CS380: Recent Advances in Computer Science: Developmental Robotics, Bryn Mawr College
Douglas Blank
Spring 2009
Overview
This course will focus on developmental robotics, a newly emerging paradigm of research, with the goal of creating intelligent robots through a developmental processes, rather than direct programming. The idea is that by endowing a robot with initial control architecture and adaptive mechanisms, it learns through interactions with the world, developing self-organized mental structures. Key questions include: What should be innate in the robot? What adaptive mechanisms are needed? What motivates the robot to act? Would such a system need emotions? The course includes seminar discussions and laboratory work.
This semester we will be exploring artificial intelligence, learning, and evolutionary systems in connection to the ideas behind developmental robotics.
General Information
Course URL: cs.brynmawr.edu/Courses/cs380/spring2009Instructor: Douglas Blank, 248 Park Science Building, 526-6501
Email: dblank (at) cs (dot) brynmawr (dot) edu
Web: cs.brynmawr.edu/~dblank
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 1-2pm and by appointment
Course Meetings: Tues and Thursdays, 10-11:30am
Lab: Park Science Building, room 349 Lab Assistants: TBA
Texts
We will be reading a collection of papers this semester. The complete reading list will appear here.
| Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (AI:AMA). Selected Chapters. |
Software
We will use the Python Robotics system, an open source framework for doing robotics experiments in Python. Pyro is available on the Computer Science Linux machines. You will get an account if you don't have one already.
We will also being using Tekkotsu, a programming system for exploring advanced robotics control.
Finally, we will also be exploring Microsoft's Robotics Development Studio, an advanced system for writing robotics programs.
Schedule (approximate weeks, schedule may change)
| Week | Dates | Topic | Assignment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tue 01/20/2009, Thu 01/22/2009 | Introduction | Write a short essay: "Can robots do things that you didn't program them to do?" | |
| 2 | Tue 01/27/2009, Thu 01/29/2009 | Artificial Intelligence: Search | Read Russell and NorvigRead Chapter 3, AI:AMA. Do Part 1 for next Tuesday. | |
| 3 | Tue 02/03/2009, Thu 02/05/2009 | Breadth, Depth, and Heuristic Searches | Read Chapter 4, AI:AMA. Do Part 2 for next Tuesday. | |
| 4 | Tue 02/10/2009, Thu 02/12/2009 | Evolutionary Systems | Read Pyro Module on Evolutionary Algorithms for Thursday | |
| 5 | Tue 02/17/2009, Thu 02/19/2009 | Robots and Neural Networks | Read Emergence of Communication and answer the 10 questions in the Additional exercises | |
| 6 | Tue 02/24/2009, Thu 02/26/2009 | Robots and Neural Networks | ||
| 7 | Tue 03/03/2009, Thu 03/05/2009 | Neural + Evolution | ||
| 8 | Tue 03/10/2009, Thu 03/12/2009 | Spring Break! No classes | ||
| 9 | Tue 03/17/2009, Thu 03/19/2009 | Project Proposals Due | ||
| 10 | Tue 03/24/2009, Thu 03/26/2009 | Humanoid robots | ||
| 11 | Tue 03/31/2009, Thu 04/02/2009 | Tekkotsu: vision pipeline | ||
| 12 | Tue 04/07/2009, Thu 04/09/2009 | Tekkotsu: control | ||
| 13 | Tue 04/14/2009, Thu 04/16/2009 | Behaviors | ||
| 14 | Tue 04/21/2009, Thu 04/23/2009 | Developmental systems | ||
| 15 | Tue 04/28/2009, Thu 04/30/2009 | Presentations | ||
Other dates of interest in Spring 2009:
| Sunday, January 18 | Deferred Examinations |
| Monday, January 19 | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Classes begin at Swarthmore College. |
| Tuesday, January 20 | Classes begin at at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. |
| Friday, January 23 | Bryn Mawr College Monday only classes meet. |
| Tues and Wed, January 27 and 28 | Confirmation of Registration for upper class students. |
| Friday, February 6 | Final day to drop HC or BMC class without penalty |
| Friday, February 27 | Last day to declare Credit/No Credit Option--closes at 5:00 pm |
| Friday, March 6 | First half semester classes end. |
| Friday, March 6 | Spring Vacation begins after last class. |
| Monday, March 16 | Spring Vacation ends--Classes resume at 8:00 am. |
| Monday, March 16 | Second half semester classes begin. |
| Monday, April 13 | Semester I 2008-2009 registration begins. |
| Friday, April 17 | Semester I 2008-2009 registration closes. |
| Friday, May 1 | Last day of classes--All written work due 5:00 pm (including papers and lab notes). |
| Saturday, May 2 | Review Period begins. |
| Tuesday, May 5 | Review Period ends. |
| Wednesday, May 6 | Examination Period begins. |
| Saturday, May 9 | Senior Examination Period ends 5:00 pm. |
| Monday, May 11 | Senior grades due 12 noon |
| Friday, May 15 | Examination Period ends--All work due by 12:30 pm |
| Sunday, May 17 | Commencement |
| Friday, May 22 | All grades due 12 noon |
Grading
Final grades will be calculated as a weighted average of all grades according to the following weights:
Written work: 50%Class participation: 25%
Project: 25%
dblank (at) cs (dot) brynmawr (dot) edu