Exam for DD2410 - Introduction to robotics

2019-12-18, 14:00-16:00

Permitted aids​: Paper, pencil, eraser

Notes:

Answer on the designated answer sheet. Write legibly, ambiguous

answers will be given 0 points.

Each question can be awarded a maximum of 4 pts. If a question can be

awarded partial credit, this will be explicitly described in the question.

Maximum possible score on the exam is 100 pts. Any bonus points will be
added to the exam score.

A passing grade requires a sum of exam score and bonus points of at

least 80 pts.

A sum of exam score and bonus points of at least 70 pts will be graded
as Fx, which means that the student is given the opportunity of
completing the grade to a passing grade after passing an oral exam.

Course responsible:​ Christian Smith (​ccs@kth.se​)

1 (13)
Q 1:

Given a 7 DoF serial link manipulator like the one in the image below,
answer ​TRUE​ for each of the following pairs of quantities that we should
expect to be able to control independently, and ​FALSE​ for those that we
should not expect to be able to control independently. (Each correctly
marked pair gives 1p)

a) Interaction torques​ and ​orientation​ of the end effector (FALSE)

b) Position​ and ​orientation​ of the end effector. (TRUE)
c) Interaction forces​ and ​velocity​ of the end effector. (FALSE)
d) Orientation​ and ​interaction forces​ of the end effector (TRUE)

Q 2:

For each of the following statements about control of an RRRRRR serial

manipulator with well-known kinematics, mark whether it is generally
TRUE​ or ​FALSE. ​(Each correctly marked statement gives 1p)

a) Computed torque control is robust to model uncertainty. (FALSE)

b) Force control of the end effector requires accurate measurements
of the torques at all the joints. (FALSE)
c) Given sufficient limits on dynamics, PID control of the individual
joints is enough to realize accurate position control. (TRUE)
d) Straight line trajectories in task space will be straight lines in joint
space, but rotated and translated by the Jacobian. (FALSE)

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

2 (13)
Q 3:

For each of the following grasp types, indicate whether they place strict
requirements on the contact friction between the gripper and the object
(mark​ TRUE​), or not (mark ​FALSE​). (Each correctly marked grasp gives
1p)

a) A caging grasp (FALSE)

b) A form closure grasp (FALSE)
c) A force closure grasp (TRUE)
d) A grasp that completely limits the translational motion of a cube
with four contact points. (TRUE)

Q 4:

Which of the following is a typical trait of hydraulic actuators in general

(as compared to other means of actuation)? (4 pts for the correct answer)

a) They are easy to control at high frequencies.

b) They are suitable for high static loads.
c) They can not produce rotational motion.
d) They deliver their maximum joint torques independently of
configurations.
e) None of the above

Q 5:

How many ​columns​ are there in the manipulator Jacobian for the Kuka
arm depicted in​ Q1​? (Correct answer gives 4 p)

Answer with a number: ​7

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

3 (13)
gQ 6​:

Which of the following statements about differential kinematics is true?

(4 pts for the correct answer)

a) A robot manipulator needs to have at least three rotational joints in

order to generate arbitrary rotational motion of the end effector (in
the world frame).
b) For a robot with 3 revolute joints and no prismatic joints (RRR), only
3 rows of the Jacobian will have non-zero values.
c) The jacobian of a manipulator is linear with respect to both joint
values and joint velocities.
d) Manipulator Jacobians are always invertible, since they are
homogeneous transforms.
e) None of the above.

Q 7:

Which of the following is a generally true statement regarding singular

manipulator Jacobians? (4 pts for the correct answer)

a) The inverse Jacobian is also singular.

b) Manipulability is lost, i.e

c) When the manipulator is in a singular configuration, no energy can

be transferred by the manipulator to the environment.
d) There are directions in which there is no upper bound on the end
effector velocity for a fixed joint velocity.
e) None of the above.

