In our 6 week Robotics Capstone, we will give you a chance to implement a solution for a real world problem based on the content you learnt from the courses in your robotics specialization. It will also give you a chance to use mathematical and programming methods that researchers use in robotics labs. You will choose from two tracks - In the simulation track, you will use Matlab to simulate a mobile inverted pendulum or MIP. The material required for this capstone track is based on courses in mobility, aerial robotics, and estimation. In the hardware track you will need to purchase and assemble a rover kit, a raspberry pi, a pi camera, and IMU to allow your rover to navigate autonomously through your own environment Hands-on programming experience will demonstrate that you have acquired the foundations of robot movement, planning, and perception, and that you are able to translate them to a variety of practical applications in real world problems. Completion of the capstone will better prepare you to enter the field of Robotics as well as an expansive and growing number of other career paths where robots are changing the landscape of nearly every industry. Please refer to the syllabus below for a week by week breakdown of each track. Week 1 Introduction MIP Track: Using MATLAB for Dynamic Simulations AR Track: Dijkstra's and Purchasing the Kit Quiz: A1.2 Integrating an ODE with MATLAB Programming Assignment: B1.3 Dijkstra's Algorithm in Python Week 2 MIP Track: PD Control for Second-Order Systems AR Track: Assembling the Rover Quiz: A2.2 PD Tracking Quiz: B2.10 Demonstrating your Completed Rover Week 3 MIP Track: Using an EKF to get scalar orientation from an IMU AR Track: Calibration Quiz: A3.2 EKF for Scalar Attitude Estimation Quiz: B3.8 Calibration Week 4 MIP Track: Modeling a Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MIP) AR Track: Designing a Controller for the Rover Quiz: A4.2 Dynamical simulation of a MIP Peer Graded Assignment: B4.2 Programming a Tag Following Algorithm Week 5 MIP Track: Local linearization of a MIP and linearized control AR Track: An Extended Kalman Filter for State Estimation Quiz: A5.2 Balancing Control of a MIP Peer Graded Assignment: B5.2 An Extended Kalman Filter for State Estimation Week 6 MIP Track: Feedback motion planning for the MIP AR Track: Integration Quiz: A6.2 Noise-Robust Control and Planning for the MIP Peer Graded Assignment: B6.2 Completing your Autonomous Rover

This is a two week course. In the first week you will learn about the core activities that the Industry executes to bring electricity to customers. We will review what electricity is, how it is generated, how it is transmitted, how it comes into buildings, and how consumption of electricity instantly feeds back on the transmission and generation of electricity. You will learn to: Define what electricity is; Describe how electricity is generated, transmitted and distributed; Describe how electricity is generated, transmitted and distributed; and Summarize how the consumption of electric energy instantly feeds back on the transmission and generation of electricity. In the second week, the course shifts to the markets that drive Electric Industry operations. You will learn about the various costs of the electric industry’s core activities, how electricity is priced, the various ways that electric markets are structured, how these market structures determine which power plants are dispatched to produce electricity when, and how recent changes in generator fuel prices, generation technology, market regulations, and environmental regulations are transforming both Electric Industry Markets and Operations. You will learn to: Describe the main cost components to the electric system; Compare the costs of different types of power plants; Interpret the retail pricing of electricity; Explain the different types of electric markets and understand how they operate to dispatch electric supply to meet demand in real time; and Explain why and how the electric industry is regulated.

Thomas Berry (1914-2009) was a historian of world religions and an early voice awakening moral sensibilities to the environmental crisis. He is known for articulating a “new story” of the universe that explores the implications of the evolutionary sciences and cultural traditions for creating a flourishing future. This course investigates Berry’s life and thought in relation to the Journey of the Universe project. It draws on his books, articles, and recorded lectures to examine such ideas as: the New Story, the Great Work, and the emerging Ecozoic era. The course explores Berry’s insights into cosmology as a context for locating the human in a dynamic unfolding universe and thus participating in the creative work of our times. In particular, we will examine Berry’s reflections on renewal and reform in the areas of ecology, economics, education, spirituality, and the arts. Course Rationale: Thomas Berry was an original, creative, and comprehensive thinker, especially regarding the critical nature of our global environmental crisis. His intellectual importance resides in his response to the ecological crisis by bringing together the humanities and science in an evolutionary narrative. In addition, he articulated the need for the moral participation of the world religions in addressing environmental issues. He came to this realization largely through his study of cosmologies embedded within religious traditions. Sensing the significance of these stories as “functional cosmologies” he explored the widespread influence that these stories transmitted through a tradition, for example, in rituals, ethics, and subsistence practices.

In this course, we will explore the electrical properties of materials and classify different materials as conductors, semiconductors or insulators. We will look at some examples of conductors, semiconductors and insulators, and note the key factors that cause the differences in their electrical properties. We will use rudimentary band theory to show how temperature impacts the conductivity of the three classifications of materials. We will learn what causes the differences in electrical behavior of a p-type versus an n-type semiconductor in a p-n diode.

