MOOC Courses about Robotics

Introduction to Robotics from QUT

A college-level introductory course to Robotics. It's a seven-week course, and just started last week. The pace is medium. The course covers the basic theoretical foundation of robotics such that it will be easier for you to learn advanced topics. The course uses MATLAB as a major tool, and you can download it for free.

Course topics:

• Introduction to robotics
• Where things are in 2D
• Where things are in 3D
• Time varying coordinate frames
• Measuring the motion of things
• Robot arms and forward kinematics
• Inverse kinematics and robot motion
• Robot velocity in 2D
• Robot velocity in 3D
• Robot joint control
• Rigid body dynamics
• Robotics and the future

Autonomous Navigationfor Flying Robots from edX

An advanced Robotics course introducing the theoretical background of how drone is working and how autonomous navigation is possible. It's an eight-week course loaded with heavy-duty contents.  However, since it's an archived course, you can learn it at your own pace. The course will require some math background in calculus and linear algebra.

Course topics:

• Introduction
• Linear Algebra and 2D Geometry
• 3D Geometry and Sensors
• Actuators and Control
• Probabilistic State Estimation
• Kalman Filter
• Visual Odometry
• Visual SLAM and 3D Reconstruction

MOOC Courses about Android Mobile Application Programming

Introduction to Mobile Application Development using Android from edX

An excellent free on-going introductory course to Android Apps Programming. It's a five-week course, and just starts the fourth week. The pace is medium. The conceptual explanation is blended with app illustrations, and is very easy to follow. It will be an ideal starting point for people interested to learn Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android platform and the Android Studio IDE
• Android components, Activities and their lifecycle, Intents 
• UI Design: Widgets and Layouts, UI Events, Event Listeners
• 2D graphics: Canvas/Drawing using a view 
• Multimedia: Audio playback and MediaPlayer
• Network support: AsyncTask, HttpURLConnection

Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 from Coursera

A college-style introductory course to Android Mobile Programming. It's a four-week course, and will start a new run in September 2, 2015. The pace is pretty fast. The professor's lectures focus on conceptual explanation only. The programming part is covered in the homework. There are tons of concepts been introduced in a very short time, so it is not very easy to follow. However, the professor gives you very complete picture of the Android mobile programming. As you replay the videos a few times, you will enjoy the thoroughness of these videos. It will be a great place for people interested to learn the framework of Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android Platform and Android Development Environment
• Application fundamentals, activity classes, activity lifecycle and reconfiguration
• Intent classes, permissions, and the fragment Classes
• User interface classes

Mid-August? Can You Believe It?

Hi,

How are you all? Time flies! It has been mid-August! I am extremely busy with my Electrovibration project at CCNY. Currently I am working on both hardware and software for my final review meeting next Friday.

As we are approaching the deadlines (some are earlier and some are later) of our second task, I'd like to remind you to start posting your notes onto your team blogs. Congrats to those who have already done so!!! Please also add new slides to your PowerPoint. We will have team presentation when the school begins. If you are ahead of the game, there will be no more formal task assignments before the class starts. However, I do want you to focus on the computer-related skills (operating systems, development tools, SDKs, languages, etc.) during this final precious time. For example, I just watched four-week worth videos from a MOOC course in the past two days. It won't be possible for me to do that after school begins.

I will post various general learning materials in the coming weeks. You can pick up the ones relevant or interested to you. After all, don't forget to enjoy the rest of your summer and have a fruitful learning time!

Voice from the Sea

Greetings! Just came back from a vacation to Acadia National Park, Maine. Enjoy the beautiful blue sky, the salty smell of the sea, the undisturbed pine forest, and the creative shapes of rocks. How are you guys doing? Hopefully you all enjoy your summer so far!

As I almost finished assigning the Research Task 2 to each research team. Our summer research has entered the second half of its course. The challenges are getting tougher and tougher! If you have followed all the assignments, by now you should have some ideas about what research is all about, and what level of dedication is required to really achieve something. 

As you are going through the learning curve of the domain knowledge of your research fields, and brainstorming the possible topics you are going to focus on, your roles and mindsets are gradually transforming. You are in a magic process of changing from a student doing the summer assignments to an independent researcher pursuing his/her vision. When a researcher catches his/her vision, research becomes the most exciting engagement and pursue in life. When there is no vision, research becomes the most boring and endless torturing job. 

So, keep that in mind and catch your vision before we meet again in September. As I always said, research is not just about doing some research work, it's about the person, a researcher. It's a life style! It's a very challenging and rewarding life style! 

Wish you continue enjoying your summer and happy researching!  

Happy July!

Thanks for responding to the invitation of summer meeting! Unfortunately, due to the diverse schedules and unavailability of many members. We will postpone the meeting for now.

The original meeting is designed for teams to make presentations to the whole class. It will greatly help you understand and internalize the papers/materials you have studied, and start brainstorming about the detail project ideas. For teams who have made progress on your study, you can start summarize your notes and create PowerPoint presentations. We will start team presentation at the beginning of the semester. 

During the summer, I am thinking that it might be easier to run some online meeting through teleconference or blog discussion for individual groups, and you will be invited on group-by-group bases.

Happy July!

Greetings from the Computer Vision Lab of CCNY

Hi All, Greetings!

Time flies! It has been almost two weeks into the summer vacation. How were your summer so far? I am currently working intensively on the Electrovibration project at the Computer Vision Lab at CCNY, and will soon start looking into the Senseg Feelscreen development platform.

As described in your team's blog, your first assignment has been due since last Friday. After enjoying the wonderful July 4th weekend, it's time to start working again! How is your progress? I have received very good electronic notes from three teams so far. Please copy and paste your notes unto a post, or provide a link to your notes in your team blog if you haven't done so. If you fell behind the schedule, just post whatever you have to show your progress. I will be posting your next assignment by Monday based on your current progress shown on your blog. In the mean time, you can continue working on the remaining tasks from the last assignment. Even though many of you have jobs, courses, camps, trips, etc., I still believe that the summer is the best time to do research and make substantial progress. So, try to spare some time everyday to work on your project. Research is not an overnight effort, but a long term pursue. You can only see the glorious results through inch-by-inch movement.

 

By the way,  the Open Sunday for the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is coming! On July 12, there is a special event called Exploring the Ultra Small will be held at The Center for Functional Materials of BNL. If some of you plans to go, please comment on this post at the class blog. I will provide you the travel info, and people can go together. Though it is not a formal school trip, I will be there too. It is a place really worth visiting.

In addition, we plan to have our first summer meeting next week. Since everyone may have different schedule, we will try to find the great common factor among all of you. Please fill in the short survey (click the link) by Friday, and I will let you know the result. Hope to see you soon!

Happy Researching!

Summer Research Kick-Off

Hi All,

A few announcements:

1. I will be back on Monday due to finishing the Regents grading much earlier. So, if you have any questions, suggestions, or needs about your summer research, please drop by tomorrow in RM 201.
2. By now, everybody should have received your summer assignments for the next two weeks. Please check whether the links are working properly and pointing to the right documents (I just discovered an error this morning). If anything is not right, please email me ASAP. If you have any question about the assignments, please come to see me.
3. If you need a laptop or any equipment for your summer research, bring the signed Agreement and $200 check in tomorrow (reference to the previous post). 
4. For people missed the STEM meeting last week, you can talk to me for more details tomorrow.
5. Since I am still on telephone standby for the jury duty. I can only "live" on daily basis.

Happy Researching!