Through seminars, lectures, a curriculum development project and group activities, the module aims to provide participants with new analytical and critical...

Curriculum Development: Issues and Principles (CPAS0059)

Through seminars, lectures, a curriculum development project and group activities, the module aims to provide participants with new analytical and critical skills with regard to their curricular interests and responsibilities. In particular, an improved ability to 'read' curriculum materials, practices and policies in the light of the theoretical principles and ideological perspectives that inform them; an enhanced appreciation of the cultural and philosophical roots of issues in curriculum design and development; a better understanding of design and development strategies; and a capacity for deeper reflection on their own experience of curriculum. The role of 'economic rationalism' in driving current curriculum reforms is considered and contrasted with broader and more democratic agendas. 'Culture' is a key concept for the module, since curriculum is a selection from culture; thus debates around how common and differentiated curricula are contextualized historically in relation to different conceptions of culture and ways of examining the adequacy of curricula to contemporary cultures are suggested. Aims, contents, objectives, processes and assessment are addressed as variously weighted dimensions of curriculum design and development with reference to both the classics of curriculum design literature and current writings and policies. Finally, the vital continuing roles of schools and teachers in this era of National Curricula is a recurring theme of the module.

 

Aims:

The aim of this module is to understand how to build robot systems that can sense their environment to then perform an action. To do this, robots must...

Robotic Sensing, Manipulation and Interaction (COMP0129)

Aims:

The aim of this module is to understand how to build robot systems that can sense their environment to then perform an action. To do this, robots must have the ability to receive information from their environment but also an understanding of themselves within it. Importantly, how can we capture this information greatly influences our subsequent actions both in terms of the availability of actionable data but also the processing required to interpret. By exploring these trade-offs, we will explore in depth the sensory systems used to capture information and in turn develop models that enable robots to cooperate with its environment in different ways.

In this module, we will discuss a range of sensing and cognitive systems. This theory will then be used to perform manipulation tasks to cope potentially with unstructured environments such as localizing objects for grasping.

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of the module, a student will be able to:

Understand the main concepts related to robotic manipulation and sensing.
	Develop methods for tackling new and potentially uncertain environments in robotic manipulation systems.
	Read scientific literature in robotics to choose approaches for a problem.
	Implement state-of-the-art algorithms on simulated manipulators and sensors.
Content:

Representing Poses in Robotics.
	Robot Kinematics for Manipulation.
	Exteroceptive Sensing.
	Proprioceptive Sensing.
	Sensing-based Grasping.
	Visual Sensing Uncertainty and Failures.
	Machine Learning for Manipulation.
	Human-Robot Interaction and Collaboration.
Requisites:

To be eligible to select this module as an option or elective, a student must: (1) be registered on a programme and year of study for which it is formally available; (2) have taken COMP0127 in Term 1; and (3) have previous programming experience in C++, ROS (may need Python).