Coursera

Modern Robotics, Course 5: Robot Manipulation and Wheeled Mobile Robots (Coursera)

Offered by Northwestern University,

Do you want to know how robots work? Are you interested in robotics as a career? Are you willing to invest the effort to learn fundamental mathematical modeling techniques that are used in all subfields of robotics? If so, then the "Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control" specialization may be for you. This specialization, consisting of six short courses, is serious preparation for serious students who hope to work in the field of robotics or to undertake advanced study. It is not a sampler.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

In Course 5 of the specialization, Robot Motion Planning and Wheeled Mobile Robots, we delve into advanced topics in robotics. Chapter 12, Grasping and Manipulation, of the "Modern Robotics" textbook covers the modeling of kinematics and forces between rigid bodies in contact, and applies the modeling to analysis and planning of robot grasping and other manipulation tasks. Chapter 13, Wheeled Mobile Robots, covers modeling, motion planning, and feedback control of omnidirectional and nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots, and concludes by addressing control of mobile manipulators consisting of a wheeled mobile base and a robot arm.

Course 5 of 6 in the Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Chapter 12: Grasping and Manipulation (Part 1 of 2)
Kinematics of contact, contact types (rolling, sliding, and breaking), graphical methods for representing kinematic constraints in the plane, and form-closure grasping (complete kinematic constraint).

WEEK 2
Chapter 12: Grasping and Manipulation (Part 2 of 2)
Coulomb friction, friction cones, graphical methods for representing forces and torques in the plane, force closure grasping, and examples of manipulation other than grasping.

WEEK 3
Chapter 13: Wheeled Mobile Robots (Part 1 of 2)
Kinematic models of omnidirectional and nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots.

WEEK 4
Chapter 13: Wheeled Mobile Robots (Part 2 of 2)
Controllability, motion planning, and feedback control of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots; odometry for wheeled mobile robots; and mobile manipulation.

Go to Class

MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Coursera

University of Leeds

How to Get Into Robotics (Coursera)

CS: Design & Product

In this course, you will learn about the dynamic world of robotics, which blends engineering, electronics, and computer science to create innovations that enhance our daily lives. You'll learn to envision a future where humanoid robots assist the elderly, autonomous cars ensure safety and medical robots revolutionise surgical precision.

Sep 20th 2026

2 Weeks

Robotics Career Development Coursera Plus

EdX

Columbia University,ColumbiaX

Artificial Intelligence (AI) (edX)

Robotics & Computer Vision

Learn the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and apply them. Design intelligent agents to solve real-world problems including, search, games, machine learning, logic, and constraint satisfaction problems. What do self-driving cars, face recognition, web search, industrial robots, missile guidance, and tumor detection have in common? They are all complex real world problems being solved with applications of intelligence (AI).

This course is archived

5-12 Weeks

Artificial Intelligence Robotics Vision

Coursera

L&T EduTech

CPS Design for Mechatronics, Healthcare, EV & Robotics (Coursera)

Engineering

This course covers diverse aspects of mechatronics, electric vehicles (EVs), medical devices, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The Automotive Mechatronics module provides participants with a deep understanding of essential components, emphasizing the analysis of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) and the application of various sensor types and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems in critical automotive functions.

Sep 21st 2026

4 Weeks

Healthcare Robotics Mechatronics

Project MARCH: behind the technology of robotic exoskeletons (edX)

EdX

Delft University of Technology,DelftX

Project MARCH: behind the technology of robotic exoskeletons (edX)

Engineering Health & Society

Learn about cutting-edge exoskeleton technology that can help people with spinal cord injuries to walk again. Create your own vision of how to advance this technology in the future, benefiting from the hands-on experience of the Project MARCH student team in building exoskeletons.

Jan 10th 2022

5-12 Weeks

Health Robotics Engineering

Udacity

Intro to Artificial Intelligence (Udacity)

Robotics & Computer Vision

This course will introduce you to the basics of AI. Topics include machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, robotics, computer vision, and natural language processing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field that has a long history but is still constantly and actively growing and changing. In this course, you’ll learn the basics of modern AI as well as some of the representative applications of AI.

Self Paced

Self-Paced

Statistics Artificial Intelligence Robotics

Saylor Academy

Saylor.org

Artificial Intelligence (saylor.org)

Robotics & Computer Vision

This course introduces the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Materials on AI programming, logic, search, game playing, machine learning, natural language understanding, and robotics introduce the student to AI methods, tools, and techniques, their application to computational problems, and their contribution to understanding intelligence.

Self Paced

Self-Paced

Artificial Intelligence Robotics Machine Learning

FutureLearn

University of Leeds

MedTech: AI and Medical Robots (FutureLearn)

Robotics & Computer Vision

Explore human robot interaction and enter the fascinating world of robotics and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Learn how medical robots in healthcare are designed, regulated and used. On this course, you will learn what robots are and explore human robot interaction (HRI) in healthcare. You will identify the challenges of designing robots for healthcare and look at what MedTech scientists are doing to solve them.

Self Paced

2 Weeks

Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Robotics

FutureLearn

Raspberry Pi Foundation,National Centre for Computing Education

Robotics With Raspberry Pi: Build and Program Your First Robot Buggy (FutureLearn)

Computer Science

Build and program your first robot buggy using a Raspberry Pi, learning how to connect motors, add sensors and write algorithms. Learn robotics by building a robot buggy and controlling it with a Raspberry Pi. On this course from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, you’ll build a robot buggy controlled by a Raspberry Pi.

Jan 2nd 2023

3 Weeks

Programming Robotics Algorithms

Developmental Artificial Intelligence (UCBL)

Other Providers

Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

Developmental Artificial Intelligence (UCBL)

Robotics & Computer Vision

This course will teach you the cognitive science background and the programming bases to design robots and virtual agents capable of autonomous cognitive development driven by their intrinsic motivation.

No sessions available

5-12 Weeks

Learning Artificial Intelligence Robots

Udacity

Artificial Intelligence for Robotics (Udacity)

Robotics & Computer Vision

Learn how to program all the major systems of a robotic car. Topics include planning, search, localization, tracking, and control. Learn how to program all the major systems of a robotic car from the leader of Google and Stanford's autonomous driving teams. This class will teach you basic methods in Artificial Intelligence, including: probabilistic inference, planning and search, localization, tracking and control, all with a focus on robotics. Extensive programming examples and assignments will apply these methods in the context of building self-driving cars.

Self Paced

Self-Paced

Artificial Intelligence Robotics AI

Coursera

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Building Arduino robots and devices (Coursera)

Robotics & Computer Vision

For many years now, people have been improving their tools, studying the forces of nature and bringing them under control, using the energy of the nature to operate their machines. Last century is noted for the creation of machines which can operate other machines. Nowadays the creation of devices that interact with the physical world is available to anyone. Our course consists of a series of practical problems on making things that work independently: they make their own decisions, act, move, communicate with each other and people around, and control other devices. We will demonstrate how to assemble such devices and programme them using the Arduino platform as a basis.

May 9th 2022

5-12 Weeks

Robots Robotics Electronics

Coursera

University of Pennsylvania

Robotics: Mobility (Coursera)

Robotics & Computer Vision

How can robots use their motors and sensors to move around in an unstructured environment? You will understand how to design robot bodies and behaviors that recruit limbs and more general appendages to apply physical forces that confer reliable mobility in a complex and dynamic world. We develop an approach to composing simple dynamical abstractions that partially automate the generation of complicated sensorimotor programs.

Jan 6th 2025

4 Weeks

Robotics MATLAB Mobility