Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics1
Embarking on a journey into the fascinating world of robotics can be daunting, but Coursera’s ‘Robotics (1)’ course, taught in Mandarin, offers a clear and comprehensive path to understanding the fundamental principles of robotic arm manipulation. This course is a must-have for anyone looking to grasp the intricacies of forward and inverse kinematics, as well as trajectory planning.
The course begins by laying a strong foundation in describing object motion in space. You’ll learn how to represent a rigid body’s movement with three degrees of freedom and delve into the essential operations and applications of rotation matrices for spatial rotations. The second module further enhances this understanding by exploring Fixed angles and Euler angles, and crucially, the transformation matrix, which elegantly combines both translation and rotation.
The core of the course then shifts to robotic arms. The ‘Robotic Arm Forward Kinematics’ section provides a practical understanding of how to determine the position and orientation of the end-effector based on the joint angles. Conversely, the ‘Robotic Arm Inverse Kinematics’ module tackles the more challenging problem of calculating the necessary joint angles to achieve a desired end-effector pose. The course cleverly uses a planar 2D arm for initial explanations and then introduces Pieper’s solution for tackling the inverse kinematics of a six-DOF spatial robotic arm.
Trajectory planning is where the theory meets practical application. The course breaks this down into two key modules. You’ll learn how to plan continuous motion trajectories using cubic polynomials, ensuring smooth transitions in position, velocity, and acceleration, with examples using a three-DOF planar robotic arm. Following this, the course explores planning trajectories for constant velocity linear motion using linear functions with parabolic blends, again illustrated with a three-DOF planar arm.
To truly solidify your learning, the ‘Robotic Arm Trajectory Planning Case Study’ module provides an excellent capstone. This section integrates almost all the concepts learned throughout the course by simulating a real-world task: a six-DOF robotic arm picking up a cup from a table and placing it on a wall-mounted cup holder. This practical application is invaluable for understanding how these theoretical concepts are applied in actual robotic systems.
Overall, ‘Robotics (1)’ is an exceptionally well-structured and informative course. The explanations are clear, and the progression from basic spatial descriptions to complex trajectory planning is logical. While the primary language is Mandarin, the visual aids and the universality of the concepts make it accessible even to those with limited Mandarin proficiency, especially when combined with translation tools. If you’re serious about building a career or pursuing research in robotics, this course is a highly recommended starting point for mastering the essential kinematics and planning techniques.
Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/robotics1