Welcome to Intro to Intelligent Robotics. We'll be going interesting places in this class. Prof. Hougen, 11 January 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As discussed in on Wednesday, I will be out of town on Friday until 3:30 or so in the afternoon. However, there WILL BE class! Those students who are registered but have not yet attended class MUST attend and sign the enrollment sheet to keep their place in the class. Those students who are waiting to get into the class will find out after I return to campus on Friday just how many slots are available and whether they will be able to get in at that time. Besides signing the enrollment sheet (for those students who have not already done so), there will be a survey sheet to fill out and turn in. This sheet can be submitted in class on Friday for those attending. If you will not be in class, you can get it from the class web pages. Regardless of where you get the form, it needs to be turned in by Tuesday evening at 5:30. You can drop it by my office or slide it under my office door if I am not available when you stop by. The remaining item for Friday will be a video of recent robot research showing projects from many different universities, labs, and other research groups. You will not be tested on this video. Prof. Hougen, 16 January 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As promised today in class, the first project description is up on the class web pages. Prof. Hougen, 24 January 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As announced in class today, I will be holding my Monday afternoon office hour on Wednesday afternoon instead this week. It will be from 1:00-2:00. I will also be holding my regular Wednesday morning office hour from 10:00-11:00 this Wednesday. My apologies for the late notice. Also as announced in class today, the date listed in project 1 for turning in the timeline document is Wednesday, Jan. 29, as was announced in class last week. This was given correctly at the top of the project 1 description but was originally given incorrectly lower down on the page. (This has now been corrected.) Prof. Hougen, 27 January 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The review forms for the task allocation and timeline documents are now available on the web. Prof. Hougen, 3 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As announced in class previously, Jim Summers (the CS system administrator) will be conducting a "Unix User 101 Seminar" to help students get started using UNIX. The first meeting will be TODAY. The second on Friday. Place: Carson Engineering Center - Room 117 Times: Wednesday February 5, 2003 from 5:30pm thru 6:30pm Friday February 7, 2003 from 4:30pm thru 5:30pm Prof. Hougen, 5 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As announced in class today, the deadline for the reviews of the task allocation and timeline documents has been pushed back to the start of class time Monday (February 10). Because some teams did not put their team numbers on their documents, here is a list matching those teams to their members. Team Names 10 Amit Maole, Brent Eskridge, Klo Utley, Tony Lopez 6 Jianwei Zhuang, Joe Garfield, Manohar Darapureddi, Pedro Diaz 5 Ayesha Ahsan, Steven Layton, Ethan Martin, Marty Thompson Prof. Hougen, 5 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Message from Dr. Antonio: Anyone interested in helping the Botball team at Whittier Middle School can sign up for a time by emailing Joseph Carmer [jcarmer@ou.edu]. The remaining times available are as follows: Feb 8, Saturday: 9AM to noon Feb 11, Tuesday: 3:30 to 6:00PM Feb 13, Thursday: 3:30 to 6:00PM Feb 15, Saturday: 9AM to noon Feb 18, Tuesday: 3:30 to 6:00PM Feb 20, Thursday: 3:30 to 6:00PM If possible, give Joseph days that you could help and the total number of days you are willing to help. In this way, Joseph can try to balance the schedule so that we have at least one helper each day. I usually leave my office at around 3:30 for the Tuesday and Thursday meetings (the middle school is only 5 minutes from OU). I can give a ride to anyone that needs a ride. If anyone is interested in helping out on a Saturday morning, I can pick them up at their home or at OU. After we have people signed up, we can work out any transportation needs. The competition will be held on Saturday, Feb 22! Hope some of you decide to help. It is really a lot of fun working with these kids. Dr. Antonio ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homework 1 has been added to the class web pages under assignments. Please note that filling out the review forms will be counted as part of your overall class homework grades. Get those done before classtime on Monday! Prof. Hougen, 7 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The robot code covered in class today has been added to the class web pages under Robot Kit Resources. Also note that, as announced in class today, on Wednesday of next week (Feb. 19), you will be involved in in-class activities (group to group reviews of project 1), so you will need to attend that class period. Prof. Hougen, 10 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Besides the readings assigned in class yesterday, students should at this time read homework 2 and its solution from last year's class, since it pertains to coding