# Robotics Systems

> Sensing, localization, mapping, planning, control, simulation, safety, real-time loops, and hardware interfaces.

Canonical: https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/concepts/robotics-systems

Sensing, localization, mapping, planning, control, simulation, safety, real-time loops, and hardware interfaces.

- Difficulty: core
- Tracks: Multimodal & Spatial Computing

## Mental model

A robot closes the loop from sensing to state estimation to planning to control. Timing, uncertainty, physical safety, and simulation-to-real gaps dominate.



## Primary sources

- [Robotic Manipulation — Russ Tedrake (MIT 6.4210)](https://manipulation.mit.edu/) (doc)
- [Stanford Engineering Everywhere CS223A — Introduction to Robotics](https://see.stanford.edu/Course/CS223A) (video)
- [Past, Present, and Future of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping](https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.05830) (paper)
- [Underactuated Robotics — Russ Tedrake (MIT 6.832)](https://underactuated.mit.edu/) (doc)
- [ROS 2 Documentation](https://docs.ros.org/en/rolling/) (doc)

## Practice

### Design exercise: Robotics Systems

Sensing, localization, mapping, planning, control, simulation, safety, real-time loops, and hardware interfaces. Implement designOutline() returning non-empty values for: perception, planningControl, safety. Each value must name a concrete mechanism or decision.

**Expected evidence:** A design outline with perception, planningControl, safety plus an explicit failure mode or trade-off.

## Review prompts

- What is the sim-to-real gap, and what is the standard way of closing it?

## Build evidence

- **Synthesize: Multimodal & Spatial Computing** — Connect vision, audio, generation, on-device intelligence, robotics, spatial interfaces, and HCI. Produce one working system, benchmark, or evidence-backed design that integrates the path.

## Prerequisites

- [Pose & Motion Tracking](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/concepts/pose-motion-tracking)

## Related concepts

- [Local & On-device Inference](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/concepts/local-on-device-inference)
- [Spatial Interfaces](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/concepts/spatial-interfaces)

## Learning paths

- [12-Week Multimodal & Spatial Computing](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/roadmaps/multimodal-spatial-12w)