Curriculum

Engineering Foundations

First principles for mechanical systems

Build the analytical foundation every robotics engineer needs. This course covers statics, free-body diagrams, material behavior, and basic structural analysis — the tools you will reach for every time you design a load-bearing part.

Electronics for Robotics

Circuits, sensors, and power systems

From Ohm's Law to motor drivers. This course builds practical electronics knowledge specifically for robotics: power regulation, sensor interfaces, communication protocols, and the electrical anatomy of a real actuator system.

Python & ROS Fundamentals

From scripting to robotic middleware

Learn Python through the lens of robotics programming. Build up to ROS 2 — the industry-standard middleware for robot systems — writing publishers, subscribers, services, and actions that tie hardware and software together.

Kinematics & Dynamics

Motion analysis for multi-link robot systems

Analyze how robots move. Forward and inverse kinematics, velocity kinematics via Jacobians, and the dynamics equations that govern how forces produce motion. Built around the CatBot quadruped as the reference system.

REQ: ENGINEERING FOUNDATIONS

QDD Actuator Design

Design and build a quasi-direct drive rotary actuator

The CatBot actuator is the hardware core of the platform. This course documents the design decisions, tradeoffs, and manufacturing considerations behind a low-reduction planetary quasi-direct drive actuator — from concept through CAD through first spin.

REQ: ENGINEERING FOUNDATIONS, ELECTRONICS FOR ROBOTICS

Control Systems

From PID to state-space for robotic joints

Design controllers that make robots move as commanded. Covers classical PID, tuning methodology, and state-space control for joint-level and full-system problems. Hands-on simulation exercises using Python.

REQ: PYTHON AND ROS, ENGINEERING FOUNDATIONS