Robotics @ IIT-BHUPerspectives, Plans & Options Srinivasa Narayan on behalf of

Mechanical Engineering Batch 1984-1988

RoboticsRobotics is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. This means that it draws from many fields, such as mechanical engineering, computer science and electrical and electronics engineering, and it also integrates these fields in a novel manner. The base of this program lies in motion and control. Upon this base, sensing, cognition, and action are layered. Finally, robotics involves building artifacts that embody these fundamentals, and as such there is a "hands-on" requirement as well.

Why Robotics ? Institute Perspective Robotics is the premier integrator in education today – multidisciplinary – mechanical,

electrical, electronics and computer science

Robotics allows a teacher to talk about design, innovation, problem solving, and teamwork at the same time they are talking about technology

The skill sets students learn as they work with robotics can easily be transferred to a variety of careers and professions

Robotics puts many academic concepts in context: enables the teacher to introduce or reinforce these concepts using real-world examples

Robotics provides excellent teaching examples of the concept of systems and subsystems due to its inherently multidisciplinary nature

Kits, tools, software and teaching material (more readily available and affordable) to enable both learning and teaching

Robotics is fun since it is “hands-on” and fosters innovation – thinking out-of-the-box

Why Robotics? Industry Perspective Robotics is a rapidly growing field with an industry that is expected to be

around $20B by 2020

Robotics is still strong in manufacturing

- automatic assembly

- welding and car assembly

Service part of industry is however exploding:

- medical technology (e.g., surgery)

- robot cars (e.g., Google, GM, BMW etc)

- defense technology (e.g., UAVs etc)

- exploration (e.g., oil drilling, space etc)

- rescue robots (e.g., bomb detectors etc)

- human assistance (e.g., Roomba etc)

- sensing (e.g., chemicals etc)

- surveillance (e.g., face detection etc)

Increased demand for robotics engineers

Why Robotics? Alumni Perspective We want to “give-back” as alumni and enable a new direction in education at

IIT-BHU that is both rewarding to the institute and the students and hence rewarding to us as well

Great opportunity to further enhance IIT-BHU as a premier institute by offering a curriculum for training students in this rapidly developing and exciting field - we want to enable it

Alumni can serve as examples and ambassadors to offer students personal real-world insights from an academic and industrial perspective

Affordability of tools, kits and software makes it possible for us to support this endeavor financially during the formative years when it is needed the most

Interested in expanding this by including more alumni if this is successful to support other similar initiatives

PlansLeverage the interest and facilities offered by the Institute combined with financial support and guidance from alumni to benefit current and future generations of students

- raise funding to provide resources for Robotics lab including

hardware and software- assist Institute in developing curriculum and core leaders –

both teachers and students - to help train fellow and future generations of students

- enable students to participate within and outside the Institute in robotics competitions

- encourage research and innovation by improving lab facilities and creating an atmosphere for collaboration within the Institute and outside

- help foster relationships with academia and industry - develop a strong alumni association to further raise funding

to support such endeavors in the future if successful

Options(group discussion & action)

Near Term Plans – 1 to 3 years Students will be provided with various resources (software and

hardware) that can be purchased using the initial money raised and housed in the new lab space being provided. These kits can provide options for creating and exploring ways to build robots that exhibit interesting functional behaviors

Over the course of three years we can build a core team of students with a bootstrapping strategy - seniors train juniors as part of teams and transfer knowledge and leadership to them in a continuous cycle of growth and skill development.

This team can consist of leaders and students from four departments - ME, CS, EE, Electrical as the concept develops but can start with a lead from ME with the capability to handle the responsibility initially

Robotics Kits for Near Term

A few good options to consider are to purchase kits from the list below. We could decide as a group as to which ones look interesting after taking into account the cost of the kits and available resources.

Robotics Kits - robotics hardware and software support and tools to help assemble and test small robots (in no particular order)

1. http://www.edgefxkits.com/others/robotics

2. Vex web site: http://www.vexrobotics.com/

3. K-Team Mobile Robotics web site: http://www.k-team.com/

4. Lego Mindstorms web site: http://mindstorms.lego.com/

5. NAO robot web site: http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/

Expected Initial Investment – Rs. 5 lakhs

Software Packages for Near Term To learn to write software for robot applications w/o the need for actual

hardware - useful way to provide access to many students without the need to buy expensive hardware. An initial list (in no particular order)

1. Robot Studio for various applications (A UK based company) http://www.therobotstudio.com

2. Robotics Developer Studio (MS product – Kinect enabled robots) http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/

3. Mobile robots operating in uncertain environments (CMU uses this tool to train their undergrads) http://www.fawkesrobotics.org

4. Willow Garage (A US Based Company) http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/software/ros-platform

Need to research on cost for multiple licenses after narrowing down the options - some of these may be available for free but if technical support is needed, then we may have to pay some annual fees; Expected Initial Investment – Rs. 3 lakhs (max)

Also an initial investment of computers to install the software and other tools in order to have a self-contained lab– Rs. 3 lakhs (max)

Example Course work that IIT-BHU could offer to support the near term efforts Introduction to Robotics (Offered to ME/CS/ECE/Electrical)

This course presents an overview of robotics in practice and research with topics including vision, motion planning, mobile mechanisms, kinematics, inverse kinematics, and sensors. In course projects, students construct robots which are driven by a microcontroller, with each project reinforcing the basic principles developed in lectures using the lab space and robots purchased. This course will also expose students to some of the contemporary happenings in robotics, which includes current robot lab research, applications, robot contests and robots in the news.

