ME 5250: Robot Mechanics and Control

Semesters: Fall 2023 

This course intends to provide the basic background on Robotics and Manipulators. The main goal is to cover kinematics and dynamics of manipulators in the first part of the course. Then, in the second part of the course, we concentrate on control methods for manipulators to achieve stabilization and desired performance. First, we start with the required mathematical analysis for kinematics by introducing vector spaces and linear operators. Then, the linear algebra and matrix theory are covered for vector analysis, projections and homogeneous transformation including the important topic of Denavit-Hartenberg representation. Before starting the second part of the course, we will review analysis and control of dynamic systems. In the second part of the course, after briefly discussing the static forces and velocities through Jacobians, we deal with the forces and moments required to cause motion of manipulators. This will allow us to derive and write manipulator dynamics. The last part of the course is devoted to control design techniques for manipulators. 

EE 8950: Introduction to Controls and Signals for Robotics

Semesters: Fall 2020, Fall 2021 (UMN)

This course aims to provide students with the foundations of mathematical modeling, analysis, and control of dynamical systems with applications to robotics. The course starts with a review of the related mathematical preliminaries (linear algebra and differential equations) and the fundamentals of mathematical modeling based on first principles with examples from electrical, mechanical, and robotic systems (e.g., articulated robots, mobile robots). We then continue with linearization, the fundamental properties of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems, the representations of LTI systems using transfer functions and state space, and the analysis of such systems in time and frequency domains. The course ends with an introduction to feedback control and the PID controller.