CS393R: Autonomous Robots -- Assignments

CS393R: Autonomous Robots -- Assignments

Things to do ASAP (before the first class if possible)

  • Make sure you have a CS account - if not, apply for one from the CS Dept. immediately (so it will be active by the time the class starts).
  • Send an email to katie@cs and pstone@cs letting us know your CS account.
  • Join the class mailing list (see class main page).
  • Get access to the class textbook (see class main page).

    • Week 0 (8/27): Class Overview

  • If you would like to get a jump on the class, consider looking at the following:
  • The first 2 chapters of the course textbook.
  • Any of the research projects and papers listed at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~AustinVilla/

    • Week 1 (8/30, 9/1): Introduction to motion control

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 8/29 at 9pm)

  • Ben Kuipers' Control Tutorial.

    • Programming: (due Thursday, 9/8 at 12:30pm)

  • Programming assignment 1 is designed to get you familiar with the robots.

    • Week 2 (9/6, 9/8): Motion control continued

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • Braitenberg, 1984.
  • The UT Austin Villa 2003 Four-Legged Team, Extended version
    The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Computer Sciences, AI Laboratory Tech report UT-AI-TR-03-304.
    Read Sections 5.1.1-5.1.3.
  • A Model-Based Approach to Robot Joint Control
    Daniel Stronger and Peter Stone.
    In Daniele Nardi, Martin Riedmiller, and Claude Sammut, editors, RoboCup-2004: Robot Soccer World Cup VIII, pp. 297
    • Programming: (due Thursday, 9/8 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 1 is designed to get you familiar with the robots.

    • Week 3 (9/13,9/15): Probability/Sensing

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 9/22 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 2.

    • Week 4 (9/20,9/22): Kalman Filters

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 9/22 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 2.

    • Week 5 (9/27,9/29): Localization

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 10/6 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 3.

    • Week 6 (10/4,10/6): Vision

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 10/6 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 3 .

    • Week 7 (10/11,10/13): Walking

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 10/13 at 12:30pm)
  • Final project topic proposal
  • Once you have determined what you would like to do for your project and with whom you would like to work, send a description of your project as well as your particular goals for it (one per person - not per team). Make sure to include the name(s) of your partner(s). The more detail you provide, the more easily we will be able to provide meaningful feedback.
  • See the final project page for more details.
  • Your response should be sent as ASCII text (not encoded in any way) to Peter Stone & Katie Genter with subject: "Project proposal".

    • Week 8 (10/18,10/20): Action and Sensor Modeling

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, 9pm)

    Programming: (due Thursday, 10/20 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 4 .

    • Week 9 (10/25, 10/27): Path Planning

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • RRT: Rapidly-exploring random trees: Progress and prospects.
     Lavalle and Kuffner.
  • D* lite: Fast Replanning for Navigation in Unknown Terrain.
     Koenig and Likhachev
  • For additional (optional) readings, see the resources page.

    • Week 10 (11/1,11/3): Behavior Architectures

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • Intelligence without Representation.
     Rodney A. Brooks.
    Artificial Intelligence 47 (1991), 139-159.
    PDF version.
  • Experiences with an Architecture for Intelligent, Reactive Agents.
     R. Peter Bonasso, R. James Firby, Erann Gat, David Kortenkamp, David P. Miller, and Marc G. Slack.
    JETAI 9(2/3):237-256, 1997.
    •  Programming: (due Thursday, 11/3 at 12:30pm)
  • Programming assignment 5.

    • Week 11 (11/8, 11/10): Multi-Robot Coordination

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • Current Research in Multi-robot Systems.
    Lynne Parker
    ALife Robotics, 2003.
    If you have the time, the more recent survey from 2008 on the resources page isn't that much longer
  • A Realistic Model of Frequency-Based Multi-Robot Fence Patrolling.
    Yehuda Elmaliach, Asaf Shiloni, and Gal A. Kaminka.
    In Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS-08)
    It's OK to skim sections 3.2 and 3.3. Make sure to understand what they analyze and how. It's OK not to follow the full details of the analysis (though it all should be accessible).
  • Coordinating Hundreds of Cooperative, Autonomous Vehicles in Warehouses.
    Peter R.Wurman, Raffaelo D'Andrea, and Mick Mountz.
    AAAI Magazine, 2007.
  • For additional (optional) readings, see the resources page.
    • Programming: (due Thursday, 11/10 at 12:30pm)
  • Final project literature survey. See the final project page for more details.

    • Week 12 (11/15, 11/17): Applications

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • This is a long pair of articles. More important than the details is the full scope of subproblems that arose, and how they were addressed.
  • Multiagent Interactions in Urban Driving.
    Patrick Beeson, Jack O'Quin, Bartley Gillan, Tarun Nimmagadda, Mickey Ristroph, David Li, and Peter Stone.
    Journal of Physical Agents, 2(1):15-30 March 2008
  • Autonomous driving in urban environments: Boss and the Urban Challenge.
    The CMU winning entry in the 2007 Urban Challenge.
    Journal of Field Robotics Special Issue 2008.
  • For additional (optional) readings, see the resources page.

    • Week 13 (11/22): Social Implications

    Jump to the resources page.

    Readings: (email response due Monday, at 9pm)

  • Why the Future Doesn't Need Us by Bill Joy - Wired, 2000. (pdf version)
  • The Essence of Soccer: Can Robots Play Too?
    Peter Stone, Michael Quinlan, and Todd Hester.
    •

    Week 14 (11/29, 12/1): Project Demos

    Jump to the resources page.

    Programming: (due Tuesday and Thursday, 11/29 and 12/1 at 12:30pm)

  • Final project report. See the final project page for more details.
    • [Back to Department Home page]

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