Midterm Information
The midterm will be held online on Tuesday, April 6. It will cover material from Lectures 1 to 10 (that is, from all lectures up to the date of the midterm), with more emphasis on material that has been covered in problem sets. This includes (though this is not an exhaustive list):
- The definition of fully-actuated and underactuated systems.
- Linear systems and their stability and controllability.
- Reasoning about nonlinear dynamics of "classical" underactuated systems, including the simple pendulum, the acrobot, the cart-pole, the quadrotor, etc.
- The manipulator equations (as a useful and succint way of writing nonlinear rigid body dynamics).
- Linearization, optimal control (including LQR), PFL, and energy shaping.
- Optimization: LP, QP, SDP (and how they're distinct and special with respect to more general nonlinear programs).
- Lyapunov functions for proving global stability (and LaSalle's Theorem).
- Lyapunov analysis for linear systems as an SDP.
- Lyapunov analysis with SOS for polynomial systems.
- Estimating region of attraction with Lyapunov invariant sets and the S-procedure.
- How to formulate trajectory optimization problems, e.g. how to write constraints, what would be the decision variables, and whether the resulting optimization is convex.
Format and Allowed Resources
The midterm will be written (pencil-and-paper) -- see midterms from previous years, below. The test this year will be open notes, and you are allowed to use the internet.
Additional Study Material