Haptics Course Website
Haptics is to touch, as optics is to sight.
In this course we will provide you with an introduction to haptic feedback for virtual reality and telemanipulation.
This course will be taught in Spring 2011 by Professor William Provancher and was last taught in Spring 2009 by Professors Jake Abbott and William Provancher. This course is a 3-credit 7000 level special topics course. In the short term, course materials are still posted from the Spring 2009 offering.
Pre-requisites for this course include:
- Intro to Robotics (ME5220/6220)
- Advanced Controls (ME5200/6200)
- C++ programming course ( CS1000 or other C course may be inadequate preparation)
For undergrads interested in the course
Please talk to the instructor if you are an undergrad. and interested in taking this course. The instructor will assess your background and interest. Only undergraduate students that have met all of the above prereqs., including experience programming in C++, or that already have experience with haptics will be considered.
Course Information
The course will likely have limited enrollment of 10 (we may add a few more) and will have a rather aggressive schedule for the the first half of the course in order to prepare students with requisite knowledge that they will gain from Lecture, Homeworks, and lab exercises. There will be several structured lab exercises that will provide an introduction to programming a haptic device. These labs will likely take 3–5 hours apiece and will be completed in room MEB 2172, the “small robotics lab” (which is also the controls lab). You will have card key access to this room to work on labs and your project. Students will complete labs on their own schedule during the week and will have access to a course TA to get help and to get “signed off” on the completion of each lab. There will likely be 4–7 lab exercises scheduled in the first 1/2 of the course. Students will likely work in teams of 2 to complete lab exercises. Students may also work alone if they have exceptional programming experience and meet all the course prereqs. These students may also work at home on labs if they purchase a falcon, but will need to come in to the small robotics lab for TA signoff of labs.
It is quite important that you have a basic understanding of programming in C or C++ and have some basic exposure to robotics and controls in order be able to complete the labs in a reasonable amount of time and readily grasp the content in lectures.
The main focus for the second half of the course will be team-based projects that will be selected by students in the first half of the course and worked on by teams of 2–3 students. There will continue to be lectures in the 2nd half of the course and a number of key articles in the field of haptics will be read and discussed in class.
Class will meet T Th 10:45 AM - 12:05PM.
Who should take this course?
- Students with an interest in haptics and that are willing to work hard to make the best of the course experience
- Students completing thesis research as a part of an MS or PhD
- Students who are interested in virtual reality and interested in expanding their “VR toolbox”
Who should NOT take this course?
- Students looking for an easy 7000 level elective
- Students who are afraid of programming in C/C++
- Students that are not prepared and committed to a fast-paced, rewarding introduction to haptics (remember you’ll get out of the course, what you put in).