Welcome to the Syllabus. On this page you will find information about the course's outline, content, what we expect from you and what you can expect from us.
Course outline
The course is made up of 7 weeks:
- Week 0: Getting Started with Robotic Operating Systems (ROS). General course introduction and information on all that you will need to complete this course, including a step by step installation guide for the required (free) software and an ungraded test assignment.
- Week 1: ROS Essentials. Introduction to ROS Topics, Services, Actions and Nodes. Simple interaction with the course simulation environment.
- Week 2: Build your own robot environment. Software representation of a Robot using Unified Robot Description Format (URDF), ROS parameter server and adding real-world object representations to the simulation environment.
- Week 3: Autonomous Navigation. Map creation with GMapping package, autonomously navigate a known map with ROS navigation.
- Week 4: Manipulation. Motion planning, pick and place behaviors using industrial robots with ROS MoveIt!
- Week 5: Robot Vision. Object detection, pose estimation.
- Week 6: Final Project. ROS file system, basic concepts of behavior design with state machines, build a production line application with two industrial robot arms and a mobile robot.
- Week 7: Closing
The course is self-paced. If you are an audit learner, you will have 7 weeks after your enrollment to complete it. If you are a verified learner, you will have unlimited access to the course.
What you can expect from us
The course instructors and moderators will be active in the course: they will give feedback on certain key graded assignments, and also regularly visit the forum to help you and to identify potential changes/fixes to the course material.
You can expect staff presence in the discussion forum 2 - 3 times a week, and we will strive to answer questions requiring staff input within 72 hours.
In addition to this, we would like to strongly encourage you to help each other out: reply to your peers’ posts if you know the answer to their question, or have information you can contribute!
Course content
Each of the modules above will consist of a variety of different forms of content: video lectures, text explanations, multiple choice quizzes and practical assignments.
The videos lectures, text explanations, and multiple choice quizzes are available to all learners.
The instructions for practical assignments are available for both the learners following the course for free (audit learners) and for a certificate (verified learners). In addition, as a verified learner you also have access to submission interactive forms including feedback from the instructors.
In total, there are 6 assignments which will be graded, each being partly responsible for your total grade of this course.
The assignments will be automatically graded, and each week you get 2 attempts.
The highest mark which you can receive is a 100%. This is how much each assignment is responsible for the total grade:
| Assignment | Percentage of grading |
|---|---|
| Assignment 1 | 15% |
| Assignment 2 | 12% |
| Assignment 3 | 12% |
| Assignment 4 | 18% |
| Assignment 5 | 18% |
| Assignment 6 | 25% |
| Total | 100% |
We have also created a test assignment in Week 0, so you can practice the submission process as many times as you want.
What we expect from you
Prior knowledge
- Basic Linear Algebra
- Basic programming in Python
- Basic knowledge of the Linux command line tools
- A computer ready for Ubuntu-Linux installation
Behavior guidelines
The discussion forum is an important tool on the learning platform for you to share and discuss your questions, issues, insights, and ideas. We stimulate a positive, constructive atmosphere in the discussion forum. Please pay attention to the guidelines provided below to make this course a pleasant experience for everyone!
- Be respectful. Please, show respect to your fellow participants. We encourage debate and discussion but only when this is done in a polite and respectful manner. We do not tolerate rude behavior, and condescending or abusive words. Instances will be reported and removed.
- Be constructive in your feedback. Learning in an online community is about interacting with each other. When commenting or providing feedback on work of others, be constructive and whenever possible provide suggestions for improvement.
- Be sensitive to your peers’ background and culture. This is a global forum with participants from around the world. This means that your fellow participants may come from very diverse cultures and backgrounds. Please be sensitive to this when discussing your own work or results with others.
- Post appropriate content. Content that violates the Terms of Service is not permitted. You may not post inappropriate or copyrighted content, advertise or promote outside products or organizations, or spam the forums with repeat content.
More details are available in our Discussion and collaboration guidelines.