Begin Robotics

Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4: Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts. Find out more The course is designed for anyone with an interest in robotics- you don’t need to own your own robot to take part. Please be aware that this course contains video clips that include sequences of flickering/flashing lights which might affect learners who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy. You can use the hashtag #FLrobotics to talk about this course on social media.

• An introduction to robotics from a cybernetic perspective
• Overview of different types of robots and their application
• History of robotics
• Introduction to the robot simulations used in the course
• Problem solving: commanding a mobile robot to move
• A description of the components of a robot – sensors, actuators, ’brain’ and power supply
• An understanding of different sensors, their operation and application
• A description of motors, and how their velocity is set, and other robotic actuators
• Problem solving: commanding a robot to achieve tasks on the basis of sensor information
• Feedback for control and human-machine interaction
• An explanation of feedback control of steering and speed in robots and in other applications such as balance, temperature and damping oscillations
• Simple mathematical modelling of robots and different forms of control strategies
• Human-Computer Interaction: feedback, including haptics
• Problem solving: commanding a robot to follow a path
• Feedback for Learning and robot: robot interaction
• An appreciation of neuron based brains through Braitenburg vehicles
• Robot learning by trial and error
• Multiple robots and artificial life, relating to biological processes
• Problem solving: commanding a robot to traverse a maze