ME 601 Advanced Robotics

Sep 1, 2024

A bipedal robot balancing using proprioceptive sensing and feedback control

[ME 601 Advanced Robotics] is a new course designed for entry-level graduate students who are interested in learning advanced techanical contents on robot motion from model-based perspectives. We will focus on four core aspects:

Modeling of robot motion: physics and computational models,
Control of robot motion: nonlinear and optimization-based control,
Planning of robot motion: optimization-based and sampling-based planning,
Estimation of robot motion: filter based estimation.

This course can be used for course requirement at 700 level.

2025 Fall

Syllabus

Details subject to change. Refer to the annoucements in Canvas or the schedule below.

Important Information

Canvas: https://canvas.wisc.edu/courses/468819
Piazza: https://piazza.com/wisc/fall2025/me601
Zoom: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/8909032411 (for office hours)
Zoom: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/3659485999 (for guest lecture)
NotebookLM Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24pMHYPSbDQfb7gcY9jZzEoQDqgnlER_&si=VyHOGN_Bl8oBcqle

Time: Monday & Wednesday, 4:00-5:15pm
Location: ME 1143

Teaching Assistant

PhD Student: Jiarong Kang
Email: kang248@wisc.edu
Office hour: Wednesday 1-2pm.
Location: ECB 1025

Materials

Slides: The slides are distributed over Canvas.
Preview Videos: For each lecture, the instructor will generate a short overview video using NotebookLM to introduce the materials before the lecture. The videos use layman’s languages to convey the general ideas of the content. The students are expected to watch the short video prior to coming to the lectures; yet, the students need to come to the lectures to learn the real materials. The video can be found in this Youtube Playlist.
Recorded Lectures: The lectures are recorded and will be available upon request.

Course Schedule (2025 Fall)

Chapter	Week	Date	Day	Lecture Topics	Logistics
Modeling	1	9/3/2025	W	Intro to Robotic Systems
	2	9/8/2025	M	Review: Robot Kinematics
		9/10/2025	W	Review: Robot Dynamics	Mini-Proj 1 out
	3	9/15/2025	M	Integrators and Difference Equation
		9/17/2025	W	Constrained Dynamics, Hybrid Dynamics
	4	9/22/2025	M	Contact Modeling and Simulation
		9/24/2025	W	Equilibriums, Stability & Linearization	Mini-Proj 1 Due
Control	5	9/29/2025	M	Lyapunov Analysis	Mini-Proj 2 out
		10/1/2025	W	LaSalle, Control Basics
	6	10/6/2025	M	Controller Design Overview, Linearization
		10/8/2025	W	Feedback Linearization, CLF
	7	10/13/2025	M	CLF, QP based Control	Proj Proposal Due
		10/15/2025	W	QP based Control (cont.), Recitation (Jiarong)
	8	10/20/2025	M	LQRs, Optimal Control (Recorded w. Q & A)	Mini-Proj 2 Due
		10/22/2025	W	Trajectory Optimization (Recorded w. Q & A)
Mid-term		10/24/2025	F	Midterm (take-home)	Pick-up at 4pm
		10/25/2025	S	Midterm	Return by 4pm
	9	10/27/2025	M	Midterm Solution (Jiarong)
Estimation		10/29/2025	W	Sensors & State Estimation (Recorded w. Q & A)	Mini-Proj 3 out
	10	11/3/2025	M	Probability Basics, Bayes (Recorded w. Q & A)
		11/5/2025	W	Kalman Filter, and EFK
	11	11/10/2025	M	UKF, Particle Filter, & Optimization-based Approaches
		11/12/2025	W	Motion Planning, Graphs Search (video)
Planning	12	11/17/2025	M	Sampling based methods: PRM & RRT (video)	Mini-Proj 3 Due
		11/19/2025	W	Guest Lecture: Dr. Lu Gan (Gatech) on robot perception (zoom)
	13	11/24/2025	M	Planning with Differential Constraints (video)
		11/26/2025	W	Thanksgiving
	14	12/1/2025	M	Guest Lecture: Dr. Tao Pang (BDAI) on robot planning (zoom)
		12/3/2025	W	Guest Lecture: Dr. Chen Wang (UB) on robot learning (zoom)
Project	15	12/6/2025	M	Final Presentation
		12/10/2025	W	Final Presentation	Proj. Report Due

Previous Offerings

Syllabus 2024 Fall.

Robotics