Gihyun Kim

Topic – Robotics: Aerial Robotics

Date: September 2nd, 2023

Syllabus:
Introduction to Aerial Robotics
Geometry and Mechanics
Planning and Control
Advanced Topics

Summary:
During this Coursera course, I gained insight to how Aerial robots function and the programming and technology behind each ariel device. Some examples of such devices would include numerous types of drones, quadcopters, and UAVs and I learned and understood what components and systems make each of them function as well as simulating a flight through MATLAB.
During the first week of the course, I learned about the different ways one can translate and rotate a robot in free space (given the number of motors the robot has) and the different devices that are used in aerial robots such as IMU, SLAM, GPS, and others. During this week, I also was taught the basics of how to use MATLAB and the language used for the system.
During the second week, I learned about the different rotations, translations an aerial robot can go through and perform as well as basic concepts about quadrotor kinematics. There were some parts regarding the vectors that I hadn’t learned previously which I had to do some research online about it and learn by myself. The last 4 lessons of this week were focused on quadrotor dynamics which were quite complicated at first but once I familiarized myself with the content, I was able to absorb more of the material (i will have to go back to some of the lectures to clarify some parts of them that I don’t yet understand).
During the third week, I gained insight into 2D and 3D quadrotor control and use MATLAB to simulate a 2D quadrotor simulation. It was the first time I had used MATLAB so it was very interesting and it was quite unusual as the normal output I am used to seeing in C++ and Java compilers are normally integers or boolean values the output on MATLAB were graphs and statistics.
During the last week of the course, I learned about On-Board Estimation, Nonlinear Control and Swarms. I learned how swarms of aerial robots are controlled and how each robot can be programmed to move in a certain way (although in a verbal and very basic manner). I also simulated a 3D quadrotor control on MATLAB.

Overall, it was a very fun and interesting experience where I was exposed to concepts and subject matter that I had not learned before and I was put outside of my comfort zone with the assignments where I had to use MATLAB. I learned a lot from this course and will review what I was taught to fully understand the subject matter.

Verification Link: coursera.org/verify/63CUSWJSAV9Q