How can we work with nature to design and build our cities? This course explores urban nature and nature-based solutions in cities in Europe and around the world. We connect together the key themes of cities, nature, sustainability and innovation. We discuss how to assess what nature-based solutions can achieve in cities. We examine how innovation is taking place in cities in relation to nature. And we analyse the potential of nature-based solutions to help respond to climate change and sustainability challenges. This course was launched in January 2020, and it was updated in September 2021 with new podcasts, films and publications. The course is produced by Lund University in cooperation with partners from Naturvation – a collaborative project on finding synergies between cities, nature, sustainability and innovation. The course features researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurs from a range organisations.

In this course we will seek to “understand Einstein,” especially focusing on the special theory of relativity that Albert Einstein, as a twenty-six year old patent clerk, introduced in his “miracle year” of 1905. Our goal will be to go behind the myth-making and beyond the popularized presentations of relativity in order to gain a deeper understanding of both Einstein the person and the concepts, predictions, and strange paradoxes of his theory. Some of the questions we will address include: How did Einstein come up with his ideas? What was the nature of his genius? What is the meaning of relativity? What’s “special” about the special theory of relativity? Why did the theory initially seem to be dead on arrival? What does it mean to say that time is the “fourth dimension”? Can time actually run more slowly for one person than another, and the size of things change depending on their velocity? Is time travel possible, and if so, how? Why can’t things travel faster than the speed of light? Is it possible to travel to the center of the galaxy and return in one lifetime? Is there any evidence that definitively confirms the theory, or is it mainly speculation? Why didn’t Einstein win the Nobel Prize for the theory of relativity? About the instructor: Dr. Larry Lagerstrom is the Director of Academic Programs at Stanford University’s Center for Professional Development, which offers graduate certificates in subjects such as artificial intelligence, cyber security, data mining, nanotechnology, innovation, and management science. He holds degrees in physics, mathematics, and the history of science, has published a book and a TED Ed video on "Young Einstein: From the Doxerl Affair to the Miracle Year," and has had over 30,000 students worldwide enroll in his online course on the special theory of relativity (this course!).

This course focuses on the physics of the atmosphere and its consequences on speed and altitude measurements. At the end of this course, you will understand precisely the meaning of the speed and altitude indication available to the pilot of an airplane. You will understand the difference between standard and actual atmosphere and be able to perform basic altitude and speed correction computations. You will understand why jet airliners need to be pressurized, or why a clogged Pitot tube can mislead a pilot. Although some math equations are used from time to time to justify certain results. This course insists on curve shapes, figures, tables, and you can efficiently follow it while skipping the equation-solving parts if you do not fancy them. This course is a part of the specialization "Fundamentals of Flight mechanics".

The oil and gas industry has an enormous impact on all aspects of daily life. Individuals, corporations, and national governments make financial and policy decisions based on the cost, use, and availability of these two natural resources. This two-week course looks at the two most fundamental aspects of the oil and gas industry, its operations and markets, each of which is addressed as a separate module in the course. In the operations module, the course provides an overview of the production of oil and gas, from initial exploration to final transport. The second module focuses on the forces that drive the industry's operations, the oil and gas markets, including the cost of wells, seasonal impacts on prices, and the role of oil reserves. After every lesson, learners will take short quizzes to test their newly acquired knowledge, participant in crowd-sourced discussions about global markets, and complete a final project.

During the four coming weeks, best experts in bitumen will bring you their knowledge and experience to build a strong understanding of today’s realities and new perspectives on the future of bitumen. Total is the European leader on bitumen markets. Innovation has always been the key to sustainability and durability in the products they develop. Their main objective here is to share technical knowledge and experience to insure bitumen are being used in the most effective and efficient ways for their different applications in road works. Ecole des Ponts, France oldest engineering school, remains very much in the present, as it has always been, in training engineers in order to meet the needs of our society and citizens in key areas such as transport housing and urban services, but also in fields like energy, environment, climate sciences, land-use planning and sustainable development. Nineteen world recognized experts on bitumen are contributing to this MOOC. The idea is to provide the broadest prism on this topic area with speakers coming from research, industry and end users.

We currently face unprecedented challenges on a global scale. These problems do not neatly fall into disciplines. They are complicated, complex, and connected. Join us on this epic journey of 13.8 billion years starting at the Big Bang and travelling through time all the way to the future. Discover the connections in our world, the power of collective learning, how our universe and our world has evolved from incredible simplicity to ever-increasing complexity. Experience our modern scientific origin story through Big History and discover the important links between past, current, and future events. You will find two different types of lectures. ‘Zooming In’ lectures from multiple specialists enable you to understand key concepts through the lens of different disciplines, whilst David Christian's ‘Big History Framework’ lectures provide the connective overview for a journey through eight thresholds of Big History.