Overview

A study of the application of artificial intelligence to solving problems in robotics. Topics include subsumption, planning, machine learning, vision, neural networks, localization, and mapping. Students configure provided implementations of algorithms to control physical robots.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this course, our goal is for you to be able to:

• Program a mobile robot to interact with a realistic environment with natural timing.
• Employ classes and modules to structure Python programs.
• Create ROS2 nodes that:
  • Control motors and process sensor information by publishing and subscribing to topics.
  • Create new topics and publish to them to enable building robust, modular controllers.
• Quantitatively and qualitatively assess the performance of a mobile robot for a given task.
• Employ computer vision techniques to inform the behavior of a mobile robot.
• Employ appropriate machine learning algorithms to improve the performance of a mobile robot.
• Employ planning and odometry to navigate a mobile robot.

Resources

iRobot Create3

ROS2 Iron Irwini

Python 3

Visual Studio Code

Calendar

Open office hours (in addition to appointments):

• Wednesdays 4:10-4:45
  • Except September 9, September 30, November 11, November 25, December 2
• Anytime my door is open

Academic Integricy

Hendrix College is committed to high standards of honesty and fairness in academic pursuits. Such standards are central to the process of intellectual inquiry, the development of character, and the preservation of the integrity of the community.

This commitment can be understood in the following ways:

• A student should not gain an unfair advantage or violate other students’ commitment to honest work and genuine effort. The amount of cooperation undertaken with other students, the consistency and accuracy of work, and the test-taking procedure should adhere to the guidelines that the classroom teacher provides.
• Members of the Hendrix community value and uphold academic integrity because we recognize that scholarly pursuits are aimed at increasing the shared body of knowledge. The full disclosure of sources is the most effective way to ensure accountability to both ourselves and our colleagues.

More details can be found in the Hendrix Academic Integrity Policy and the Hendrix Computer Science Academic Integrity Policy.

AI Policy

Learning to write computer programs doesn’t only develop programming skill - it also develops broader skills in formal reasoning. Using AI coding assistants disrupts the development of these essential formal reasoning skills. As one of the goals of this course is for you to further develop your programming and formal reasoning skills, the use of AI coding assistants is prohibited for all programming assignments submitted for credit in this course.

Learning to write prose is also an essential skill that we seek to develop in this course through writing reflections on modules and projects. Your prose need not be perfect - I want to read your own authentic voice, not that of an AI writing assistant. I want you to develop your own authentic voice, not that of a machine. Thus, the use of generative AI writing assistants is also prohibited for all writing assignments submitted for credit in this course.

Assessment

Journal

Every student is expected to maintain a journal as a Word document stored in Microsoft Teams. Each student has a private channel in Teams, in which their journal document is stored. For every working session, the student should record the following in their journal:

• Time when work started
• Goals for the work session
• Discussion of the robot programming process
  • What was your approach to writing code to achieve the session goals?
  • What went well?
  • What were some challenges you overcame?
• Records of observations
  • How did the robot perform for the session’s tasks?
  • Record any quantitative data to support your claims about its performance.
• Time when work ended, including total duration of the work session
• Journal entries are assessed as part of assessing each module and project. Journal entries may also serve as discussion items during interviews.

Attendance

Most of our work in this course requires teamwork. Furthermore, robotics is a challenging topic - success as a roboticist requires consistent engagement. For these reasons, class attendance is mandatory on all class days, except those marked optional or no class. If a student misses class, the following steps are required to make up the credit:

• Notify the instructor of the reason for the absence by 5 pm on the day of the missed class.
• Speak to at least one other student in the class about the content of the class period.
• Write a summary of the missed class in your journal before the start of the next class period. This summary should mention the students with whom you spoke about the missed class. Discussion of the missed class should include not only the lecture material but key lessons learned from that day’s module or presentations.
• This also applies to any student who adds the class after the first day - those prior days should be made up in this same fashion.

Including the final exam period, there are 24 required class meetings, from which students may earn up to 24 participation credits.

Modules

The primary means by which you be introduced to the course material is through 14 modules. Each module will be started during class time in teams of 2 or 3. Each module will guide you through a learning process on a particular topic. Modules not completed during class time should be completed with your group outside of class.

Module submissions consist of two parts:

• Each module contains questions expecting short answers. Those questions and answers should be included in your journal.
• Python programs to modify or write. These should be submitted via Teams individually by each student. As the modules are a key aspect of how students learn the course material, this ensures that every student has a record of what was learned.

