Education

The MSRL is strongly committed to supporting undergraduate and graduate education and offers a variety of courses that educate students in the fundamentals of experimental and theoretical robotics. The institute also offers advanced courses in robotic systems design and micro- and nanorobotics. The following courses are offered by the lab:

An ever increasing number of mechatronic systems are finding their way into our daily lives. Mechatronic systems synergistically combine computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. Robotics systems can be viewed as a subset of mechatronics that focuses on sophisticated control of moving devices. The aim of this lecture is to expose students to the fundamentals of these systems. Over the course of these lectures, topics will include how to interface a computer with the real world, different types of sensors and their use, different types of actuators and their use, and forward and inverse kinematics of simple two link robotic manipulators. Throughout the course students will periodically attend laboratory sessions and implement lessons learned during lectures on real mechatronic systems.

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Robotics is often viewed from three perspectives: perception (sensing), manipulation (affecting changes in the world), and cognition (intelligence). Robotic systems integrate aspects of all three of these areas. This course provides an introduction to the theory of robotics, and covers the fundamentals of the field, including rigid motions, homogeneous transformations, product of exponentials, forward and inverse kinematics of multiple degree of freedom manipulators, velocity kinematics, motion planning, trajectory generation, sensing, vision, and control.

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Microrobotics is an interdisciplinary field that combines aspects of robotics, medicine and materials science. The aim of this course is to expose students to the fundamental aspects of this emerging field. Throughout the course, students are expected to submit assignments and participate in discussions of peer-reviewed articles. The course concludes with an end-of-semester examination.

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Nanorobotics is an interdisciplinary field that includes topics from nanotechnology and robotics. The aim of this course is to expose students to the fundamental and essential aspects of this emerging field. These topics include basic principles of nanorobotics, building parts for nanorobotic systems, powering and locomotion of nanorobots, manipulation, assembly and sensing using nanorobots, molecular motors, and nanorobotics for nanomedicine. Throughout the course, discussions and lab tours will be organized on selected topics.

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The students work independently on a study of selected topics in the field of Mechatronics or Microsystems. They start with a selection of scientific papers to continue literature research. The results (e.g. state-of-the-art, methods) are evaluated with respect to predefined criteria. Then the results are presented in an oral presentation and summarized in a report, which takes the discussion of the presentation into account.

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This course consists of a series of seven lectures given by researchers who have distinguished themselves in the area of Robotics, Systems, and Controls. Msc students in Robotics, Systems, and Controls are required to attend every lecture. Attendance will be monitored. If for some reason a student cannot attend one of the lectures, the student must select another ETH or University of Zurich seminar related to the field and submit a one page description of the seminar topic.

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Our courses are highly subscribed with IRM, TRM, Microrobotics, and the ETH Seminar in RSC all attracting in excess of 100 students per semester. We receive no departmental support for teaching assistants for any of these courses.

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