Class web page: http://mil.ufl.edu/~nechyba/eel6667
Class meeting: T: 8th & 9th; Th: 8th, LAR 330.

Required textbook : John J. Craig, Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control, 2nd ed. , Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1989 (ISBN 0-201-09528-9). Additional readings, including lecture notes, slides and selected papers from the literature will be posted periodically on the class web site.

Prerequisites:

• Differential equations
• Calculus
• Basic linear algebra
• Basic physics.
• Previous programming experience (e.g. C/C++, MATLAB, Mathematica, etc.)

On-line stuff:

• Course materials updated 11/18
• Assignments updated 12/04

In this course we will cover topics related to the kinematics, dynamics and control of robot manipulators. This will involve, among other things, the following subtopics:

• Rigid body motion.
• Robot manipulator coordinate frames.
• Homogeneous matrices and frames.
• Forward and inverse position and velocity kinematic solutions for robot manipulators.
• Jacobians and manipulability.
• Newton-Euler and Lagrangian dynamics.
• Robot control.
• Selected topics in robot planning (as time permits).

• 30%: Midterm (date/format TBA)
• 50%: Homeworks
• 20%: Final project/class presentation

Many class announcements, clarifications and answers to student questions will be distributed primarily via e-mail. To get on the class e-mail list, you should send an e-mail to nechyba@mil.ufl.edu with the subject of the e-mail being EEL6667; be sure to include your full name in the body of the e-mail.

Some homeworks and the final project will require the use of a mathematical software package, such as Mathematica, MATLAB, MathCad and Maple, all available at student prices; which software package you choose is entirely up to you. Having said that, however, Mathematica will be used almost exclusively for in-class demonstrations and examples, as it is the most sophisticated general purpose mathematical software package available, allowing text, equations, graphics, numerical and symbolic mathematics to be seamlessly integrated into notebooks. These notebooks will be distributed on-line, and can be viewed with free software (MathReader) available from Wolfram, Inc., the developer of Mathematica. To modify and experiment with the Mathematica notebooks, however, will require that you have access to a copy of Mathematica.