Fundamentals of robotics
· Sensing
· Locomotion
· Motion Control
· Power
· Communication
· Location Determination
Sensing
        This session will cover how to interface these sensors, interpret and analyze their signals. Apart from basic sensing, its important to be able to do Sensor fusion which means to process signals received from multiple sensors and use them for high level decision making. We will also describe how to position these sensors in order to have optimal sensing. This will be followed by discussion on how to build your own customized sensors at home.

Types of sensors covered
· Light
· Temperature
· Magnetic field
· Ultrasonic
· Position
· Direction
· Touch
· Infrared
· Image

Locomotion
         This session covers how to design and implement the necessary mechanism for robot?s movement. Different modes of locomotion are discussed with more emphasis on widely used wheel based and legged robots. A brief overview of locomotion mechanism for airborne, underwater and floating robots will be given. Concepts such as centre of gravity, balance, optimal power transfer, and optimal placement of actuators will be explained.
Motion Control
         This session will explore various ways in which robots movements can be controlled. It will involve topics such as, how to achieve good DC and stepper motor control in very low cost, fundamentals of closed loop control, and achieving different types of motions using simple designs. A comparative study of DC motors vs. Stepper motors will be done and pros and cons of control strategies involved will be explained. Main constrains while designing a robots locomotion and its control is power consumption. Power optimized motion control and batteries involved will be discussed.
Types of motors that can be used for motion and alternate way to use these motors:
· DC Motors
· Stepper Motors
· Servo Motors

Power
· Power management and its importance
· Selection criteria for the batteries
· Charging methods for different types of the batteries
· Safety instructions for these batteries.
· Introduction to different batteries
o NiCD
o NiMH
o Lithium ion
o Lead Acid

Communication
         A communication module defines how a robot will communicate with external entities. Primary aspects of designing a communications module involve communication protocols, modulation schemes, shielding, range and power consumption.

Location Determination
Once you get your robot running, you might be interested in finding out where it is located and what its orientation is. This session will describe methods that can be used for robot location determination.
· Position encoder based
· Grid based
· Infrared based
· Acoustics based
· Image based
· Inertial based