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 and time. 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 robots for this course are relatively safe, with the maximal risk comparable to hobby toy cars.