ME 132: Advanced Robotics: Navigation
Meeting Schedule: TBD
Lecturer: Joel Burdick
, jwb@robotics.caltech.edu,Mail Code 104-44,
Room 319 Thomas, (626) 395-4139
TA: TBD
Office Hours: TBD
Handouts
To the extent possible, all course handouts should be available on this web
site. Photocopied handouts that are not available on-line can be obtained
from Mrs. Maria Koeper, Thomas 319.
Course Texts
1) The main text for the first half of the course is:
- Planning Algorithms by Steve LaValle (UIUC).
You can buy this book
on-line at Amazon . Also, a preprint of the text
is available freely on-line .
This book provides a comprehensive summary of classical motion planning
theory. It also includes excellent reference material on information-space
approaches to planning, and evasion-pursuit algorithms (some of LaValle's
research). While these subjects are beyond the immediate scope of this class,
they accessible to interested students.
2) For the second half of the course, the following book is
recommended (but not required):
- Principles of Robot Motion: Theory, Algorithms, and
Implementations (by Howie Choset, Kevin Lynch, Seth Hutchinson, George
Kantor, Wolfram Burgard, Lydia Kavraki, and Sebastian Thrun ).
This text is also
available at Amazon (in both new and used versions).
3) Interested students may wish to also consult the following classic (but now
somewhat out-of-date) text on motion planning:
- Robot Motion Planning by J.C. Latombe.
This book is now out of print, but is available in the Caltech library.
Reading
- By Jan. 10, 2007: Read Chapter 1 LaValle's book
- For those who haven't taken ME 115: Read section 3.1 an 3.2
of Lavalle's book. Section 3.1 is not so critical, but the review of
rigid body transformations in Section 3.2 should be well understood
by all.
- By Jan 15, 2007: Read Section 4.3 of Lavalle's book. In order
to read Section 4.3, you will need to read portions of Sections 4.1 and
4.2. Section 4.2.1 is the crucial section in Section 4.2, while the
material in Section 4.1 must only be understood at a surface level at
this point in the course.
Week of Jan. 29: Read Sections 5.1.1 and 5.6 of the LaValle
book for background. Then read Sections 6.1, 6.21, and 6.23 of the
LaValle book (they are most relevant to the course lectures).
Homework
Bulletins/Updates
Questions and complaints should be addressed to:
jwb@robotics.caltech.edu