Skip to main content

Textbook Blueprint: Physical AI & Humanoid Robotics

This document outlines the structure of the textbook.

Part 1: Foundations of Embodied Intelligence​

Chapter 1: Introduction to Physical AI​

  • Section 1.1: What is Physical AI? (Defining Embodiment, Situatedness, and Interaction)
  • Section 1.2: A Brief History of AI and Robotics
  • Section 1.3: The Perception-Action Loop: A Core Concept
  • Exercises:
    • Compare and contrast symbolic AI with physical AI.
    • Analyze a simple robotic system in terms of its perception-action loop.
  • Case Study: The story of Shakey the Robot.

Chapter 2: Humanoid Robotics: Hardware and Morphology​

  • Section 2.1: Actuators and Sensors: The Building Blocks of Movement
  • Section 2.2: Kinematics and Dynamics: The Science of Motion
  • Section 2.3: Power Systems and Energy Efficiency
  • Exercises:
    • Calculate the degrees of freedom for a simple robotic arm.
    • Research and compare different types of robotic actuators.
  • Case Study: The design of the ASIMO robot.

Part 2: Core Principles of Autonomous Control​

Chapter 3: Locomotion and Control​

  • Section 3.1: Principles of Bipedal Locomotion (ZMP, LIPM)
  • Section 3.2: Advanced Control Strategies (Model Predictive Control)
  • Section 3.3: Grasping and Manipulation
  • Exercises:
    • Implement a simple inverted pendulum model in Python.
    • Simulate a grasping task using a robotics toolkit.
  • Case Study: Boston Dynamics' Atlas: A leap in dynamic balancing.

Chapter 4: AI for Robotics: From Learning to Reasoning​

  • Section 4.1: Foundation Models for Robotics
  • Section 4.2: World Models and Predictive Control
  • Section 4.3: Multi-modal Reasoning for Physical Agents
  • Exercises:
    • Train a simple neural network to recognize objects from images.
    • Design a state machine for a simple robotic task.
  • Case Study: Integrating large language models with robotic control.

Part 3: Advanced Topics and Future Directions​

Chapter 5: Safety, Ethics, and Human-Robot Interaction​

  • Section 5.1: Safety Standards in Robotics
  • Section 5.2: Ethical Considerations for Physical AI
  • Section 5.3: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration
  • Exercises:
    • Debate the ethical implications of autonomous decision-making in robots.
    • Design a user interface for controlling a robotic arm.
  • Case Study: The role of cobots (collaborative robots) in manufacturing.