School: Engineering

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Advanced Robotics and Autonomous Systems
  • Unit Code

    ENS5266
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    A/Prof Alexander RASSAU

Description

This unit builds on the robotics principles introduced in previous units to introduce more advanced topics relating to robotic software, autonomy and control. Students will be introduced to topics relating to robot navigation, manipulation, autonomous control, and how to make use of the Robot Operating System (ROS) to accelerate development of robotic systems. The unit will be heavily focused on practical skills development, with opportunities to build and test hardware and software on both simulated and real robotic systems.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must pass both ENS5204 and ENS5265

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Explain the software structure and architecture of ROS / ROS 2 based robotic systems.
  2. Create Unified Robot Description Format (URDF) files for custom robotic platforms and use these to simulate the robots in a variety of settings.
  3. Devise local and global planning approaches to enable a robotic platform to autonomously navigate through an environment.
  4. Select and apply appropriate tools and algorithms to enable a robotic platform with an equipped robotic arm to manipulate objects within its environment.
  5. Evaluate the application of emerging AI techniques to the development of autonomous robotic systems.

Unit Content

  1. Robot Operating System (ROS) concepts – ROS and ROS 2, ROS transforms, ROS control, ROS for industrial robots.
  2. Robot simulation – URDFs (Unified Robotics Description Format) for robot modelling, ROS Gazebo, NVIDIA Isaac.
  3. Robot navigation and planning – Local and global planning and navigation, Adaptive Monte Carlo Localisation, Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM).
  4. Robot manipulation and grasping – ROS MoveIt motion planning framework, approaches to grasp planning, Octomaps and perception based grasp planning.
  5. Autonomous systems – ROS deep learning, OpenAI, autonomous vehicles

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
Laboratory Work ^Laboratory work and reports20%
ProjectAutonomous robot project40%
PresentationPresentation of project outcomes10%
Examination ^End of semester examination30%

^ Mandatory to Pass


Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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