CS 639, Section 001, Spring 2026
Department of Computer Sciences
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Robots are devices that sense and act to bring about change in the physical world. This course will introduce students to the challenges of and methods for developing autonomous robots that can make decisions in unstructured environments with uncertain sensing and actuation. Topics covered will include probabilistic state estimation, robot localization, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), motion control, planning, robot learning, and human robot interaction.
Students entering the class are expected to have a background knowledge of probability, linear algebra, and calculus, and have good programming experience. The course will provide minimal review on the background knowledge and will not provide tutorials on programming.
The following rules are useful for asking questions on Piazza:
The grading for the course will be be based on (tentative, subject to change):
All homework assignments must be done individually. Cheating and plagiarism will be dealt with in accordance with university procedures (see the Academic Misconduct Guide for Students). For example, code for programming assignments must not be developed in groups, nor should code be shared. You are encouraged to discuss with your peers or the instructor ideas, approaches and techniques broadly, but not at a level of detail where specific implementation issues are described by anyone. If you have any questions on this, please ask the instructor before you act.
Late Policy: All assignments are due when specified by the instructor. Late assignments will have 10% deducted for each 24 hours past the due date. This penalty is capped at 50% after which no credit is received, with the exception of weekly reading responses. Weekly reading responses may be turned in up to the final class day with a penalty of up to 50% off. In the event of illness or emergency that prevents an on-time completion, please contact the instructor prior to the deadline.
McBurney Center students should contact the instructor to specify any special requests for the exams or homework assignments together with the supporting documentation provided by the McBurney Center. I will do my best to accommodate the requests.
The class policy is generally to allow and encourage use of AI as a tool that can help you go farther with your final projects and for additional study.
The one exception to this permissive policy is the weekly pre-class reading responses. As the pre-class reading is critical to effective class participation, use of AI to bypass the reading and response writing is not allowed. If AI use is suspected (due to the response itself or a lack of preparedness for class period), the response will receive a zero.
Otherwise, you are welcome (but not required) to use AI tools to complete programming assignments, refine writing, etc. However, all submitted content will be treated as your own, including for the purpose of determining academic dishonesty.
Please document your use of AI and include your documentation with your assignment submission. Documentation could include specific prompts used, process for iterating on prompt design, etc.