Exercises

Each exercise will consist of a laboratory session. Usually, the lab part will focus on experimental work using simulators or real hardware platforms. The student will have to collect data and sometimes write a few lines of code. The balance between practice and theory will of course be competely dependent on the topic of the lab.

Week 1

No lab

Week 2

Trail laying and following mechanisms, emphasizing SI concepts; Ant Colony Optimization

Lab 1

Tutorial 1

Week 3

Introduction to Webots, a realistic, embodied, sensor-based robotic simulator.

Lab 2

Tutorial 2

Week 4

Introduction to the e-puck robot. Illustrate key concepts of the course for basic behavior using different reactive control architectures (Artificial Neural Network, linear Braitenberg, behavior-based, rule-based). Simple localization algorithms based on odometry.

Lab 3

Tutorial 3

Week 5

Multi-robot localization, coordinated and collective movements in microscopic model (matlab/point-simulator visualized with Webots)/Webots, includes some collective movement analysis.

Lab 4

Tutorial 4

Week 6

Multi-robot systems coordination using market-based and threshold-based algorithms using Webots/Matlab/point-simulator.

Lab 5

Tutorial 5

Week 7

Introduction to Mica-z sensor nodes. Simulated (Webots with Omnet++ plugin) and real (e-puck and Mica-z) sensor and actuator networks: networking static sensor nodes with mobile robots for performing collective decisions.

Lab 6

Tutorial 6

Week 8

Practical lab verification test, subject: lab 1 to 6.

Lab verification test I assignment

Week 9

Multi-level modeling of distributed robotic systems.

Lab 7

Tutorial 7

Week 10

Particle Swarm Optimization. Application to benchmark functions and control shaping for single robot (in simulation).

Lab 8

Tutorial 8

Week 11

Particle Swarm Optimization application to multi-robot systems (Webots), task obstacle avoidance, tight collaborative task (e.g., formation 2 robots).

Lab 9

Tutorial 9

Week 12

Distributed sensing with static, mobile, and robotic nodes (implementation in Webots).

Lab 10

Tutorial 10

Week 13

Practical lab verification test, subject: lab 7 to 10.

Lab verification test II assignment