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Degree Regulations & Programmes of Study 2010/2011
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Informatics : Informatics

Postgraduate Course: Structure and Synthesis of Robot Motion (INFR11065)

Course Outline
School School of Informatics College College of Science and Engineering
Course type Standard Availability Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken) SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) Credits 10
Home subject area Informatics Other subject area None
Course website http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/ssrm
Course description The goal of this course is to provide the student with the analytical and mathematical foundations required to design algorithms for synthesis or predictive modeling of motion in a variety of scientific and engineering domains - including autonomous robotics, sensor networks or swarms, computer animation and computational biology. One primary goal is to bridge the gap between introductory courses and the current state of research.
Entry Requirements
Pre-requisites It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed Introduction to Vision and Robotics (INFR09019)
Co-requisites It is RECOMMENDED that students also take Intelligent Autonomous Robotics (Level 11) (INFR11070) OR Intelligent Autonomous Robotics (Level 10) (INFR10005)
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements For Informatics PG and final year MInf students only, or by special permission of the School.

Introduction to Vision and Robotics or equivalent knowledge; familiarity with basic mathematical concepts (at the advanced undergraduate level) from linear algebra, differential equations and probability. This course can be taken in conjunction with Intelligent Autonomous Robotics, if all of the other prerequisites have been met. Also, UG4 students may take this course (provided they have successfully completed Introduction to Vision and Robotics) but they will be performing and assessed at the MSc level.
Additional Costs None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites None
Prospectus website http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/visiting-exchange/courses
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1) WebCT enabled:  No Quota:  None
Location Activity Description Weeks Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
CentralLecture1-11 10:00 - 10:50
CentralLecture1-11 10:00 - 10:50
First Class Week 1, Monday, 10:00 - 10:50, Zone: Central. Room G.02, William Robertson Building
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - Way of thinking - the course presents a sophisticated and mathematically mature view of motion strategies. In particular, a number of alternate representations and corresponding mathematical techniques will be introduced. Learning outcomes: Students will be able to describe a number of paradigmatic techniques for modeling motion systems, and make sound judgements about which of them is appropriate for a specific problem at hand.
2 - Conceptual foundations - Learning outcomes: Students will possess a sufficiently deep understanding of the conceptual foundations of this area in order to be able to gainfully utilize and contribute to the research literature in this area.
3 - Practical ability - For each of the major conceptual threads, the course will also include coverage of algorithm design issues to enable transfer of these ideas to practice. Learning outcomes: Students will be able to implement motion algorithms, and in conjunction with pre-existing open-source tools, demonstrate a solution to a concrete problem in a realistic application setting.
4 - Breadth of thinking - Learning outcome: Given a complex problem domain (e.g., rehabilitation robotics or computational structural biology), students will be able to (i) identify sub-problems for which motion algorithms are relevant, (ii) identify interfaces with closely related areas, e.g., machine learning and (iii) implement and evaluate solutions to these sub-problems.
Assessment Information
Written Examination 60
Assessed Assignments 40
Oral Presentations 0

Assessment
There will be two homework assignments (each requiring approximately 6 hours of work), intended to flesh out concepts covered in the lectures. Then, there will be one project (requiring approximately 20 hours of work) wherein the student will be asked to solve a concrete problem. This problem will be a simplified version of interesting questions arising in the current research literature. So, in their report, the student will be asked to comment on their work in the context of the current state of the art.

If delivered in semester 1, this course will have an option for semester 1 only visiting undergraduate students, providing assessment prior to the end of the calendar year.
Please see Visiting Student Prospectus website for Visiting Student Assessment information
Special Arrangements
Not entered
Contacts
Course organiser Dr Michael Rovatsos
Tel: (0131 6)51 3263
Email: mrovatso@inf.ed.ac.uk
Course secretary Miss Kate Weston
Tel: (0131 6)50 2701
Email: Kate.Weston@ed.ac.uk
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copyright 2010 The University of Edinburgh - 1 September 2010 6:11 am