OVERVIEW

The course presents the fundamentals of the modeling and control techniques for serial manipulators. Main topics are the geometric and kinematic modeling of serial manipulators, and the kinematic based control in the operational space.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course presents the fundamentals of the kinematics modeling and control techniques of serial manipulators. Topics include geometric modeling, task jacobian matrices, inverse kinematics, and closed loop kinematics control.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• describe the relationships between frames in the environment using the mathematical tools such as rotation matrices or homogeneous transformations
• create the geometric model of a manipulator
• understand the kinematics of points and frames in space, with respect to different observers
• derive the kinematic equations that describe how a part of the robot moves as a function of the joints velocities (Jacobian relationship)
• implement a closed loop control system to achieve certain prescribed objectives in the operational space

PREREQUISITES

• Fundamentals of linear algebra;
• Fundamental of System Theory and/or Classical Automatic Control theory

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching modalities are as follows:

• Frontal lessons
• Exercise using MATLAB

Working students and students with certified DSA, disability or other special educational needs are advised to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and examination arrangements that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning patterns.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The content of the course is the following one:

• General geometric fundamentals
• The Geometric Model of a Robot
• General Kinematic fundamentals
• Robot kinematics: Basic Jacobian matrices; Task Jacobian matrices; the Inverse Kinematic problem.
• Closed-loop Inverse-Kinematic based control (CLIK); Task-Priority based CLIK (TP-CLIK); 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

- B. Siciliano, L. Scxiavicco, L. Villani, L. Oriolo: "Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control"; Mc Graw-Hill, 2009

- W. Khalil, and E. Dombre, "Modeling, identification and control of robots", Hermes Penton, London, 2002.

Further readings
- J. Angeles, Fundamentals of Robotic Mechanical Systems, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ENRICO SIMETTI (President)

GIOVANNI INDIVERI

GIORGIO CANNATA (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/10635/p/studenti-orario

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is done as it follows.

During the course, typically 3 assignments will be given. The students will complete them at home in groups of maximum 3/4 people. The evaluation of the reports will give up to 10% (10 out of 100 points) of the final evaluation.

Then, a written exam will be conducted. The written exam will allow to gather up to 80% (80 out of 100 points). The written exam will require solving an exercise (possibily using MATLAB), and then asnwering a quiz whose questions will regard the exercise and general knowledge too.

A non-mandatory oral exam will allow students to gain or lose up to 20% of the final score (+- 20 out of 100 points).

The final mark will be the sum of the on-going assessment, of the written exam and, eventually, of the oral exam. The student must retake the written exam if they want to take the oral exam again.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

At the end of the course, the student must be able to model a robotic arm, derive its kinematic model and be able to control it.

During the on-going assessment, the following items will be part of the evaluation:

• The correctness of the numerical answers
• The explanations provided 
• The quality of the figures (captions, units of measure, legends, etc.)

During the written exam, the following items will be part of the evaluation:

• The capability of adapting the MATLAB code to new models
• The capability of creating geometric models of a robot
• The kinematic modeling of a robot
• The inverse kinematic control of a robot
• General knowledge about the course contents

In the oral exam,  the following items will be part of the evaluation:

• The understanding of how the equations were derived from
• The properties of the mathematical tools
• Demonstration of the equations

Exam schedule