CSCE 990: Robotics Today
Fall 2022

Instructor

Dr. Carrick Detweiler
Computer Science and Engineering
220 Schorr Center
carrick _at_ cse.unl.edu
Office Hours: see Canvas page

Course Information

TTh 2:00pm - 3:15pm in Avery 118

For detailed information on this course please see the course syllabus and the Canvas page.

Course Description

Robots play an increasingly important role in our lives, from assembling our cars and cell phones to vacuuming our rugs and flying recon missions. To create systems that work in the real world, the field of robotics requires robust theory and algorithms that are tightly integrated with hardware that is designed with engineering expertise. This course explores fundamental algorithms of robotics and how they are implemented and coupled with real world systems. The topics covered in this course will be based on input from the class and will cover a wide range of topics in robotics with a focus on field robotics and unmanned aerial systems. We will explore these topics through the critical analysis of classic and contemporary articles in the field of robotics. By examining algorithms and systems used in the real world, we will determine what it takes to go from theory to implementation. In this class, students will present, discuss, and write analyses of robotics research. In addition, a semester-long group project will allow students to further explore areas of interest in robotics. The goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the challenges and current state of the art in robotics and to improve critical analysis skills.

Course Schedule

Below is an approximate schedule of course topics and due dates. These are subject to change, assignments will be announced in class. Readings will be added as the semester progresses, so make sure to check back often.

See Canvas for the most up to date listing.

Most articles are available from on campus by clicking on the links below. If this does not work (or you are off campus), try google, using the UNL VPN or the UNL library website. If you are still unable to download the article, contact a classmate or me for a copy.
Week Readings Tentative Due Dates
Week 1, Aug 22 Tuesday: Course Intro
Thursday:
Read Sections I-IV of
C. Cadena and L. Carlone and H. Carrillo and Y. Latif and D. Scaramuzza and J. Neira and I. Reid and J.J. Leonard, Past, Present, and Future of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping: Towards the Robust-Perception Age, in IEEE Transactions on Robotics 32 (6) pp 1309-1332, 2016		 Course Survey Due Thurs
Week 2, Aug 29 Tuesday:
Read Sections V-end of
C. Cadena and L. Carlone and H. Carrillo and Y. Latif and D. Scaramuzza and J. Neira and I. Reid and J.J. Leonard, Past, Present, and Future of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping: Towards the Robust-Perception Age, in IEEE Transactions on Robotics 32 (6) pp 1309-1332, 2016
Thursday:
[1] How to Read a Scientific Article. Rice University, 2004. Online.
[2] S. Keshav. How to Read a Paper. Online.
Week 3, Sept 5 Tuesday:
G. Best, R. Garg, J. Keller, G. A. Hollinger, and S. Scherer, Resilient Multi-Sensor Exploration of Multifarious Environments with a Team of Aerial Robots, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Thursday:
[1] R. A. Day, "How to write a scientific paper," ASM News, vol. 42, pp. 486-494, 1975.
[2] English Communication for Scientists: Writing Scientific Papers
Week 4, Sept 12 Tuesday:
[1] M. Wei and V. Isler, Predicting Energy Consumption of Ground Robots on Uneven Terrains, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 594-601, Jan. 2022.
Thursday:
T. Jin, X. Wang, H. Ji, J. Di and H. Yan, Collision Avoidance for Multiple Quadrotors Using Elastic Safety Clearance Based Model Predictive Control, 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022.		 Finalize Project Groups
Week 5, Sept 19 Tuesday: No Class, project work time
Thursday: No Class, schedule 30 minute group meetings with Dr. Detweiler		 Develop Project Proposal
Week 6, Sept 26 Tuesday:
Fulton, M., Mehtaz, M., Sattar, J. and Queeglay, O., Underwater Robot-To-Human Communication Via Motion: Implementation and Full-Loop Human Interface Evaluation, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Thursday:
Discuss project ideas in groups (bring draft of proposal!).		 Final Project Proposal Due
Week 7, Oct 3 Tuesday:
F. M. Rockenbauer et al., Dipper: A Dynamically Transitioning Aerial-Aquatic Unmanned Vehicle, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVII, Jul. 2021, vol. 17.
Thursday:
P. Neubert and S. Schubert, SEER: Unsupervised and sample-efficient environment specialization of image descriptors, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Week 8, Oct 10 Tuesday:
F. Kong, W. Xu, Y. Cai, and F. Zhang, Avoiding Dynamic Small Obstacles With Onboard Sensing and Computation on Aerial Robots, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 7869-7876, Oct. 2021.
Thursday:
S. E. Lensgraf et al., Droplet: Towards Autonomous Underwater Assembly of Modular Structures, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVII, Jul. 2021, vol. 17.
Week 9, Oct 17
Fall Break Mon-Tues		 Tuesday: No Class
Thursday:
A. N. Sivakumar et al., Learned Visual Navigation for Under-Canopy Agricultural Robots, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVII, Jul. 2021, vol. 17.
Week 10, Oct 24 Tuesday: No Class, group work time
Thursday: No Class, Final Project Status Reports on RW due		 Final Project Status Reports on RW
Week 11, Oct 31 Tuesday:
T. Y. Tang, D. D. Martini, and P. Newman, Get to the Point: Learning Lidar Place Recognition and Metric Localisation Using Overhead Imagery, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVII, Jul. 2021, vol. 17.
Thursday:
V. Viswanath et al., Autonomously Untangling Long Cables, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Week 12, Nov 7 Tuesday:
L. Clark, J. Edlund, M. S. Net, T. S. Vaquero, and A. Agha-mohammadi, PropEM-L: Radio Propagation Environment Modeling and Learning for Communication-Aware Multi-Robot Exploration, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Thursday: 
X. Liu et al., Large-Scale Autonomous Flight With Real-Time Semantic SLAM Under Dense Forest Canopy, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 5512-5519, Apr. 2022. 		 Final Project Status Reports
Week 13, Nov 14 Tuesday:
Lanegger, M. Ruggia, M. Tognon, L. Ott, and R. Siegwart, Aerial Layouting: Design and Control of a Compliant and Actuated End-Effector for Precise In-flight Marking on Ceilings, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18.
Thursday:
K. Zhang, Z. Hong, S. Xu, and S. Wang, CURL: Continuous, Ultra-compact Representation for LiDAR, presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII, Jun. 2022, vol. 18. 		 All Article Reviews Due (Thursday)
Week 14, Nov 21
Thanksgiving Weds-Fri		 Tuesday:
How to give a talk talk
Thursday: No Class		 Final Project Writeup Due (Tuesday)
Week 15, Nov 28 Tuesday: Review Videos in Class
Thursday: No Class		 Final Project Videos Due (Tues)
Final Project Article Reviews Due (Thurs)
Week 16, Dec 5 Tuesday: Presentations
Thursday: Presentations		 Project Presentations (Tues, Thurs) and Final Writeup Revisions Due (Fri)