Robot manipulators… Maybe in simulation using PR2?
Swimmers? Or otherwise reproduce cool dynamic changes to hopper configurations.
Genetic algorithms for evolving robotic bodies.
????
Another major topic is going to be optimization… Inverse kinematics could be part of the equation (Jimmy Gestures is a good lab around this potential)
What is the big idea here?
Machine learning as applied to robots?
Advanced programming of robots?
Algorithms for robotics?
I like the lab setup of Robotics 1.
Maybe a hybrid of an open-ended project at the end and some labs at the beginning?
Is it just a shift in content?
Some possible topics:
Programming by demonstration
Object recognition
Visual Servoing
Reinforcement learning
Train a gesture recognizer using the Kinect
System Identification for cart Pendulum Swingup?
Structure from motion?
Remember the lesson of Tatiana and Sarah: they used LQR to stabilize a unicycle around an upright configuration. They found this incredibly cool! (it would be awesome to do this in a class).
Simulator for the PR2?
Pendulum balancing!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xukqv6zPYP8
Meeting with Adela:
(1) Get some NINJAs trained (ask for money from Olin to have a student work over the summer).
(2) Pingpong juggling dynamic control lab.
Cool computer vision framework: http://simplecv.org/