Modules submitted by the start of the next class period will receive one robot credit for a sincere, on-time attempt. Submissions which are complete and correct will receive two robot credits. Modules not deemed complete and correct may be revised and resubmitted after a conversation with the professor to address the issues of concern, whereupon they will receive the second robot credit. Modules submitted for the first time after the deadline will receive at most one robot credit.

Projects

The modules are grouped into four units. At the completion of each of the first three units, I will assign a project. In each project, students will devise a creative robotics project applying the ideas investigated in the just-completed unit.

The first class day for each project will be a brainstorming session in which students devise topics, select project partners, establish project goals, and begin work on the project. The second class day will be a working session for the project, including a brief oral presentation of current project progress. On the third class day, each group will give a presentation to the class about their project.

Project Reports

For each project, each student (even if part of a team) should write a project report entry in their journal. Each project report entry includes the following:

• Description of the project goals
• A discussion of each ROS2 node created for the project.
  • For each node, discuss the following:
    • To what does it subscribe?
    • To where does it publish?
    • How does it determine what to publish?
    • What other interactions with the environment does it have?
• A discussion of how the ROS2 nodes worked together to enable the robot to achieve the project goals.
• A conclusion detailing the degree of success of the project and describing future work, that is, the next steps to take if the project were to continue.

Project Presentations

On project work days prior to the due date of each project, each team will give a brief project update. The project update should include three slides:

• A title slide, including the name of the project and team participants.
• A slide describing the project goals.
• A slide discussing the current status of the project.

On the due date of each project, each team will give a presentation about their project. The presentation should include the following:

• Five to seven slides:
  • A title slide, including the name of the project and team participants.
  • A slide describing the project goals.
  • 1-3 slides describing the ROS2 nodes created for the project.
    • For each node, discuss the following:
      • To what does it subscribe?
      • To where does it publish?
      • How does it determine what to publish?
      • What other interactions with the environment does it have?
  • An assessment of the degree to which project goals were met.
  • Future work
    • If one were to continue the project, what would be the next things to address?
• A video of the robot in action. The video should meet the following constraints:
  • It must be between 60 and 120 seconds in duration.
  • It should include brief narration of the strategy for the project.
    • Narration may be pre-recorded or provided live as the video runs.
  • It should demonstrate the student’s robots fulfilling the goals for the project.
    • Narration should contextualize each demonstrated activity.

Presentation Questions

• Students should be prepared to answer questions after their video presentation concludes.
• Each student is expected to ask one substantive question on each class day that includes presentations.

Project Credits

Robot credits for projects will be awarded as follows:

• For each project (not including the final project), you may earn up to 6 robot credits:
  • Achievement of project goals
    • Achieving all agreed-upon project goals: 2 robot credits
      • Note: If, as the project develops, a project goal appears unrealistic to achieve, the students and professor may renegotiate the project goals at least one day prior to the submission deadline.
    • Achieving some but not all of the agreed-upon project goals: 1 robot credit
  • Submitting a satsifactory project report: 1 robot credit
  • Delivering a satisfactory project presentation: 1 robot credit
  • Submitting the project code and report on-time: 1 robot credit
  • Delivering the presentation on the assigned day: 1 robot credit
• Asking questions during presentations:
  • Ask at least one question on each of the four presentation days: 2 robot credits
  • Ask at least one question on each of two presentation days: 1 robot credit

Interviews

After each module unit and after each project, each student will schedule an interview to discuss the completed work and demonstrate mastery of the concepts behind the completed work.

• A Level 1 interview demonstrates some understanding of the topic but with significant gaps.
• A Level 2 assessment demonstrates full expected understanding of the topic.

Interview Credits

• One interview credit will be awarded per level.
• One additional interview credit will be awarded for completing the interview by the deadline.
• If a student is unsatisfied by their interview credit, they may schedule a follow-up interview to demonstrate stronger understanding.

Final Project

In the last three weeks of the semester, each student will undertake a final project. In this final project, you will program a robot that fulfills a contextualized purpose. A demonstration will be made of the robot’s capabilities, and a paper reflecting upon lessons learned will be submitted as well. In keeping with the Odyssey Special Project guidelines, the project will require at least 30 hours of work. As with the other course projects, final projects will be undertaken in teams of two or three. The project report and presentation should follow the same guidelines as those for the regular course projects.

The final project will be graded strictly on a pass-fail basis: it is either completed or not completed, including the project report and presentation. It does not contribute to robot credits or interview credits. As with the three regular course projects, if a project goal appears unrealistic to achieve, the students and professor may renegotiate the project goals at least one day prior to the submission deadline.

