AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

COURSE INTRODUCTION

Instituto Superior Técnico

Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores
Apr 2024
Pedro U. Lima

Autonomous Systems
 Course Objectives

• Basic concepts involved in systems composed of several physical agents

(sensors, actuators, robots) spatially distributed, that cooperate to accomplish
tasks.
• Methods of integration of the information provided by several sensors, for
– positioning of the agents (sensors, actuators, robots)
– representation of the map of the world where the sensors are situated.
• Methods for planning and decision-making under uncertainty in individual and
cooperative autonomous systems
– cooperative perception,
– task allocation,
– planning,
– coordination,
– interaction with humans
• Architectures for autonomous systems
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 Programme

1 – Introduction to autonomous systems

– Mobile robots, mobile and static sensor networks. Uncertainty in robotics
2 – Probabilistic representation of uncertainty
– Probabilistic models of observation and action. Bayesian inference.
Bayes filter and its particular cases
3 – Bayesian localization
– Bayes filter, Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Monte Carlo Localization
(MCL)
4 – Probabilistic occupancy grid mapping

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 Programme
5 – Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)
– EKF-SLAM, FastSLAM, Pose graph optimization
6 – Task Planning
– Classical planning, planning under uncertainty: Markov decision processes
(MDP). Reinforcement learning.
7 – Plan representation and its execution coordination
8 – Cooperative Systems
– Cooperative localization and tracking of objects. Sensor integration:
distributed sensor fusion methods. Cooperative task assignment, planning,
and coordination
9 – Functional, software, and hardware architectures
References:
• Reference books and papers will be indicated for each chapter/topic
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 General Information
• Course faculty
– Prof. Pedro U. Lima(T) pedro.lima@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
– Prof. Rodrigo Ventura (L) rodrigo.ventura@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
– Prof. Alexandre Bernardino (L) alex@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
– João Luzio (L) joaoluzio14@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

• Theoretical lectures:
– 1 shift with 2 classes of 2h each
– In English, except if all students in room are fluent in Portuguese

• Lab / Project classes:

– 5 shifts, each shift with 2 classes/slots of 1h30 each at LSDC1
– Each group to present 5 progress reports weekly (except week of 1 May holiday) in its slot
– Students have the right to decide among English and Portuguese (except during first week)

• Web page
– https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/disciplinas/SAut23/2023-2024/2-semestre
– Handouts + papers + project materials + … will be regularly updated there

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 Class Schedule

• Presentations during laboratory sessions start on 22 April

• Project topics presentations [by faculty] in the Theory class of 15 April
• Project selection [by groups]
from 15 April 17:00 to 17 April 17:00

• Hands-on sessions with ROS on first week

– Each shift uses 2 assigned lab slots (all shift students go to both slots)
– Prepare for these sessions by reading the “Laboratory guide” slides
– First slot in LSDC1 and second slot in LSDC4

• Q&A sessions:
– Piazza platform is the preferred method for quick response
– In-person or remote sessions are announced at course webpage

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 Assessment

• Final exam [25%, no minimum grade] to ensure adequate following of the lectured course topics
– 2 exam dates (normal: 17 June and recourse: 04 July)
– the best grade will count
• Project [65%, min grade = 9.5], in groups of 4 students with
i) five (5) every-week progress presentations during the Lab classes,
ii) a final article-like report, and
iii) a project discussion
• Soft-skills [10%, no minimum grade], evaluated during the project discussion

Project Report Deadline: 07 Jun 2024

Project discussions: week of 10 Jun 2024

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