Name of activity

Introduction to the course

Number of working hours

1

Type of activity

Tutorial

Lecturer

Ioan Dragomir

Short summary of content

The robotic platform is presented and the students get to familiarize themselves with the overall structure of the course.

Bibliography

N/A

Expected effect

The students will be aware of the limits and capabilities of the robots they will work with during the rest of the course, as well as having an overview of each subject’s relevance to their final project.

Name of activity

Analog Devices

Number of working hours

2

Type of activity

Company Visit

Lecturer

Monica Ignat

Short summary of content

Analog Devices is a semiconductor company that develops and manufactures various signal acquisition and processing integrated circuits used in electronic equipment. With this visit, you’ll get to see what happens behind the scenes of an industry leader and better acquaint yourselves with the electronics manufacturing part of this vast domain.

Bibliography

Company website: https://www.analog.com/

Expected effect

The students will get to see the AD offices in Cluj, interact with AD employees, learn more about their cutting edge developments and interact with the demos at their facility.

Name of activity

Marelli

Number of working hours

2

Type of activity

Company Visit

Lecturer

Sabin Bobu

Short summary of content

Marelli is an international leader in the autonomous vehicle sector, advancing the state of the art. In their Cluj office, you’ll get to meet their team, attend a handful of presentations on their areas of development, and get to engage with cool demos of their work.

Bibliography

Company website: https://www.marelli.com/

Expected effect

The students will get a tour of Marelli’s Cluj office, better understand what technologies the local departments work on and attend short presentations about the company’s developments.

Name of activity

Project working sessions

Number of working hours

6

Type of activity

Workshop

Lecturer

Ioan Dragomir, Rapolti Laszlo

Short summary of content

Student teams will follow the prepared workshop materials to assemble, program and test their robots. The robots will be programmed to walk in predefined paths, walk based on user input, as well as display emotes and other hardcoded animations. Students’ questions will be carefully answered in order to fill in any lacks in understanding.

Bibliography

See pre-materials section below.

Expected effect

The students will prepare their robots to comply with the final examination criteria.

Name of activity

Introduction to robotics

Number of working hours

2

Type of activity

Lecture

Lecturer

Tamas Levente

Short summary of content

The course will commence with an in-depth exploration of robotics as a multidisciplinary field. It will emphasize the diverse applications, profound impact, and potential future advancements within robotics. The course will delve into the fundamental components of robots, uncovering their capabilities, and addressing the intricacies associated with their design and programming.

Bibliography

N/A

Expected effect

Basic understanding of technology used for robots.

Name of activity

ROS deep dive

Number of working hours

1.5

Type of activity

Lecture

Lecturer

Tamas Levente

Short summary of content

The course offers a deep dive into ROS (Robot Operating System), exploring its applications, impact, and future advancements. You will gain insights into the fundamental components of ROS, its capabilities, and the challenges in design and programming.

Bibliography

ROS Virtual Machine

Expected effect

By course completion, you will possess the skills to develop sophisticated robotic systems using ROS.

Name of activity

Hands on work

Number of working hours

1.5

Type of activity

Lecture

Lecturer

Tamas Levente

Short summary of content

Hands-on work in robotics has transformative effects by allowing you to apply theoretical knowledge practically, reinforcing your understanding of robotics concepts. By engaging in hands-on activities such as designing, building, and programming robots, you develop valuable practical skills in the field. This immersive experience enhances your problem-solving abilities, sparks creativity and innovation, and fosters collaboration and teamwork. The tangible outcomes of hands-on work generate a sense of accomplishment and motivation, driving further exploration and growth in the field of robotics.

Bibliography

ROS Virtual Machine

Expected effect

Through this hands-on experience, students gain valuable insights into the real-world application of robotics principles, enhancing their understanding and proficiency in robotics.

Name of activity

3D CAD for the robot’s mechanical components

Number of working hours

4

Type of activity

Lecture and practical work

Lecturer

Bogdan Gheorghe Balog

Short summary of content

In this lecture we will work on the concepts and principles of legged robots. We will explore the natural components and principles. We will work in SOLIDWORKS in order to generate 3 D physical joints that will replicate the natural leg of a 4 leg animal. At the same time we will talk about 3D printing and basic knowledge in this field.

Bibliography

N/A

Expected effect

Students will be familiarized with and have had exercise with the most common 3D CAD operations.

Name of activity

ECAD for the robot’s electrical components

Number of working hours

4

Type of activity

Lecture and practical work

Lecturer

Bogdan Gheorghe Balog

Short summary of content

In this lecture we will work on an online platform in order to simulate the electrical connections and to program the microcontrollers in order to actuate an electrical actuator. We will use physical servomotors and microcontrollers to test in real life the code and logic of control.

Bibliography

N/A

Expected effect

Students will be familiarized with and have had exercise with the most common ECAD operations.

Name of activity

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Number of working hours

4

Type of activity

Tutorial

Lecturer

Ioan Dragomir

Short summary of content

Having the mechanical and electrical components designed and manufactured, the students will put them together to build their teams’ robots, and then try basic Arduino sketches to familiarize themselves with the programming environment and workflow.

Bibliography

See pre-materials section below.

Expected effect

Students will have a working and extensible prototype of the robot to work on in the following project work sessions. Students will be familiarized and have used the most basic Arduino C++ language constructs, being able to implement simple decisions, loops, and the computations required in the following sessions.

Name of activity

Project Examination

Number of working hours

2

Type of activity

Examination

Lecturer

Ioan Dragomir

Short summary of content

Each student team will have 30 min to present their finally assembled and programmed robots, capable of executing the tasks described in and worked on during the project work sessions. The teams will be graded on the number of techniques correctly understood and implemented in the final project.

Bibliography

N/A

Expected effect

The students will perform a demonstration of their quadruped robots, earning the final course mark.

Name

Introduction to Microcontrollers

Topic/field

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Chapter/Section

1.1 (Introduction)

Professor/Author

Günther Gridling, Bettina Weiss

Name

Design with microprocessors, Lab guide

Topic/field

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Chapter/Section

Laboratory 9, Appendix 2

Professor/Author

Radu Dănescu, Mircea Paul Mureșan, Răzvan Itu, Tiberiu Marița

Name

Arduino Basics 101: Hardware Overview, Fundamental Code Commands

Topic/field

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Short description

As we will work with the ESP32-Cam microcontroller through the Arduino environment, this is a brief introduction to what Arduino is, some more microcontroller terminology, the Arduino IDE and some of the more often used functions.

Name

Arduino Basics 102: Control Structures, Variables, Interrupts

Topic/field

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Short description

Continuation to the previous pre-material video.

Name

ESP32-Cam Quickstart with Arduino Code

Topic/field

Robot assembly and basic Arduino programming

Short description

Now that you have a basic understanding of what microcontrollers generally are, this video introduces the one used by the robots you will program, the ESP32-Cam. The upload/programming part will be taken care of by us, no need to be fiddly like in the video, but you should know the general capabilities of the board.

Name

ROS Virtual Machine

Topic/field

ROS deep dive

Short description

As a prerequisite to this topic, you will have to get a Robotic Operating System Virtual Machine up and running, by following the instructions in the linked article.