Welcome to the Robot Modeling course site! This space serves as a curated repository of handouts that will guide us throughout the semester. It also showcases the creative and technical outputs of students from past offerings—projects that bring together mathematics, programming, and imagination to model how robots move and interact with the world.

In this course, we study the mathematical foundations of robotic motion, focusing on how anthropomorphic manipulators can be modeled, simulated, and controlled through computation. We explore the geometry of movement—coordinate transformations, kinematics, and trajectory generation—and translate these into computer programs that animate robotic motion for soft automation applications. Toward the end of the course, we extend our models from stationary manipulators to surface robots, taking our first steps into the world of mobile robotics.

Through this site, we aim to keep our learning organized, collaborative, and reflective of the ingenuity that defines our field. Whether you’re here to access course materials or to be inspired by the work of your peers, may this site remind us that behind every robot’s graceful motion lies the elegance of mathematics and the power of computation.

In this course, we explore how robots move and think mathematically. Together, we learn how to model the motions of anthropomorphic robotic arms—the kind that mimic how we humans reach, grasp, and manipulate objects. We study coordinate transformations, kinematics, and trajectories not as abstract equations, but as the language that lets us describe movement precisely and program it intelligently. Along the way, we translate these mathematical models into computer algorithms that bring robotic motion to life in soft automation systems. Toward the end of the course, we expand our view from stationary manipulators to surface robots that move across environments, giving us a first look at mobile robotics. By the time we finish, we will have gained both the mathematical insight and the computational skill to model, simulate, and control robots that act with purpose and precision.

By the end of this course, we will be able to:

1. Describe and visualize how robotic manipulators move by expressing their geometry and motion through mathematical models.

2. Translate these models into computer programs that simulate and control the movement of robotic arms for soft automation.

3. Apply and integrate kinematic principles—such as coordinate transformations and trajectory generation—to design purposeful robotic motion.

4. Extend our understanding from stationary manipulators to surface robots, gaining foundational insight into mobile robot movement and control.