RAS 545: Robotics Systems I
Teaching Assistant Graduate/Undergraduate course, Arizona State University, 2023
Served as a Teaching Assistant for Robotics Systems I during the Fall 2023 and Fall 2025 semesters. Previously completed the course as a graduate student.
Course Links
Prepared laboratory exercises and supported instruction in industrial collaborative robotics, manipulation, computer vision, kinematics, and AI-enabled robotics.
Course Description
Robotics Systems I covers the analysis, simulation, and design of robotic systems, with a focus on digital twins and:
- Kinematics and dynamics
- Coordinate transformations
- Digital twins, modeling, simulation, and deployment of robotic mechanisms
Laboratory Topics
The semester laboratory sequence covers:
- Robot operation and programming: Safe operation, coordinate systems, motion planning, and basic programming of collaborative robots
- Manipulation: Programmatic pick-and-place operations using end-effectors, taught positions, and repeatable motion sequences
- Computer vision: Camera-based object detection, classification, and automated sorting
- Kinematics: Forward and inverse kinematics using computational tools, symbolic methods, and robot feedback
Assessments
- Midterm 1: Camera-assisted Tic-Tac-Toe-playing robot
- Midterm 2: 4x4 maze-solving robot using vision, calibration, path planning, and motion control
- Final Project: Physical AI system using an LLM/VLM-based agent to interpret natural-language or spoken instructions and perform context-aware manipulation
Articulated Robot Labs
- Lab 1: Robot operation, coordinate recording, and drawing
- Lab 2: Pick-and-place with suction and gripper end effectors
- Lab 3: Object detection, classification, and sorting
- Lab 4: Forward and inverse kinematics
Isaac Sim Labs
Prepared an additional three-laboratory sequence introducing digital twins, physics-based simulation, manipulation, ROS 2, and autonomous navigation:
See the complete Isaac Sim laboratory hub for summaries, status, and links to each laboratory.
- Lab 1: Isaac Sim Fundamentals and Physics
- Lab 2: Six-Degree-of-Freedom Robot
- Lab 3: TurtleBot 3 and ROS 2
The sequence progresses from digital-twin scene creation and physics simulation to robot manipulation, ROS 2 integration, sensing, localization, and autonomous navigation.