robot behaviors and some mistakes in the textbook. Prof. Hougen, 13 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As announced in class today, office hours on Wednesday of this week (Feb. 19th) will be from 9:30-10:30, rather than the normal time of 10:00-11:00. Also as announced in class today, the deadline for completing the electronic reviews of your team members and of the other teams' projects has been extended to Friday (Feb. 21st) before class, to give you additional time to review the work done. Finally, remember that this week on Wednesday (Feb. 19th), you will be doing in-class activities (group to group reviews of project 1), so you will need to attend that class period. Prof. Hougen, 17 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to see what you will be doing for the group to group reviews of project 1, you can find ps and pdf copies of the review forms and instructions on the class web pages. (You do NOT need to print out and bring these with you, as I will be handing them out in class.) Note that, besides showing up for class, you should bring all relevant materials with you to class. These include copies of the documents that you submitted and your robot itself. (If you don't bring these with you, the reviews will continue, but it may be harder for the other team to provide you with useful feedback.) Note that these reviews are due at the end of the class period on Wednesday (Feb. 19th). Prof. Hougen, 18 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because there were demo review forms accidentally included with the presentation review forms handed out in class today, some people got the wrong forms. If you were one of these, you can get the right form from the class web pages now, from the hardcopy review forms link. Prof. Hougen, 19 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because a few people have reported problems finding the paper needed for homework 1, I have added a homework 1 FAQ to introduce you to some of the OU library's resources, including the IEEE Electronic Library. The take home message of that FAQ is: be persistent. Prof. Hougen, 19 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- By popular demand, the project 1 demo review forms have been added to the class web pages as well. Prof. Hougen, 20 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that homework2 has been added to the class web pages. Prof. Hougen, 20 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are several announcements for today, most of which were already made in class: Homework 1 was due at class time today. If you did not turn it in on time, you are losing 20% per day late, INCLUDING WEEKEND DAYS! If you have not turned it in already, please get it turned in to avoid losing more points. Recall that homework 2 will be due at the start of class next week on Wednesday (Feb. 26) and that NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED! Next week's schedule will be as follows: Monday: Team to team reviews done in class. Wednesday: Guest lecture by Dr. David Miller on the CMUcams your teams will be issued later in the semester. Friday: EXAM 1! I will be around as much as possible next week, including additional drop-in hours later in the day. However, because I have jury duty next week, my schedule is not under my control and I will not know ahead of time my exact availability. The basics of project 2 were discussed in class today. If you missed class, please contact other class members, such as other team members, in order to get started thinking about how to approach that project. The peer reviews for project 1 are still due before class time on Monday. The web-based review forms are currently available. However, the technical reviews for project 1 will not be due until class time on Wednesday. (I forgot to announce this in class today.) Prof. Hougen, 21 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- My jury duty is completed. I was not selected to serve on a jury at this time, so I will hold my regular schedule for the rest of the week. This includes office hours this afternoon from 1:00 to 2:00. We will still have the guest lecture on Wednesday and the exam on Friday. I will be in attendance for both events. Prof. Hougen, 24 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am still awaiting electronic submissions of some materials from some teams for project 1. I will wait until these are complete or until after the exam to post the electronic review forms for project 1, whichever comes first. However, I have posted the electronic materials that I have received so far, so that interested students may begin to read and evaluate these materials. Prof. Hougen, 24 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will hold an additional office hour today from 4:00 to 5:00 to help students who are working on homework #2 for tomorrow or are studying for their exam. Prof. Hougen, 25 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The solution to homework 1 has been added to the class web page. Prof. Hougen, 26 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The solution to homework 2 has been added to the class web page. Prof. Hougen, 27 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first exam will cover chapters 1-6 of the Murphy text, chapter 1 of the Martin text, and