Course Description

This course provides an integrated introduction to electrical engineering and computer science, taught using substantial laboratory experiments with mobile robots. Our primary goal is for you to learn to appreciate and use the fundamental design principles of modularity and abstraction in a variety of contexts from …

This course provides an integrated introduction to electrical engineering and computer science, taught using substantial laboratory experiments with mobile robots. Our primary goal is for you to learn to appreciate and use the fundamental design principles of modularity and abstraction in a variety of contexts from electrical engineering and computer science.

Our second goal is to show you that making mathematical models of real systems can help in the design and analysis of those systems. Finally, we have the more typical goals of teaching exciting and important basic material from electrical engineering and computer science, including modern software engineering, linear systems analysis, electronic circuits, and decision-making.

Course Format

This course has been designed for independent study. It includes all of the materials you will need to understand the concepts covered in this subject. The materials in this course include:

  • Lecture videos from Spring 2011, taught by Prof. Dennis Freeman
  • Recitation videos, developed for OCW Scholar by teaching assistant Kendra Pugh
  • Course notes
  • Software and design labs
  • Homework assignments and additional exercises
  • Nano-quizzes and exams with solutions

Content Development

Leslie Kaelbling 
Jacob White 
Harold Abelson 
Dennis Freeman

Tomás Lozano-Pérez 
Isaac Chuang

Learning Resource Types
Lecture Videos
Recitation Videos
Problem Sets
Exams with Solutions
Lecture Notes
Instructor Insights
Programming Assignments
Exams
Three images, one of the completed robot with light-tracking head, and close-ups of the breadboard and Lego head.
In the Circuits unit, students build a robot head that tracks the light. (Photographs by the course instructors.)