Attendance and participation in the bi-weekly meetings will count for 20% of your grade. See below for details on participation.
The remaining 80% will be based on the course assignments, including the final challenge or project.
For most assignments there will be plenty of opportunity to add features for extra credit. This will generally be up to you, but please be careful not to comporomise the required functionality for the assignment. For example, if the assignment is to make your robot pick up an object in a known location, you might also decide to add the optional ability to search for objects in unknown locations.
Extra credit will be taken into account when assigning final grades for the course.
A significant portion of your grade for this course will be for your participation in the course meetings. Come to every meeting (both lectures and labs) prepared to ask relevant questions and to participate actively in discussion. Turn off the ringer on all cellphones. Please do not use electronic communication devices in class.
You are expected to complete all assigned readings (usually listed at least one week advance on the course schedule) before the corresponding meeting. Come prepared to discuss them.
Contact the course staff if you are unable to come to any course meeting. If your reason is excusable (e.g. illness), your absence will not be counted against your grade for participation.
The Northeastern University academic integrity policy applies to your work in this course.
Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Please do your own work; do not submit someone else’s code, writing, images, or art as your own. It is not hard for us to detect plagiarism, and the consequences can be severe.
For coding assignments you must explicitly specify any “third-party” code that you use in a README file included with your submission. Third-party code includes, but is not limited to, source and/or binary code that you may have found on the internet, in a book or other printed reference (other than the course text), or from any other location. Digital content not created by yourself, including image (e.g. JPEG) and 3D model files (e.g. VRML), is also considered third-party code. These definitions also apply to third-party code which you have modified.
In most cases you do not have to explicitly specify third-party code which was distributed to you as part of the course, or which you were instructed to use by course staff.
For written assignments you must always cite the source of any direct quotation or image that you use.
The due date and time for each assignment will be specified when the assignment is distributed. Except where specified, assignments will be submitted electronically according to the instructions on the assignments page.
You must always submit something by the due date. If what you have at that time is not yet complete, submit it anyway, and state clearly what you have and have not completed.
If you are unable to complete an assignment by the due date for a reason beyond your control (e.g. illness), you may request an extension. If such an extension is requested and granted prior to the original due date, the extended date will be treated as the due date for you.
If you submit an incomplete assignment, you may submit a revision or update at a later date, but no later than 1) the due date of the next assignment or 2) the last day of class, whichever comes first. Such late submissions may be eligible for partial credit at the discretion of the course staff on a case-by-case basis.
The assignments in this course will take more time than we have available in the lab. For this reason, we allow students to check out labkits. We want to be very careful that the labkits are (a) used safely and (b) remain safe outside the lab.
The robots for this course are relatively safe, with the maximal risk comparable to hobby toy cars.
Because we need to preserve the content and function of the labkits for future offerings of the course, we allow students to check labkits out under the following rules:
One student must provide their name and signature when checking out the kit. That student will be responsible for the kit until it is returned.
The kits must stay on campus, with the exception that students who live off-campus may also take the kits home with them.
All kits must be present, complete, and functional in lab on any day when a lab assignment is due or when a new lab is assigned. It is the responsibility of the student who signed out the kit to make sure it appears in lab on these days. Send the course staff an email if there will be any problem getting your kit to lab when required. On a case-by-case basis (i.e. you must email us to get permission to do this), we are willing to grant 15-minute extensions (i.e. you may show up to lab at most 15 minutes late) on these days if you have a busy morning schedule and need to go home to get your kit before lab. We will check the completeness of the lab kits by verifying that the following components are present and intact: tote box; robot; ohmmkey; charger; and, if we have distributed these, also: wall supply; toolkit; USB-serial adapter; hdmi cable; USB keyboard; USB mouse. If anything is missing on the due date of an assignment, your entire group will get an incomplete grade until all components are returned.
Keep your labkit together in the box with the lid shut when not using it. Keep the box in a place where it will be safe. Do not let people sit on or place heavy objects on the box. Do not spill any liquids on the box, and keep the box away from areas where liquid spills are a risk. Avoid carrying the box outside in heavy rain.
If something does happen to your labkit, please notify the course staff immediately. The student who signed the box out is responsible. We understand that accidents happen but it is important for us to know so that we can help you repair your robot. We hope that few if any repairs will be necessary.