Public research sourceMITRuss Tedrake / Robotic Manipulation
MIT Robot Arms: See, Grasp, and Plan
First understand what MIT researchers are trying to learn through Russ Tedrake / Robotic Manipulation, why the question matters, how they test it, and what the result cannot prove. Use an MIT simulated robot arm to find and grasp an object, then carry it around obstacles to a target. The student then completes A robot-arm mission-design app that lets students place obstacles, compare routes, and inspect each execution stage. For a college application or interview, the student separates the source research from their feature, interface, tests, failures, and revisions. Available online or in person in Apgujeong, in one-to-one or small-group formats.
University and lab names show where each public project came from. CIT independently designed these courses; they are not official university courses, partnerships, or endorsements.
8guided sessions
6-12 hoursto the first small project
Intermediaterecommended level
Not requiredphysical robot
Primary routes
Choose the student's primary AI education and portfolio route
CIT keeps the international-school route first, followed by the separate science and gifted-school route.
CIT lessons can run online across Korea and overseas or in person in Apgujeong. The student owns the question, code, tests and explanation; classes do not guarantee admission, selection or awards, and online delivery never changes an institution's submission rules.
Can a robot use a camera to find an object, grasp it, and carry it around obstacles?
Use MIT's public robot-arm materials to learn, step by step, how a robot finds an object, grasps it, and carries it around obstacles.
Students first use a small working example to understand the researchers' question, method, and evidence. A controlled change helps identify what the student's extension must solve. The student then implements a useful feature, connects an operator interface, and tests the integrated application in normal, boundary, and failure cases.
What will the student complete?
A robot-arm mission-design app that lets students place obstacles, compare routes, and inspect each execution stage
The final package includes runnable instructions, the feature and interface design, normal and failure tests, one documented revision, and a three-minute explanation in the student's own words.
Feature
A feature that calculates two routes after the student places obstacles and a destination, then selects a collision-free route
Operator interface
A mission-design screen for placing objects, obstacles, and a destination and replaying the see-grasp-move stages
Optional LLM boundary
Optional: an LLM turns a short mission sentence into a draft using only allowed objects and destinations. Nothing runs before student approval.
Integrated result
A robot-arm mission-design app that lets students place obstacles, compare routes, and inspect each execution stage
Four ideas explained in this course
01robot and object positions
02where to grasp an object
03joint angles that reach a target
04a route around obstacles
Eight introductory sessions
Understand the research, then build and test a working robotics application
The 20 courses are eight-session CIT studios in which students understand a public university or lab project, confirm a working example, and then turn it into a small robotics application with a useful feature and an operator interface. Selected courses add an optional LLM explanation tool that can read run records but cannot control the robot. RoboMaster has 28 sessions, and implementation scope is adjusted to each student's experience and computer access.
Understand the source
01
Run the MIT simulated robot-arm example
02
Describe robot and object positions
Measure and compare
03
Read object shape and distance from a camera
04
Choose where to grasp the object
Build a feature
05
Calculate joint angles that reach the target
06
Implement the student-owned feature: A feature that calculates two routes after the student places obstacles and a destination, then selects a collision-free route
Integrate and demonstrate
07
Build the operator interface: A mission-design screen for placing objects, obstacles, and a destination and replaying the see-grasp-move stages. Add the bounded assistant: Optional: an LLM turns a short mission sentence into a draft using only allowed objects and destinations. Nothing runs before student approval.
08
Integrate, test, and demonstrate: A robot-arm mission-design app that lets students place obstacles, compare routes, and inspect each execution stage
Public project used in class
See the exact version CIT reviewed
Public projects can change over time. To keep the class example consistent, CIT uses version cdb8c90f402c of RussTedrake/manipulation. CIT checked it on 2026-08-14; it was created on 2026-05-02. Usage-rights note: BSD-3-Clause.
The student works through a pick example from MIT open course material and explains which computation decides the outcome. In class the project is separated into five boxes (input, memory, process, output, control). The lesson opens one of them, changes one value, and leaves the rest closed.
InputWhat comes in?
The station setup file and the point data a camera produces
MemoryWhat persists?
The estimated pose of the object being handled, and the list of waypoints for where the hand should go
Processopened hereWhat transforms?
Fitting point data to an object model to find its pose, and building the hand trajectory that links the waypoints
OutputWhat leaves, and who uses it?
The target poses sent to the robot, and the scene drawn in the browser
ControlWhat decides when anything runs?
The part that wires blocks and advances time. This project does not build that framework; it takes it from Drake.
The files the lesson opens, by name. The course is not a walk through the repository; it opens a chosen few and says which.
One value moves and everything else stays. The right-hand column is the prediction written before the run, not a result; the work is reconciling the two.
The universities and labs named here made the open projects this course reads. CIT designed the course independently; it is not an official, affiliated, or endorsed course.
Clear answers about what students do, what they need, and where the project came from.
Is MIT Robot Arms: See, Grasp, and Plan an official course from MIT, Russ Tedrake's Robotic Manipulation?
University and lab names show where each public project came from. CIT independently designed these courses; they are not official university courses, partnerships, or endorsements.
Is hardware required?
Not required. The course starts with a robot on the computer or a saved recording of a completed run. Computer guidance: CPU suitable.
What background should a student have?
Recommended level: Intermediate. Students should be able to follow a guided Python example, test one controlled change, and then build and explain a small feature and interface.
What will the student make?
The completed project is A robot-arm mission-design app that lets students place obstacles, compare routes, and inspect each execution stage. The student implements A feature that calculates two routes after the student places obstacles and a destination, then selects a collision-free route and A mission-design screen for placing objects, obstacles, and a destination and replaying the see-grasp-move stages. Optional: an LLM turns a short mission sentence into a draft using only allowed objects and destinations. Nothing runs before student approval.
How can the student use this project in a college application?
Explain the source research question, method, evidence, and limits first. Then separate the student's own feature and interface decisions, normal and failure tests, revisions, and next question. The source institution's name does not imply affiliation or guarantee admission.
Which project version does the course use?
CIT reviewed version cdb8c90f402c of RussTedrake/manipulation on 2026-08-14. That version was created on 2026-05-02. We keep this version during class so the example does not change unexpectedly, and we check the setup again before teaching.
Can MIT Robot Arms: See, Grasp, and Plan be taken online or in person, one-to-one or in a small group?
Yes. This course is offered online and in person at CIT in Apgujeong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with one-to-one and small-group options. Placement and current availability are confirmed after a readiness consultation.
Is this a good first project for this student?
Before placement, we check the student's coding and math experience, available computer, interests, and ability to explain what happened.
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