the first three papers from the list of additional readings on the class web site, as well as all material discussed in class. See the syllabus for additional information on the test. You may also care to look at the web page from this course last year to review the solution to the first exam posted there. Prof. Hougen, 27 February 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The technical review forms for project 1 have been added to the class web page. These will be due before class time on Friday of this week (March 7). If an item to be reviewed is missing, please mark this in the appropriate comments section of the review. Prof. Hougen, 3 March 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project 2 has been added to the class web site. It is linked to from the assignments page. Also, a FAQ on file formats has been added to the class web site. It is linked to from the page of additional reading materials. Prof. Hougen, 4 March 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A note on electronic submission formats has been added to the class web pages. Please read. (Short version: *.doc, *.ppt are bad; *.ps, *.pdf, *.html are fine.) Prof. Hougen, 11 March 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that steel wool and electronic components do not play well together. Specifically, the steel wool can shed tiny bits of steel that get in the electronic components and short them out. If you were using steel wool with your robot, please separate them as thoroughly as you can as soon as you can. I recommend throwing away things like cardboard boxes that you may have been using to carry your robot in and thoroughly washing any plastic components (such as Lego pieces) that may have come in contact with the steel wool. Prof. Hougen, 31 March 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to a student contribution, there are now details on how to create ps and pdf files under MS Windows available. See the revised note on electronic submissions for details. Prof. Hougen, 3 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The technical documents from all teams are now online, so you can start reading these for your e-reviews (which are due next week on Wednesday). As announced in class today, you will only be reviewing a total of four teams projects - your own team plus three others. If you are in team N, the other teams you review will be N+1, N+2, and N+3. If any of the resulting values are greater than 10, subtract 10 from them. (E.g., if you are in team 9, you will review teams 9, 10, 1, and 2.) PLEASE NOTE: You should not attempt to complete any electronic reviews for project two (including both reviews of teammates and reviews of other teams) until I have finished revising the review forms and script. I will let you know when I have completed this process by adding another message to the MOTD file. Prof. Hougen, 4 April 2003. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may begin the electronic reviews for project 2. Please note that the review forms have been changed for the technical review. If you log in a take a look at the new form BUT DO NOT TRY TO SUBMIT ANY REVIEWS, you may quit out of the form and come back to complete the reviews when you are prepared to do so. (If, however, you submit any reviews, you cannot quit and come back later if you exit the page.) Prof. Hougen, 6 April 2003. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project 3 has been added to the class web pages. Prof. Hougen, 7 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some notes from Prof. Miller on using the CMUcams with the HandyBoard have been added to the class web pages. Prof. Hougen, 8 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The detailed instructions for technical paper reviews (previously discussed in class) have been added to the class web pages. Prof. Hougen, 8 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will not be able to make my scheduled office hours next week on Monday, due to a conflict (an exit exam). I will make them up on Tuesday at the normal Monday time (1:00 to 2:00). Prof. Hougen, 11 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dynamic object robot is complete and may be examined or borrowed for use in the lab any time you can catch me in my office. The code for it is also available on the class web pages (linked to from the assignments page). Prof. Hougen, 15 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Rafael Fierro of Oklahoma State University will be giving the guest lecture during class TODAY (Monday, April 21). Be sure to attend. Not only will his talk be interesting, it will also be tested over during the final exam. Also my office hours for today will be moved to Thursday of this week (April 24) from 10:00-11:00. Prof. Hougen, 21 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are having problems with the CMUcam GUI, Prof. Miller recommends that you use the KIPR version instead of the CMU version. The KIPR version is available at: http://d-ip-129-15-98-114.engr.ou.edu/~dmiller/CMUcamGUI/ Prof. Hougen, 23 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you wanting to make a copy of the dynamic object robot for project 3, one of your classmates has kindly taken some digital images of it and given them to me to make available on the web. I have