Introduction to Autonomous Robots
This book introduces concepts in mobile, autonomous robotics to 3rd-4th year students in Computer Science or a related discipline. The book covers principles of robot motion, forward and inverse kinematics of robotic arms and simple wheeled platforms, perception, error propagation, localization and simultaneous localization and mapping. The cover picture shows a wind-up toy that is smart enough to not fall off a table just using intelligent mechanism design and illustrate the importance of the mechanism in designing intelligent, autonomous systems. This book is open source, open to contributions, and released under a creative common license.
Anatomy of a Rover
In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the sophisticated scientific instruments on two identical robotic rovers that have explored Mars Spirit and Opportunity. ***Access to Teacher's Domain content now requires free login to PBS Learning Media.
OER-UCLouvain: Simulation environment for developping autonomous controllers for wheeled mobile robots
The resource is a simulation environment where one or several mobile robots compete against each other in order to get the highest possible score for their team. The said robots have a system of differential-drive wheels to move. Their aim is to autonomously collect several targets spread over the playground, bring them back to their base, while avoiding contacts with the opponent robots. Reaching this goal requires developing a controller (coded in C/C++) providing the appropriate voltage to the robot’s wheels, as a function of sensory inputs such as wheel velocity, touch sensors, or beacon detector. Learning outcomes of such a project include velocity control of DC motor, trajectory control, development of path-finding algorithms (optimal path search), avoidance of fixed obstacle and moving opponents, and the development of a high-level strategic decision module. This environment can further be used by the teacher to show concepts related to a mobile robotics class.