The course is taught in English.
The purpose of this course is to provide concepts and detailed description of the fundamental characteristics of robots, both industrial and mobile ones. This implies a presentation of basic concepts of modelling, design, path-planning, and control of robotic systems. After a detailed presentation of open kinematic chains and their mathematical representation, the most common architectures for robot control will be presented. Mobile robots will be treated considering locomotion structures, kinematic models, sensors, planning and supervision/autonomy architectures. The topics treated in this course represent the basic elements and the relevant results from geometry, kinematics, statics, dynamics, and control related to industrial and service (i.e., wheeled mobile) robots.

The student acquires the following knowledge about
- Various types of robots, according to the configuration of the arm kinematic chain; various types of wrists.
- What is an open or closed kinematic chain, a body reference systems, the direct and inverse position kinematic equations
- What is the direct and inverse velocity kinematic equations; analytical and geometrical Jacobian; kineto-static relations;
- How to analyze and write the dynamic model equations of a robot, using the Lagrange approach; physical interpretation of these equations; structural characteristics for their control; ability to develop simple examples of these models
- The independent joint control and the inverse dynamics control architecture; basic knowledge of adaptive control schemes
- The present trends in mobile and service robotics
- The main locomotion structures, in particular, wheeled robots
- The main control architectures of a mobile robot: reflexive and model-based approaches
- The main services present onboard a mobile robot: planning, localization, mapping and motion control
- The principal sensors onboard mobile robots;

The student develops the following abilities
- Analyze a kinematic chain, setting the body reference systems, and write the direct and inverse position kinematic equations
- Write the direct and inverse velocity kinematic equations of a given open chain structure; analytical and geometrical Jacobian; kineto-static relations; ability to develop applications of these concept to complex kinematic chains
- Develop applications of these concept to complex kinematic chains
- Model in mathematical terms (Lagrange equations) simple examples of robotic structures and understand the physical meaning of the involved structure and parameters
- Write the independent joint and the inverse dynamics control architecture;
- Design of adaptive control schemes
- Understand pro's and con's of such control schemes
- Understand trends in mobile and service robotics in the appropriate framework
- Make a preliminary choice of onboard sensors, based on their characteristics and technical specifications

The course requires the knowledge of the basic elements of geometry in Euclidean tri-dimensional space, the ability to use rigid roto-translations; knowledge of the different ways to represent the orientation/attitude of a rigid body; capacity to solve simple examples of roto-translations. Elements of automatic control (simple PID control networks) are not mandatory, but beneficial.

ボ Brief introduction to the history of robotics with principal milestones (1 hours)
ボ Definitions, kinematic chains, degrees of freedom, redundency, robotics arms classification, robotic wrists classification (4 hours)
ボ Review of geometrical tranformations, Euler and RPY angles, quaternions (4 hours)
ボ Denavith-Hartenberg conventions, position and velocity (differential) kinematics, analytical and geometrical Jacobians (12 hours)
ボ Dinamics, Newton-Euler equations, Lagrange equations, structural properties of the dynamic equations (10 hours)
ボ Statics, kineto-static duality relations (4 hours)
ボ Physical models of the motor-gearbox-arm chain, state variables, nonlinear state variable equations, passivity (10 hours)
ボ Continuous and discrete motion planning; three methods for attitude planning; practical issues, motor constraints, micro-macro interpolation (10 hours)
ボ Control schemes for rigid robots: independent joint control and computed torque control, adaptive control, robust control (12 hours)
ボ Mobile robotics, locomotion structures, differential drive rover kinematics, unicycle and bycicle kinematics; sensors; planning; control and supervision; reactive vs model bsed control; basics of vision systems; concluding remarks (12 hours)
recap and exam simulation (1 hours)

Practical exercises in class and in Laboratory will be devoted to model a set of simple robotic structure, using Matlab, Simulink and SimMechanics software packages.

B. Bona, ｡ｧModellistica dei manipolatoriindustriali｡ｨ, CELID, 2002 (in Italian)
B. Bona, ｡ｧMetodi di Controllo per Manipolatori Industriali｡ｨ, notes in Italian downloadable from the course web page .
B. Siciliano, L. Sciavicco, L. Villani, G. Oriolo, ｡ｧRobotics: modelling, planning and control｡ｨ Springer, 2009
Slides, notes and other written materials are downloadable from the course web page

Written examination consists of two parts;
part 1) closed book multiple response questions (40% of the mark)
part 2) closed book questions on theoretical topics (40% of the mark).
Part 2 can be replaced with a report on Laboratory experience or other projects, both practical or theoretical, discussed and agreed with the teacher during the course