Modern Robotics, Course 4: Robot Motion Planning and Control

This course connects choosing a feasible path with making a robot follow it. Planning lessons cover configuration-space obstacles and search methods, while control lessons address motion and force. The distinction is useful: a geometrically clear route still needs a controller that can track it.

What you will learn

• Represent obstacles in a planning problem.
• Compare search and sampling approaches.
• Explain feedback in motion and force control.

Who this suits

Intermediate learners prepared for mathematical modeling and programming. The series uses Python, MATLAB or Mathematica; later courses build on earlier Modern Robotics material.

Before you enroll

The mathematical and programming demands vary sharply across robotics courses. Preview the exercises and software setup before enrolling. Use simulations for independent practice; course completion alone does not prepare someone to operate an industrial robot safely.

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Put it into practice

Plan a route through a simulated obstacle field, then compare the intended path with the path produced by a simple feedback controller.

Source and review

This overview is based on the provider's published information, checked on 12 October 2026. It is an editorial assessment, not a claim that we completed the resource. Time filters are approximate study ranges; projects and exercises can take longer.

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