2021 Course Syllabus
Instructors
Nathaniel Hanson nathaniel.hanson@ll.mit.edu
Kendrick Cancio kendrick.cancio@ll.mit.edu
Teaching Assistants
Rotate each course offering
Week 1: Quadrotor Basics
Goal: We will go from parts on a table to a quadrotor UAV that is capable of stable, autonomous hover.
Monday: Course Overview, Safety Briefings, Team Formation
Tuesday: Quadrotor Build, Manual Flight Tests
Wednesday: Intel RTF Architecture, Onboard Software
Thursday: Onboard Sensors, Reference Frames and Localization
Friday: Autonomous Hovering Challenge
Week 2: Computer Vision
Goal: We will build the tools that enable autonomous systems to understand the world around them using information from still images and video feeds
Monday: Kernels, Edges, Thresholds
Tuesday: Regression, Line Parameterization
Wednesday: ROS Integration of Line Extraction
Thursday: Obstacle Detection
Friday: Computer Vision Challenge
Week 3: Planning and Control
Goal: We will understand how autonomous systems make decision and execute tasks with precision
Monday: Feedback Control
Tuesday: State Estimation
Wednesday: PID Control
Thursday: Planning
Friday: Navigation Challenge
Week 4: Challenge Week
Goal: We will spend the whole week preparing and competing in the UAV Racing Challenge