Robotics II: Project Information

Robotics II: Project Information

There are two sorts of information here that are relevant to your project:
Project requirements
Project ideas

Project Ideas

Design your own: Suggest a project that is interesting to you. As long as it is challenging and related to the class topics, I will probably approve it. It is my belief that you will get more out of the class if your project is closely aligned with your interests. The IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine is a good source of ideas. Also look at available projects on my Lab's wiki.
Planning algorithm performance: Create a family of motion planning problems and compare the performance of various planning algorithms on it.
Assembly planning: Develop a simulation model specific to a part insertion task. Use motion planning techniques to find a reliable way to perform task.
Develop a Ray4D solution: Solve a Ray4D problem and compare it to IKFast's solution.
Build and test a Pachinko machine: Build a simulator for a Pachinko-like machine. A challenging extension would be to determine how to place pins so that a given polygonal part would always reach the bottom in a chosen orientation - kind of like Tetris.
Build a pinball machine game: Build a simulator of a pinball game using a complementarity-based formulation. The flippers can be actuated by key presses.
Push planning: Use simulation with the RDT to plan pushing actions in a horizontal plane with obstacles. The goal is to move an object from a given initial configuration to a goal configuration.
Grasp acquisition under uncertainty: Build a simple grasp simulator with dynamics and use it to plan grasping actions. Inject errors in the robot's controller and see how they effect grasp achievement.
Build and test a robot grasper: A planar hand would be sufficient.
Minimum time-terrain traversal: In simulation, build a vehicle and controller that can move across the terrain in minimum time. The terrain might have loose stones on it.

Project Requirements

There are three parts to your project (see the Lecture page for due dates):

A one page proposal, due soon after spring break

A project presentation on the last or second last day of class

A final report, due on the last day before reading days

Detailed project requirements are below.

Project proposal: A one-page description of your project idea and goals
Project demo/presentation
- Explain your problem at a high level and explain why it is important (i.e., why should the audience care about the problem?).
- Clearly state the problem in technical terms.
- Describe approach used to solve the problem, for example:
  - mathematical or experimental model
  - solution approach
  - algorithm pseudo-code
  - controller block diagrams
- Show results obtained including experiments, animations, and plots if applicable.
- Describe what worked and what didn't. Give plausible explanations for what did not work and what might be done to make these things work better.
Written project report
- The written report should be 7-10 pages, roughly following the presentation outline. The length is less important than the information you convey. Your report should accomplish the following:
  - Answer the question: What is the problem studied?
  - Answer the question: Why is it important - beyond needing a project to pass the course.
  - Answer the question: How did you approach the problem (e.g., derive a math model, experimental approach, pseudo-code of your algorithm, block diagram of your controller, and method of analysis). This explanation should be detailed enough to allow someone else to duplicate your approach and validate (or invalidate) your results.
  - Present your results, discuss possible sources of error, and your conclusions.
- If there are animations or videos, the report should give the urls to them.
- Cite the relevant information sources used (e.g., technical papers).
- Planning and control code developed by you should be included in an appendix.