Intermediate Term Plans – 3 to 6 years Expand the lab to include more than small robots such as an

industrial robot and maybe a mobile robot

Develop a curriculum with emphasis on teaching fundamentals as part of a course offering

Expand on Lab capabilities by raising more funding

Intermediate Term: Expand Lab Capabilities Expand the robotics lab capabilities including purchasing

large robots and a mobile platform if possible

Vendors: This website below highlights some commercial vendors that may offer discounts on robotic systems for educational purposes.

http://www.automationworld.com/manufacturing-assets/robot-vendors-persevere

Example Course Work that IIT-BHU could add at intermediate term

Introduction to Feedback Control Systems (ME/EE/CS)

A first course in feedback control systems for all majors. Course topics include classical linear control theory (differential equations, Laplace transforms, feedback control), linear state-space methods (controllability/observability, pole placement etc), nonlinear systems theory, and an introduction to control using computer learning techniques. Laboratory work includes implementation of controllers robotic devices.

Kinematics, Dynamic Systems and Control (ME/EE)

Basic concepts and tools for the analysis, design, and control of robotic mechanisms. Topics covered include foundations of kinematics, kinematics of robotic mechanisms, review of basic systems theory, control of dynamical systems. Advanced topics will vary from year-to-year, including motion planning and collision avoidance, adaptive control, and hybrid control.

A new course that encourages creativity and innovation In addition to the usual robotics course work listed above,

enable students to learn concept relationships such as electronic, control and automation in a “hands-on” fashion

Each student develops his/her own robot, no two identical robots. This way, the course serves to encourage the students to be creative and independent - no topoing :) 

For evaluation in terms of the accuracy of learned concepts, the students will participate in a robot competition which tests their knowledge using the robots they have built.

The winner and runner-up will also selected each year (by an independent panel of judges) and will represent the Institute to compete against other teams in the country and abroad (if it makes sense) – something like a Talcon for Robotics!

Longer Term – 5 to 10 years Expand the coursework and curriculum further by offering new and more

advanced course work as well as upgrade the software and hardware capabilities to match with the times

Possible expansion to coursework could include:

Mechanics of Manipulation (ME)

Kinematics, statics, and dynamics of robotic manipulator's interaction with a task, focusing on intelligent use of kinematic constraint, gravity, and frictional forces. Automatic planning based on mechanics. Application examples drawn from manufacturing and other domains.

Computer Vision (CS/EE/ME)

Introduction to the fundamental techniques used in computer vision, that is, the analysis of patterns in visual images to reconstruct and understand the objects and scenes that generated them. Topics covered include image formation and representation, camera geometry and calibration, multi-view geometry, stereo, 3D reconstruction from images, motion analysis, image segmentation, object recognition. Evaluation is based on homework and final project.

Longer Term – 5 to 10 years Sensing and Sensors (CS/ME/EE)

The principles and practices of quantitative perception (sensing) illustrated by the devices and algorithms (sensors) that implement them. Learn to critically examine the sensing requirements of proposed applications of robotics to real problems, to specify the required sensor characteristics, to analyze whether these specifications can be realized in practice.

Gadgetry (CS/ME/EE)

Explore the confluence of engineering and design in the context of gadgets: intelligent, interactive electronic devices made from scratch with custom printed circuit boards. Students will learn about circuit board design, microcontroller programming, sensors and actuators, and how to make and evaluate design decisions in the gadgetry space. Students will create several gadgets, with particular attention paid to areas where traditional "dev kit" or "breadboard" prototyping falls short. Winners participate in competitions

Machine Learning (CS/EE/ME)

Machine learning studies the question "how can we build computer programs that automatically improve their performance through experience?" This includes learning to perform many types of tasks based on many types of experience. For example, it includes robots learning to better navigate based on experience gained by roaming their environments.

Some Key Challenges Purchase of resources – who will be responsible ?

Maintenance - Who will fund this as it may require periodic investment and also be who will be responsible for it ?

Evaluation of progress and assessment of benefits to students – by whom and how often?

Development of curriculum and follow through - needs to be internally driven at the Institute (hiring teachers with appropriate experience, developing and upgrading curriculum with changing times etc) with occasional consulting from us

Availability of funds for upgrades – how often do we need to do this ? Can we entice industry to donate money for this cause ?

Expansion to other departments – when to do this and how to manage this multidisciplinary effort ?