posted both the individual images (jpegs) and a zip file of these same images. You can access them from the assignments web page. Prof. Hougen, 23 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm told that another possible reason for problems with the CMUcam GUI is the baud rate. Apparently it is permanently set for 9600 on the cameras that we have but may be set differently in the code you are using. If you are having problems, you might try to adjust this setting. Prof. Hougen, 24 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the orange target objects you may, if you choose, make your own cubes. They must be two inches on a side; some shade of orange; and made from a lightweight paper product such as paper, construction paper, or thin cardboard. If you choose to go this route, you should construct at least sixteen cubes - preferably more, in case some get crushed. I have added a pattern for making cubes to the class website (under assignments). There are PostScript and PDF versions of the pattern there that you can print out as well as a .fig file that you can edit using xfig. Similarly, you can make replacement blue panels for the sides of the dynamic object, if you don't like the color of the panels already there. The dimensions for these should be unchanged from the original - 3 3/4" x 2 1/2" and should likewise be made from a lightweight paper product. Prof. Hougen, 24 April 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that you are not required to fill out technical reviews for project 3. (I.e., you are not graded on doing so.) However, you are welcome to fill them out, if you want to provide this feedback to me and to your classmates. If you choose to complete these, please do so by the end of finals week. (You are required to fill out peer reviews for project 3.) Prof. Hougen, 2 May 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please recall that your final exam is this Friday (May 9) from 1:30 to 3:30 in our normal classroom. The format and rules (open book, open notes, no electronic devices, etc.) are the same as for the previous exams. Prof. Hougen, 5 May 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- All groups should turn in all components of their robot kits prior to the final exam on Friday and preferably sooner (see the note below). The Lego and electronics kits should be returned to Tim Hunt and the CMUcams should be returned to me. (I.e., you should return them to the person from whom you checked them out.) More details about the return of these kits is included in the following note from Tim Hunt: - - - - - - - - - - - - - begin included note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I will be in my lab (FH100) for the majority of the next three days. However, I will guarantee that I will be there during the following times. Monday 130 to 300 Tuesday 130 to 230 I AM THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN CHECK IN YOUR ITEMS. OTHER INHABITANTS OF THE LAB WILL NOT BAIL YOU OUT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THE KIT WHEN YOU LEAVE IT IN THEIR POSSESSION INSTEAD OF MINE. IF I'M NOT THERE DURING TIMES OTHER OF THE DAY (MEANING TIMES OTHER THEN THE ONES POSTED ABOVE) AND YOU LEAVE IT IN THE LAB, YOU ARE LEAVING IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. With that being said, if these times don't work for your group, then please email me with a suggestion for further arrangements. Please sort the kits in the following manner. Large Plastic Tub Lego ONLY Tackle Box RCX RCX tower RCX cable - the grey cable with serial ends 4 grey Lego motors 1 red Lego motor 1 modified servo motor - the servo with the Lego connector 5 Lego to Lego wires 1 Lego light sensor 2 Lego bump switches Small Plastic Tub HB HB interface board power supply serial cable with telephone ends db9 to db25 adapter 3 servos 4 Lego to HB motor wires analog sensors - 4 light, 2 reflect, 2 IR range digital sensors - 2 post switches, 2 button switches, 2 long lever switches, 2 slot sensors CAMERAS AND DONGLES ARE TO BE RETURNED TO DR.HOUGEN Hope everyone enjoyed the use of the kits. Tim Hunt University of Oklahoma Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Intelligent Robotics Lab (405) 325 - 0731 timhunt@ou.edu - - - - - - - - - - - - - end included note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slides from Prof. Fierro's talk are now available on the class web pages (in PDF format). Prof. Hougen, 5 May 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If your team lost or destroyed any items in your robot kits, you will need to pay for them. If you would rather not have this be charged to your Bursar's account, you can pay by check at or before the final exam. The check should be made out to OU and given to me or Tim Hunt. If you have lost your lens-cap to your CMUcam, the charge will be $5. Prof. Hougen, 7 May 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will be available starting Wednesday, May 28 for you may stop by my office to pick up your final exam and any other materials that you would like to have back. I will also be available to discuss your course scores and grade with you at that time. However, before any such discussion, please read "Discussions of Scores and Grades in Prof. Hougen's Courses" which is available at Prof. Hougen, 23 May 2003