lateness for the first two days, plus an additional 1 point for every additional 24-hour period beyond 2 that the assignment is late. For example, an assignment due at 2pm on Tuesday will have 5 points deducted if it is turned in late but before 2pm on Thursday. It will have 6 points deducted if it is turned in by 2pm Friday, etc.

The greater the advance notice of a need for an extension, the greater the likelihood of leniency.

Academic Dishonesty Policy

All work ideas, quotes, and code fragments that originate from elsewhere must be cited according to standard academic practice. Students caught cheating will automatically fail the course. If in doubt, look at the departmental guidelines and/or ask.

Notice about students with disabilities

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. To determine if you qualify, please contact the Dean of Students at 471-6529; 471-4641 TTY. If they certify your needs, I will work with you to make appropriate arrangements.

Notice about missed work due to religious holy days

A student who misses an examination, work assignment, or other project due to the observance of a religious holy day will be given an opportunity to complete the work missed within a reasonable time after the absence, provided that he or she has properly notified the instructor. It is the policy of the University of Texas at Austin that the student must notify the instructor at least fourteen days prior to the classes scheduled on dates he or she will be absent to observe a religious holy day. For religious holy days that fall within the first two weeks of the semester, the notice should be given on the first day of the semester. The student will not be penalized for these excused absences, but the instructor may appropriately respond if the student fails to complete satisfactorily the missed assignment or examination within a reasonable time after the excused absence.

Schedule

Week	Date	Topic (Link to Slides)	Reading Due	Assignment Due
1	1/15	Introduction
1	1/17	Hardware Overview		Sign up for piazza & wiki
2	1/22	Hardware / CoBot	Cobot paper: Stephanie Rosenthal, Joydeep Biswas, Manuela M. Veloso. "An Effective Personal Mobile Robot Agent Through Symbiotic Human-Robot Interaction." International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2010). [pdf] Add new paper to wiki paper database.
2	1/24	NO CLASS, Go to talk: Xiaofeng Ren Kinect talk 1pm, ACES 2.402		Sign up for github
3	1/29	ROS	ROS intro ROS Concepts Add new paper to wiki paper database.
3	1/31	ROS Tutorial		Programming Asst. 1 (intro)
4	2/5	BWI Project	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
4	2/7	Meet in GDC 3.414B!		Post Teammate Search on Piazza
5	2/12	BWI	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
5	2/14	BWI
6	2/19	Class slides Control slides	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
6	2/21	Project Ideas		Programming Asst 2 (Robot)
7	2/26	Proposal / Readings	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
7	2/28	Localization		Project Proposal
8	3/5	ROS Review	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
8	3/7	Projects	Update project progress on wiki.
9	3/19	Discussions	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
9	3/21	Vision/OpenCV	Update project progress on wiki.
10	3/26	No class	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
10	3/28	Symposium Summary		Progress Report
11	4/2	Git	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
11	4/4	Group Updates	Update project progress on wiki.
12	4/9	Obstacle Avoidance	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
12	4/11	Group Updates	Update project progress on wiki.
13	4/16	Human Robot Interaction	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
13	4/18	Demos 1	Update project progress on wiki.
14	4/23	Multi-Robot Coordination	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
14	4/25	Demos 2	Update project progress on wiki.
15	4/30	Reinforcement Learning	Choose any paper (possibly from the wiki) related to your project to read. Be sure to state which paper you read in your response on the wiki. Add new paper to wiki paper database.
15	5/2	Course Recap		Final Project
Finals	5/10	Final Demo Video		Final Project Video