CS 395: Robotics

Syllabus

Instructor Information

• Instructor: Dave Musicant
• Office: CMC 326
• Email: dmusican
• Office phone: (507)646-4369
• Office hours: See home page at http://www.mathcs.carleton.edu/faculty/dmusican

Textbooks

• The Robotics Primer, Maja J. Mataric´, pre-publication draft
• Core LEGO Mindstorms Programming, Brian Bagnall, Prentice Hall PTR, 2002.
• On reserve at library: Introduction to AI Robotics, Robin R. Murphy, MIT Press, 2000. I won't be assigning any reading material from here, but it will be the inspiration for some of the in-class material. Feel free to check it out.

Important Dates

• Take home exam 1: Assigned on Monday, 10/10; due in class on Friday, 10/14.
• Take home exam 2: Assigned on Friday, 11/11; due in class on Wednesday, 11/16.
• Your final project must be turned in and demonstrated to me by 5 pm on Monday, 11/21. You must make an appointment with me in advance to demonstrate your project sometime during finals week.

Your Grade

• Assignments: 30%
• Take home exam 1: 30%
• Take home exam 2: 30%
• Class project: 10%

Collaboration

1. Non-computer assignments: You should turn in your own assignment. You may work with other people, but each of you should be turning in your own.
2. Robotics assignments: You must work together in these on pairs. Include everyone's names in documentation at the top. Make sure to cite any ideas you get from other people, websites, books, papers, or any other references.
3. Take-home exams: Do these completely on your own. You can discuss them only with me.

Homework Policy

• Each assignment will have a specific time for which it will be due. An assignment turned in late within one day of the due time will be docked 25%. A program turned in later than one day of the due date but within two days will be docked 50%. An assignment turned in any time after this until the last day of classes will be docked 75%. This same policy applies to take-home exams.
• The robotics assignments have two components to them. The code itself should be turned in as for any other computer science course. A demonstration to me of the code on the robot must be performed for me within one week after submitting your code. It is your responsibility to find me in office hours, or to otherwise make an appointment with me to demo your robot. If you can't make my office hours, contact me before the software deadline to make an appointment. You can contact me afterwards, but if we can't find a common time within a week, late penalties will apply.
• College policy dictates that there can be no grace period on the final project.