Development and implementation of a MATLAB simulation project for a multidisciplinary graduate course in autonomous robotics

In this paper, we describe a MATLAB computer simulation course project implemented as part of an introductory graduate course in autonomous robotics at the University of California, Davis. The course consisted of students from Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Psychology and Neuroscience, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science. Creating a valuable class computer project experience for graduate students with greatly varying backgrounds is a challenging undertaking. Graduate students in different majors may have widely different educational backgrounds, field‐specific language and culture, and computer background. It is a main result of this paper that a meaningful autonomous robotics computer project can be developed that allows students to be individually unique and creative, but at the same time allows each student to understand and share ideas, tools, and methods from all the other students. Simulation project conception, teamwork, implementation, results, and lessons learned are described. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 12: 54–64, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20001

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