ENME480 · Index
Site Map
Everything on this site, grouped by what you are actually trying to do.
Start of semester
| Page | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Home | Meeting times, rooms, staff, grading, exam dates |
| Syllabus (PDF) | The authoritative document: policies, grading, week-by-week outline |
| Labs overview | How studios and robot sessions work, week-by-week progression, software requirements |
| Help | Who to contact, safety rules, first-line troubleshooting |
Getting your machine working
Do these in order. Later labs assume all of them are done.
| Page | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu Setup | Installing Ubuntu 22.04 — dual boot, VM and WSL options |
| ROS 2 in the Container | What the image already provides, checking it works, command reference |
| Gazebo Setup | Simulator installation and the usual launch failures |
| Dev Environment | VS Code against the course Docker image |
| Python Basics | The Python subset used in lab |
| Git Basics | Cloning lab code, branching, recovering from mistakes |
ROS 2 tutorials
Mirrors of the official ROS 2 Humble tutorials, reproduced under CC BY 4.0 with a link to the source on each page.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Overview | Index, and where these differ from our Docker setup |
| Creating a workspace | Overlays, underlays, sourcing, colcon build |
| Creating a package | package.xml, setup.py, entry points |
| Publisher and subscriber | The talker/listener pattern in Python |
| Understanding topics | ros2 topic CLI and rqt_graph |
Weekly labs
| Week | Page | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Week 1 | Lab intro, safety, accounts |
| 2 | Week 2 | RAL intro, Ubuntu and Python setup |
| 3 | Week 3 | Python intro, ROS intro, Studio 1 |
| 4 | Week 4 | Gazebo bring-up and commanding the UR3e; rotation matrices in Python |
| 5 | Week 5 | UR3e intro, FK Lab 1.1 |
| 6 | Week 6 | Forward kinematics simulation, FK Lab 1.2 |
| 7 | Week 7 | No lab — makeup and office hours |
| 8 | Week 8 | Inverse kinematics studio |
| 9 | Week 9 | IK lab on the UR3e |
| 12 | Week 12 | Camera lab, perspective transforms |
| 13–15 | Final Project | Vision-guided pick and place |
Reference while you work
| Page | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Resources | Course documents, setup guide index, external documentation, common commands |
| Kinematics Reference | DH conventions, transforms, FK and IK derivations |
| UR3e DH table (PDF) | Denavit-Hartenberg parameters for the arm |
| FK datasheet (PDF) | Forward kinematics worksheet |
| Perspective transform notes (PDF) | Camera lab background |
Lab slides
| Slides | Covers |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course and lab introduction |
| Week 2 | Ubuntu and Python |
| Weeks 3 and 4 | ROS 2 and Gazebo |
| Weeks 5 and 6 | Forward kinematics |
| Week 8 | Inverse kinematics |
Off this site
| Destination | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Piazza | Official Q&A, announcements, extension requests |
| Canvas / ELMS | Submissions, grades, class materials |
| github.com/ENME480 | Lab code and the final project package |
| UR3e safety training | Required before robot lab access |
| Robotics and Autonomous Systems Minor | The minor this course leads into |