Specifications Grading

Final course grades are earned based on accumulated credits, as follows:

• To earn an A in the course, a student will:
  • Earn at least 45 out of 48 possible robot credits
  • Earn at least 22 out of 24 possible interview credits
  • Earn at least 23 out of 24 possible participation credits
  • Complete and present the final project
• To earn a B in the course, a student will:
  • Earn at least 37 robot credits
  • Earn at least 17 interview credits
  • Earn at least 20 participation credits
  • Complete and present the final project
• To earn a C in the course, a student will:
  • Earn at least 29 robot credits
  • Earn at least 12 interview credits
  • Earn at least 16 participation credits
  • Complete and present the final project
• To earn a D in the course, a student will:
  • Earn at least 21 robot credits
  • Earn at least 7 interview credits
  • Earn at least 12 participation credits

Equipment

During the second week of the semester, each student team will be assigned an iRobot Create3 robot and a Raspberry Pi controller for that robot. As teams shift over the course of the semester, robots will be reassigned to the new teams.

The instructor will handle configuration and setup, but for reference here are the Raspberry Pi 5 instructions and Raspberry Pi 4 instructions.

The robots should be returned to the instructor at the end of the semester. Students will be billed for any unreturned equipment.

External Policies

There are many ways that the material in this course can be supported by other areas on campus. We also list external resources that you might need as you navigate this semester. Life can get complicated: please take care of yourself, and reach out when you need help.

Library

Bailey Library’s mission is to collaborate and empower all members of our community so that they become their best selves, cherish the scope of human knowledge, and positively contribute to the world. Whether face-to-face or remote, librarians are happy to help locate quality resources supporting research and classroom work and to assist with the critical evaluation of academic information. Librarians and Library Associates provide individual research assistance by appointment and video chat or by email. The library building is open Mon-Thurs 8 am-12 midnight, Sat 12 noon-5 pm, Sun 4 pm-12 midnight, and access to the library’s online resources is available 24/7. You can visit the library’s website for more information, to book an appointment, and to access the library’s Discovery search, Class Guides, and databases.

Writing Center

The Writing Center is a community of peers ready to assist you with your writing projects, in all genres and fields, and at any stage of development. We work with you in one-on-one meetings that you can book in advance or request during our office hours. Virtual appointments are available for medical reasons or by special arrangement. To book appointments, and for more information, visit hendrix.edu/writingcenter or contact pruneda@hendrix.edu. We look forward to working with you!

Diversity Statement

Hendrix College values a diverse learning environment as outlined in the College’s Statement on Diversity. All members of this community are expected to contribute to a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive environment for everyone. If you believe you have been the subject of discrimination, please contact the Interim Assistant Vice-President & Dean of Students, JB Banks, at BanksA@hendrix.edu or reach out via e-mail at titleix@hendrix.edu. If you have ideas to improve the classroom experience’s inclusivity, please feel free to contact this professor. For more information on Hendrix’s non-discrimination policies, please visit Hendrix.edu/nondiscrimination.

Health & Wellness

If you are struggling with your health in a way that makes it difficult for you to fulfill your responsibilities in the course, please let me know! I would love to work with you to come up with reasonable and realistic accommodations to help you succeed in the course. There are also several resources available to all Hendrix students, even remotely:

• The Hendrix Medical Clinic offers both in-person and tele-health appointments; Hendrix students get three free appointments per semester.

• The Hendrix Office of Counseling Services also offers free remote appointments, and can help with a host of issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, grief, or relationship difficulties. Call 501-450-1448 to make an appointment.

Learning Accommodations

It is the policy of Hendrix College to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal and state law. Any student who needs accommodation in relation to a recognized disability should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. Students should also contact the Office of Academic Success (505.2954; academicsuccess@hendrix.edu) to begin the accommodation process.

Title IX and Discrimination

Title IX Reports of Discrimination Based on Sex, including Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Stalking, Dating Violence, or Gender-Based Harassment Statements to Consider for your Syllabus: All faculty and staff at Hendrix College are designated as a “Responsible Employee” and are mandated reporters required to report Sexual Misconduct. Hendrix College requires all faculty and staff to report sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking against a student or employee to the Assistant Dean of Students, Paul Crawford, at crawfordp@hendrix.edu.

To report any Title IX incident or concern, complete the Incident Reporting Form.

You may also contact Public Safety at 501-450-7711, who can assist you in completing a report.