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

4 (13)
Q 8:

Which of the following provides the most accurate measure of

robot-environment interaction forces, assuming that the configuration and
forward kinematics of the robot are well known? (correct answer gives
4pts)

a) IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) at the end effector

b) Current sensing in the motor drivers.
c) Strain gauge that provides torque measurements at the joints.
d) High-resolution optical force sensor (i.e OptoForce) at the base.
e) A strain gauge at the manipulator wrist.
f) Haptic sensor (“artificial skin”) at the end effector

Q 9:

Assume a manipulator with a serial kinematic chain. Given the robot

configuration ​q​ and the cartesian state-space pose ​x​ (in the world frame),
which of the following equations correctly describe the relationship
between the differentials with respect to time (typically angular and
translational velocities)? Answer with ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE. ​(Each correctly
marked relationship gives 1p)

We denote the end-effector frame with ​e​, and the world frame with ​w​. Dot
notation implies time differentiation, i.e. x˙ = dx
dt

a) ẋ = Jq˙ (TRUE)

b) q̇ = Jx˙ (FALSE)

c) ẋ = w
T˙ e q˙ (FALSE)

d) q̇ = J T x˙ (FALSE)

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

5 (13)
Q10:

What is the ​standard cycle time​ for the SCARA robot, as depicted
below? Standard cycle time is the time it takes to move from position A
to B and back to A again.

This is a very typical SCARA, with regards to dimensions and

performance. Give the answer in seconds (Answer within a factor of 5
from correct answer gives 4 pts) ​0.33 s

(accepted interval: 0.066 s - 1.65 s)

Q 11:
In a 2 dimensional configuration space with rectangular configuration
space obstacles, a path planning algorithm has returned a path that
passes very close to the corners (but not the midpoints of the sides) of
some of the obstacles. What algorithm is most likely to return such a
path? (correct answer gives 4pts)

a) The A* algoritm
b) RRT
c) RRT*

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

6 (13)
Q 12:

In a 2 dimensional configuration space with rectangular obstacles, a path

planning algorithm has returned a path that is composed of straight line
segments that are either horizontal or vertical (i.e., any pair of line
segments are either parallel or perpendicular). What algorithm is most
likely to return such a path? (correct answer gives 4pts)

a) The A* algoritm
b) RRT
c) RRT*

Q13:

Given a 2 dimensional space with rectangular obstacles, and a disc

shaped robot. What shape are the configuration space obstacles?
(correct answer gives 4pts)

a) Rectangular
b) Disc shaped
c) None of the above

Q14:

Mark the following statements regarding planning as either ​TRUE​ or

FALSE​: (2p per correctly classified statement.)

a) RRT* is faster than RRT, but finds equally good solutions.(FALSE)

b) A* is faster than Dijkstra’s algorithm, but finds equally good
solutions. (TRUE)

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

7 (13)
Q15:

Let Sequence(A,B) be the sequence composition of the two behavior

trees A, B. Mark each statement ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE​ below. (Each correctly
marked statement gives 2p)

a) Sequence(A,Sequence(B,C)) is the same as

Sequence(Sequence (A,B),C) (TRUE)

b) Sequence(A,Fallback(B,C)) is the same as

Sequence(Fallback (A,B),C) (FALSE)

Q16:

Differential drive is one of the most used kinematic configurations for a

robot. Mark each statement as ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE​. (1p per correct answer).

a) The larger the distance between the wheels the faster we can
rotate the robot given fixed wheel speeds. (FALSE)
b) The cheapest way to implement it, is to use a fixed axle between
the two wheels. (FALSE)
c) A third wheel is required to balance the robot. (FALSE)
d) Having wide wheels is good for the odometric precision. (FALSE)

Q17:

Which of the following drone applications would be best performed by 1)

a ​fixed-wing,​ and 2) a ​multi-rotor​. (2p per correctly match.)

a) Long distance transportation 1) fixed-wing

b) Inspection of windmill wings 2) multi-rotor

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

8 (13)
Q18:

Which of the following sensors are 1) ​proprioceptive​ or

2) ​exteroceptive​? (1p for each correct match)

a) LiDAR 2) exteroceptive
b) Camera 2) exteroceptive
c) RGB-B 2) exteroceptive
d) Radar 2) exteroceptive

