CS81 Developmental Robotics Midterm Project
CS81 Developmental Robotics
Midterm Project
Due Friday, March 7 by 3pm
Introduction
The goal of this midterm project is to adapt one of the simulations
described in the papers we read during week 5 of the class to work in
a robot domain. You will design an experiment, run the experiment,
analyze the results, and write a paper to expalin what you found. In
addition, you are expected to conduct a limited literature
review. Find and read at least two articles that are related to your
experiment. A good source of related work is the bibliography of
the original paper. You are encouraged to work in pairs on this
project.
Be ready to discuss your ideas for the project with me during next
week's class.
Format of the paper
Your paper should include the following:
- A short abstract of 200 to 300 words summarizing your findings.
- An introduction which contrasts your study with other related
work.
- A detailed description of your experiments. There should be
enough information so that someone could redo your experiments.
- An explanation of the results. Use figures and tables where
appropriate. Also you are encouraged to use cluster analyses or
Hinton diagrams to help visualize your results.
- A discussion of the significance of the results.
- A bibliography.
Your grade will not be based on whether or not your experiment
succeeds. Negative results are as important as positive results.
Your grade will be based solely on the thoroughness and readability of
the paper. Do not turn in any programs. Bring your completed paper
to my office.
Citing related work
The purpose of writing a research paper is to communicate your
discoveries to others. It is important to explicitly acknowledge how
your work relates to other work. This can be done either with a
direct quotation from another source or by summarizing the key points
from another source. You should avoid paraphrasing another
source as this can border on plagarism. When summarizing another
source, explain the essential information in your own words.
When using the exact language from another source, you must use
quotation marks. Or if you are using a passage that is more than four
lines long, indent and single space the passage without quotation
marks. For a direct quoation, provide a reference with a page number.
When summarizing another source, you should also provide a reference,
but a page number is not necessary.