UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

(All rights reserved)

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

SEMESTER 1, 2022/2023 ACADEMIC YEAR

COURSE SYLLABUS

DCIT 403: DESIGNING INTELLIGENT AGENTS

Credit: 3 hours

Lecture Periods: Tuesdays 5:30 pm-7:20 pm (Venue: MATHS 19); Wednesdays 5:30 am-8:20
pm (Venue: JQB 12)

Prerequisites:

Lecturer:

 Name: Dr. Ben-Bright Benuwa

 Office No:
 Office Hours:
 Email: benuwa778@gmail.com

Course Overview

This course provides an overview of robot mechanisms, dynamics, and intelligent controls. It
will cover: basic components of robotic systems; selection of coordinate frames; homogeneous
transformations; solutions to kinematic equations; velocity and force/torque relations;
manipulator dynamics in Lagrange's formulation; digital simulation of manipulator motion;
motion planning; obstacle avoidance; controller design using the computed torque method; and
classical controllers for manipulators of mobile robots, multi-rigid-body dynamics, 3D graphic

1
simulation; control design, actuators, and sensors; wireless networking, task modeling, human-
machine interface, and embedded software.
The course will also cover a broad range of conceptual approaches, from logic to probabilistic
reasoning, and a broad range of applications, from natural language understanding to robotics.
This course focuses on knowledge (as distinct from data and information) to provide students
with the basis for the behavior of many intelligent systems, both natural and artificial. The
structures and knowledge representation techniques used to design intelligent systems, and
examining different architectures for building intelligent systems as well as the issues involved
in developing multi-agent worlds are also covered. Additionally, the course investigates
techniques and principles behind designing and building robotic agents to sense, plan and act on
their environment. Lectures will stress not only the technical concepts themselves, but also the
history of ideas behind. Students will design and fabricate working robotic systems in a group-
based term project.

Course Objectives:

At the completion of this course the student will be able to:

 Understand the concepts of intelligent agents.

 perform homogenous transformations in Kinematic equations, velocity and force
relations,
 explain the design, logics of the various intelligent agents available.
 design and implementation of the various intelligent agents
 Understand and appreciate the contemporary issues with regards to the design and
functionalities of agents

Learning Outcomes:

Students will design and fabricate working robotic systems in a group-based term project.

Expectations: This course covers a great deal of material, and you will need to devote
substantial time and effort to mastering it. You should plan to read the textbooks and course
materials, work problem sets, and do the design problems. You cannot expect to learn the
material simply by attending class. Designing of Intelligent Agents is not a spectator sport. It
requires your active and energetic participation. The good news is that the more you let yourself
get involved in what you're doing, the more you will learn and the more you will enjoy the
creative and inventive aspects of Designing of Intelligent Agents that make it both fun and
rewarding.

2
Plagiarism policy:

Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and shall be treated as a serious offence. Appropriate
sanctions, as stipulated in the Plagiarism Policy, will be applied when students are found to
have violated the Plagiarism Policy. The policy is available at
http://www.ug.edu.gh/aqau/policies-guidelines. ALL students are expected to familiarize
themselves with the contents of the Policy.

Assessment and Grading:

 Class attendance: 5%
 Assignments: 10%
 Presentations: 5%
 Quizzes: 5%
 Mid-semester test: 15%
 Final exam: 60%

Grading Scale:

Refer to Undergraduate Handbook

Required text:

Craig, J. J. (2014). Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall. ISBN-10: 0201543613, ISBN-13: 978-0201543612

Niku, S. B. (2013). Introduction to Robotics: Analysis, Control, Applications. Hoboken, NJ: 

Wiley. ISBN-10: 0470604468, ISBN-13: 978-0470604465

Jazar, R. N. (2010). Theory of Applied Robotics: Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control (2nd ed.).
Berlin: Springer. ISBN-10: 1441917497, ISBN-13: 978-1441917492

Spong, M. W., Hutchinson, S., & Vidyasagar, M. (2010). Robot Modeling and Control. 
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN-10: 0471649902, ISBN-13: 978-0471649908

Simpson, C. D., Santers, R., & Nikipierowicz, S. (2008). Introduction to Robotics. Panford: 
Logic Design Publishing. ISBN-10: 0968686028, ISBN-13: 978-0968686027

COURSE DELIVERY FORMAT

The course will be delivered using the blended approach. The course content will be delivered
online through Zoom and the SAKAI Learning Management System (Sakai LMS). The Sakai
LMS will be used to deliver

3
 • Video Lecture Sessions
• Session Slides
• Session Reading Materials
• Assessments – Tests, Quizzes and Assignments (including a Problem-based Term
Paper)
• Group activities – Discussions and Presentations

Announcements will be posted to the course website and/email accordingly. It is the

responsibility of students to check on announcements made in class, on the Course Website, and
through email.

Class Attendance

Students are required to attend three hours of classes every week. Note: Any student who misses
at least 3 classes without any acceptable reason(s) shall get an automatic F.

Class Tests

Students will be required to take 2 class tests in addition to the Mid Semester and End of
Semester examinations. The date and the topics each test will cover will be communicated ahead
of time.

Reading/Research Assignments

Students will be required to take both reading and written assignments. All written assignments
should be submitted on the required date. A student shall loose 10% of the score for each day
after the required date of submission of the said assignment unless the late submission is
substantiated with acceptable reason(s).

Other information

 Classroom attendance is compulsory. A student scores zero in late attendance to class.

The use of mobile phones in the class is forbidden.
 Caveat/disclaimer: This course outline is subject to modification/review anytime the
lecturer sees the need to do so.

Course delivery schedule

Week Date Lecture Topic(s) Comments

4
 1. 17/01/2023 Lecture 1  AI and Its Foundations Assignment

18/01/2023
 Intelligent Agents
 Solving problems by searching
 Uninformed search
 Informed Search
2& 3 24/01/2023  Introduction to Robotics Assignment
 Classification of Robots
25/01/2023  Parts of Robots
 Robots Degree of Freedom
31/01/2023 Lecture 2 & 3
 Robots Joints and Coordinates
1/02/2023  Characteristics of Robots
 Pros and Cons of Robots

4  Propositional Logic Assignment

 Inference
7/02/2023  Intro to Logic
 Intro to First Order Logic
8/02/2023 Lecture 4
 Inference Methods in First Order
Logic
 Inference Methods in
Prepositional
 Description Logic
5&6 14/02/2023 Robots Kinematics Assignment
 Forward/Inverse Kinematics
15/02/2022
 Robots Velocity/Torque
Lecture 5&6  Robots as a Mechanism
 Matrix Representations
21/02/2023
 Homogenous Transformation
22/02/2023  Manipulator dynamics Quiz 1
7&8 28/02/2023 Mid-Semester
Planning & Probabilistic
1/03/2023 Reasoning

 Basic Probabilistic Concept

7/03/2023 Lecture 7 & 8
 Bayesian Inference
8/03/2023  Naïve Bayes Model
 Bayesian Networks

5
9,10&11 14/03/2023 Assignment
Machine Learning Models
15/03/2023  Decision trees classification
 Linear Regression
21/03/2023  Nearest Neighbor Classifiers
 Neural Networks
22/03/2023 Lecture 9,10 & 11
 Artificial Neural Network
28/03/2023
 Deep learning
 Ensemble Learning
29/03/2023  Swam Intelligence

12&13 5/04/2023 Presentations

Applications of AI
6/04/2023 Lecture 12 & 13  Robotics
 Speech
12/04/2023  Computer Vision
 Multisampling
13/04/2023