ELVE3610 Introduction to Robotics Course description

The elective course is initiated provided that a sufficient number of students choose the course.

Lectures and supervised work on practical assignments, both lectures and labs presuppose attendance on campus. Case studies may be included as part of the teaching. The students work in groups. Group size is usually 3 to 5 students (Determined by the course coordinator).

In addition to lectures and reading, students are expected to learn necessary techniques through short online courses or courses offered by Makerspace. These may be required to complete the physical prototype for the home-exam.

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student will learn about:

• Use of robots in industry and research
• Calculation and analysis of robot movement
• Programming and control of different robot types
• Common sensors, actuators and control electronics in robotics
• Physical prototyping and building of robots

Skills

The student is capable of:

• Programming and verification of solutions on a real robot
• Choose relevant sensors and actuators for a robot system
• Processing simple sensor data

General competence

The student:

• Understand the basic principles needed to design and build robots
• Discuss and justify own choices and priorities within the robotics field
• Develop robot systems from the planning phase to prototype testing

Classroom teaching combined with group work, laboratory work and guest lectures.

The following coursework is a part of the portfolio and therefore needs to be approved to pass the exam:

• 4 lab exercises in groups of 2-4 students
• 5 assignments given during the semester

The exam is a portfolio exam consisting of the following:

• Results of five assignments given out during the semester
• Reports from lab exercises
• Project report prepared in groups of 2-4 students. The report should be approximately 20-30 pages, including content list, reference list and a reflection note (approximately 1-3 pages) on the process, your role and contributions in the project.
• Oral/visual (video) presentation of the project

Each student's work will be assessed together as a portfolio with one individual grade at the end of the semester, but all parts that make up the portfolio must be assessed as 'pass' in order for the student to pass the course.

The exam cannot be appealed. If a student fails the portfolio assessment, they will be given one opportunity to resubmit the portfolio.

In the event of a resit or rescheduled exam, an oral examination may be used instead. In case an oral exam is used, the examination result cannot be appealed.

Interaction design is an interdisciplinary discipline in which experts from several disciplines are involved in the development process from idea to final product. Product design, graphic design, anthropology, communication and cognitive psychology are included as subject disciplines in addition to information technology.

In the course the students will get to know these subject areas, but the practical work will be limited to the development of prototypes, user testing, evaluation and some graphic design.

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student is capable of:

• different prototyping techniques
• user-centered design
• Research through Design
• sketching / drawing techniques, simple graphic design, shape and color use
• general design principles for good user experiences. Emotional design
• theories of communication, basic psychology, observation
• tools for making interactive prototypes (digital tools, Arduino, sensor technology)

Skills

The student is capable of:

• be able to work out ideas in teams and make decisions
• be able to produce interactive prototypes using simple means (paper) and more advanced digital tools
• be able to use knowledge of form, color and graphic design in designing products
• be able to describe goals for usability and user experience
• be able to perform user tests and use the results in further development of a product
• be able to use known evaluation methods (heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk-through)

General competence:

The student is capable of:

• working on the development of concepts for given issues
• testing ideas on users through early prototyping
• communicating ideas to other designers, developers, management, users and clients