MSc in Computer Science and Engineering
Prof. Paolo Rocco
The
course is offered in the second semester
The goal of this course is to
provide the students with a general overview of the methodologies for planning
and control of motion of mechanical systems. Kinematics of the body and of the
systems of bodies, interaction of the bodies with the environment, prediction
of motion through the dynamic model, and motion control will be addressed in
the course, making frequent reference to the case of robotic arms.
A mix of theoretical and
industrially relevant topics characterizes the course, where extensive use of
software for modelling and simulation of mechanical systems will be made.
Course syllabus is as follows:
1. Introduction
Introduction to the motion
systems with examples
2. The description of
motion: kinematics of bodies and systems of bodies
Position and orientation of a
rigid body. Roto-translations. Velocity of a body. Direct, inverse and
differential kinematics of a robotic manipulator.
3. The interaction of
bodies with the environment
Forces at the contact, statics
of bodies and systems of bodies. Application to robots in contact with the
environment.
4. The explanation and the
prediction of motion: dynamics of bodies and systems of bodies
Newton-Euler equations for
bodies and Lagrange equations for systems of bodies. Application to modelling
and simulation of drones and of robots
5. The planning of motion
Path and trajectory generation
for single bodies and articulated structures. Trajectories in the joint space
and in the operational space for a robot. Elements of robot programming.
6. The methods for motion
sensing
Position sensing: resolvers and
encoders. Algorithms for velocity estimation from position measurements.
7. The control of motion
How to make a system of bodies
track a prescribed motion. Application to robotics.
Prerequisites
Basics
in Linear Algebra, Automatic Control and Mechanics.
Bibliography
B. Siciliano,
L. Villani, G. Oriolo, A. De Luca: Foundations
of Robotics., Springer, 2025 (in English)
Lecture
notes are available in the WeBeep channel for students enrolled in the course.
In order to participate in the
lab activities, students need to bring their own laptop with them.
You need to install your own copy of MATLAB/Simulink. Instructions how to
download and install your free copy of MATLAB are available here:
https://www.software.polimi.it/mathworks-matlab/?lang=en
You also need to install an
additional toolbox, the Robotics Toolbox by Peter Corke. The instructions to
download and install the toolbox (latest release is 10.4) are available at:
https://petercorke.com/toolboxes/robotics-toolbox/
Please notice that this is not the toolbox on robotics delivered by The MathWorks. Functionalities of the toolbox have been checked with success with recent versions of MATLAB until R2019b.
A manual
of the toolbox is available.
Depending on the way you installed the toolbox, in order to run the toolbox you
may need to issue the initialization command:
startup_rvc
Students will take a written examination, integrated by an oral one at the instructor's discretion. Text of the exam will be in English, solutions should preferably be given in English.
Texts of exams are published here.
August 31, 2026 Text