Q 19:

For each property below, find the best fitting robot type; 1) ​legged​ robot
or 2) ​wheeled​ robot. (1p for each correct match.)

a) Mechanically complex 1) legged

b) Power efficient 2) wheeled
c) Can carry heavy load 2) wheeled
d) Fast 2) wheeled

Q 20:

A localization system is typically divided into two steps;

a​) the prediction step and 1)

b)​ the update step. 4)

Below you find four statements, 1-4. Match ​a​ and ​b​ with the best fitting
statement from 1 - 4. (2p for each correctly matched statement).

1. Relative position information is integrated, the position uncertainty

increases.
2. Relative position information is integrated, the position uncertainty
decreases.
3. Information from exteroceptive sensors is used to correct the
predicted position, the position uncertainty increases.
4. Information from exteroceptive sensors is used to correct the
predicted position, the position uncertainty decreases.

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

9 (13)
Q 21:

Mark each statement about an occupancy grid as ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE​. (1p

per correctly classified statement).

a) An occupancy grid is a discretized representation of the

environment. (TRUE)
b) An occupancy grid provides valuable information about the
environment without sensor data. (FALSE)
c) An occupancy grid models free space explicitly. (TRUE)
d) The resolution in an occupancy grid is an important parameter that,
for example, influence the accuracy and the computation time.
(TRUE)

Q 22:

Mark each alternative as either ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE​ regarding a Kalman filter

(when compared to a particle filter). (1p per correctly classified
statement.)

a) The state is represented by a set of samples (FALSE)

b) Handles multi-modal distributions poorly (TRUE)
c) Scales poorly with the number of state dimensions (FALSE)
d) Handles non-linearities well (FALSE)

Q 23:

Mark each statement regarding SLAM as either ​TRUE​ or ​FALSE​. (2p per
correctly classified statement.)

a) SLAM is so hard that current systems can only handle

environments that are a couple of meters in size. (FALSE)
b) Loop closure increases uncertainty and should be avoided as much
as possible. (FALSE)

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

10 (13)
Q 24:

You have access to an IMU that contains 3-axis sensor of each of the
following types: 1) accelerometers, 2) gyros and 3) magnetometers.
Which of these sensors would be best to estimate/detect the following (2p
for each correct)

a) A collision 1) accelerometers
b) The direction of gravity 1) accelerometers

Q 25:

Which of the following types of maps best describes a subway map. (4p
for correct answer).

1) Feature maps
2) Topological maps
3) Elevation maps

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

11 (13)
name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________
12 (13)
Answer sheet

Q1: a)_FALSE b)_TRUE_ c)_FALSE d)_TRUE_

Q2: a)_FALSE b)_FALSE c)_TRUE_ d)_FALSE
Q3: a)_FALSE b)_FALSE c)_TRUE_ d)_TRUE_
Q4: _b_________
Q5: __7________
Q6: __a________
Q7: _b_________
Q8: ___e_______
Q9: a)_TRUE_ b)_FALSE c)_FALSE d)_FALSE
Q10: __0.33____ s
Q11: __c________
Q12: ___a_______
Q13: __c________
Q14: a)_FALSE b)_TRUE_
Q15: a)_TRUE_ b)_FALSE
Q16: a)_FALSE b)_FALSE c)_FALSE d)_FALSE
Q17: a)_1____ b)_2____
Q18: a)_2____ b)_2____ c)_2____ d)_2____
Q19: a)_1____ b)_2____ c)_2____ d)_2____
Q20: a)_1____ b)_4____
Q21: a)_TRUE_ b)_FALSE c)_TRUE_ d)_TRUE_
Q22: a)_FALSE b)_TRUE_ c)_FALSE d)_FALSE
Q23: a)_FALSE b)_FALSE
Q24: a)_1____ b)_1____
Q25: _Topological_________

name: _______________________________________________________ number:______________________________

13 (13)