CS223A - Introduction to Robotics

  • Free
  • No certificate
Provider
Stanford
Cost
Free
Certificate
No certificate
Format
Self-paced
Language
English
Subjects
Computer Science, Mathematics
Source
Stanford Online
Last verified
14 Sep 2026

Introduction to Robotics is Oussama Khatib's graduate course CS223A, released on Stanford Engineering Everywhere. Its purpose is to introduce the basics of modelling, designing, planning and controlling robot systems, which in practice means a survey of relevant results from geometry, kinematics, statics, dynamics and control. The course page lists its topics as robotics foundations in kinematics, dynamics, control, motion planning, trajectory generation, programming and design, and states that the only prerequisite is matrix algebra.

On campus it was taught through lectures, readings and problem sets with open-book midterm and final exams, and the lectures follow the sequence of the course's own lecture-notes book. SEE publishes 16 lecture videos with transcripts, along with the handouts and assignments. Like every SEE course it is free, needs no registration and is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; there is no credit or certificate, no graded feedback, and the material is no longer updated.

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What you’ll learn

  • Describe robot manipulators with kinematic models
  • Derive manipulator dynamics and use them for control
  • Explain motion planning and trajectory generation for robot systems
  • Apply basic force control and understand where advanced topics begin

Who it’s for

Engineers and students with matrix algebra who want the mathematical foundations of robot manipulators rather than a hands-on build course.

Source: Stanford Online (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change

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