Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Basics of Mobile Robotics: Components and Control

In course

MICRO-452: Basics of mobile robotics

This course gives an overview of the field of mobile robotics, introducing to the main techniques and allowing to test them in exercises and a team-based project. ...

Description

This lecture introduces the basic concepts and components of a mobile robot, covering system integration, processors, communication, sensors integration, computer vision, localization, navigation, path planning, collision avoidance, mechanics, actuators, energy, and locomotion. It also explores the challenges in mechanics and locomotion control, including different wheel types, arrangements, degrees of freedom, and motion control strategies.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructor

Francesco Mondada

Dr. Mondada received his M.Sc. in micro-engineering in 1991 and his Doctoral degree in 1997 at EPFL. During his thesis he co-founded the company K-Team, being both CEO and president of the company for about 5 years. He is one of the three main developers of the Khepera robot, considered as a standard in bio-inspired robotics and used by more than 1,000 universities and research centers worldwide. Fully back in research in 2000 and after a short period at CALTECH, he participated to the SWARM-BOTS project as the main developer of the s-bot robot platform, which was ranked on position 39 in the list of The 50 Best Robots Ever (fiction or real) by the Wired Journal in 2006. The SWARM-BOTS project was selected as FET-IST success story by the EU commission. He is author of more than 100 papers in the field of bio-inspired robotics and system level robot design. He is co-editor of several international conference proceedings. In November 2005 he received the EPFL Latsis University prize for his contributions to bio-inspired robotics. In 2011 he received the "Crédit Suisse Award for Best Teaching" from EPFL and in 2012 the "polysphère" award from the students as best teacher in the school of engineering. His interests include the development of innovative mechatronic solutions for mobile and modular robots, the creation of know-how for future embedded applications, and making robot platforms more accessible for education, research, and industrial development.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Mechanical engineering

Robotics: Topics in robotics

Related concepts (32)

Robot

A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.

Mobile robot

A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of locomotion. Mobile robotics is usually considered to be a subfield of robotics and information engineering. Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location. Mobile robots can be "autonomous" (AMR - autonomous mobile robot) which means they are capable of navigating an uncontrolled environment without the need for physical or electro-mechanical guidance devices.

Autonomous robot

An autonomous robot is a robot that acts without recourse to human control. The first autonomous robots environment were known as Elmer and Elsie, which were constructed in the late 1940s by W. Grey Walter. They were the first robots in history that were programmed to "think" the way biological brains do and meant to have free will. Elmer and Elsie were often labeled as tortoises because of how they were shaped and the manner in which they moved. They were capable of phototaxis which is the movement that occurs in response to light stimulus.

Robot navigation

Robot localization denotes the robot's ability to establish its own position and orientation within the frame of reference. Path planning is effectively an extension of localisation, in that it requires the determination of the robot's current position and a position of a goal location, both within the same frame of reference or coordinates. Map building can be in the shape of a metric map or any notation describing locations in the robot frame of reference. For any mobile device, the ability to navigate in its environment is important.

Actuator

An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover". An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) and a source of energy. The control signal is relatively low energy and may be electric voltage or current, pneumatic, or hydraulic fluid pressure, or even human power. Its main energy source may be an electric current, hydraulic pressure, or pneumatic pressure.

Related lectures (36)

Robotics: Actuation and Mobility Analysis

Covers corrected exercises from the 2020 exam in the field of robotics, including topics such as accuracy, speed, DC motors, optimal gear ratio, dynamics of robot arms, encoders, and kinematics.

Robotics Actuators

Explores hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical actuators used in robotics, including stepper motors and specific energy comparisons.

Robotics Basics: Definitions and Applications

Introduces the basics of robotics, covering definitions, classifications, and statistics, and explores the evolution and applications of different types of robots.

Acquiring Data for Learning

Explores training robots through reinforcement learning and learning from demonstration, highlighting challenges in human-robot interaction and data collection.

Layered control: Motor control in vertebrates to robots