Modern Robotics, Course 6: Capstone Project, Mobile Manipulation (Coursera)

Modern Robotics, Course 6: Capstone Project, Mobile Manipulation (Coursera)

The capstone project of the Modern Robotics specialization is on mobile manipulation: simultaneously controlling the motion of a wheeled mobile base and its robot arm to achieve a manipulation task. This project integrates several topics from the specialization, including trajectory planning, odometry for mobile robots, and feedback control. Beginning from the Modern Robotics software library provided to you (written in Python, Mathematica, and MATLAB), and software you have written for previous courses, you will develop software to plan and control the motion of a mobile manipulator to perform a pick and place task.

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

You will test your software on the KUKA youBot, a mobile manipulator consisting of an omnidirectional mecanum-wheel mobile base, a 5-joint robot arm, and a gripper. The state-of-the-art, cross-platform V-REP robot simulator will be used to simulate the task.
Course 6 of 6 in the Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Introduction to the Capstone Project, and Milestone 1
Odometry for wheeled mobile robots and its use in a kinematic simulator for the youBot omnidirectional mobile robot with four mecanum wheels.

WEEK 2
Reference Trajectory Generation
Generating a reference trajectory in SE(3) for the end-effector of a mobile manipulator to achieve a pick-and-place task.

WEEK 3
Feedforward Control
Feedforward control of the end-effector of a mobile manipulator to drive the end-effector along a reference trajectory.

WEEK 4
Completing the Project and Your Submission
Feedforward-plus-feedback control of the end-effector of a mobile manipulator to stabilize a reference trajectory for the end-effector.

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

Related Courses

Advanced Engineering Systems in Motion: Dynamics of Three Dimensional (3D) Motion (Coursera) Coursera
Georgia Institute of Technology

Advanced Engineering Systems in Motion: Dynamics of Three Dimensional (3D) Motion (Coursera)

This course is an advanced study of bodies in motion as applied to engineering systems and structures. We will study the dynamics of rigid bodies in 3D motion. This will consist of both the kinematics and kinetics of motion. Kinematics deals with the geometrical aspects of motion describing position, velocity, and acceleration, all as a function of time. Kinetics is the study of forces acting on these bodies and how it affects their motion.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Fundamentals of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Coursera) Coursera
Red Hat

Fundamentals of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Coursera)

This course will provide you with a basic introduction to Linux® skills using Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 8. It will show you how a Linux system is organized, and will demonstrate introductory system administration tasks, which you will be able to practice on your own. You will be introduced to reasons why Linux and the open source development model are so important in today's computing environment. Linux systems are used everywhere—the internet, point-of-sale systems, and the world's stock markets. You’ll find Linux running smart TVs, in-flight entertainment systems, and most of the top supercomputers in the world.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
The Finite Element Method for Problems in Physics (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

The Finite Element Method for Problems in Physics (Coursera)

This course is an introduction to the finite element method as applicable to a range of problems in physics and engineering sciences. The treatment is mathematical, but only for the purpose of clarifying the formulation. The emphasis is on coding up the formulations in a modern, open-source environment that can be expanded to other applications, subsequently.

Oct 5th 2026
13-24 Weeks
Version Control with Git (Coursera) Coursera
Atlassian

Version Control with Git (Coursera)

The Version Control with Git course provides you with a solid, hands-on foundation for understanding the Git version control system. Git is open source software originally created by Linus Torvalds. Git manages team files for large and small projects. This allows the team to continuously improve its product. It is used by most major technology companies, and is assumed knowledge for many modern programming and IT jobs. It is a core component of DevOps, continuous delivery pipelines and cloud-native computing. You could also use Git to manage the many continuously improving revisions of that book that you are writing.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Machine Learning (Coursera) Coursera
Stanford University

Machine Learning (Coursera)

Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed. In the past decade, machine learning has given us self-driving cars, practical speech recognition, effective web search, and a vastly improved understanding of the human genome. Machine learning is so pervasive today that you probably use it dozens of times a day without knowing it. Many researchers also think it is the best way to make progress towards human-level AI. In this class, you will learn about the most effective machine learning techniques, and gain practice implementing them and getting them to work for yourself. More importantly, you'll learn about not only the theoretical underpinnings of learning, but also gain the practical know-how needed to quickly and powerfully apply these techniques to new problems.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Computers and Office Productivity Software (Coursera) Coursera
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - HKUST

Introduction to Computers and Office Productivity Software (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn the following essential computer skills for the digital age: major hardware components of a computer system; different types of software on a computer system; photo Editing using GIMP; and word processing applications, including MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Probabilistic Graphical Models 1: Representation (Coursera) Coursera
Stanford University

Probabilistic Graphical Models 1: Representation (Coursera)

Probabilistic graphical models (PGMs) are a rich framework for encoding probability distributions over complex domains: joint (multivariate) distributions over large numbers of random variables that interact with each other. These representations sit at the intersection of statistics and computer science, relying on concepts from probability theory, graph algorithms, machine learning, and more. They are the basis for the state-of-the-art methods in a wide variety of applications, such as medical diagnosis, image understanding, speech recognition, natural language processing, and many, many more. They are also a foundational tool in formulating many machine learning problems.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Architecting Smart IoT Devices (Coursera) Coursera
EIT Digital

Architecting Smart IoT Devices (Coursera)

This course will teach you how to develop an embedded systems device. In order to reduce the time to market, many pre-made hardware and software components are available today. You'll discover all the available hardware and software components, such as processor families, operating systems, boards and networks. You'll also learn how to actually use and integrate these components.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Roadmap to Success in Digital Manufacturing & Design (Coursera) Coursera
University at Buffalo,The State University of New York

Roadmap to Success in Digital Manufacturing & Design (Coursera)

Learners will create a roadmap to achieve their own personal goals related to the digital manufacturing and design (DM&D) profession, which will help them leverage relevant opportunities. The culminating project provides a tangible element to include in their professional portfolios that showcases their knowledge of Industry 4.0.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks