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Course Schedule​

Lecture slides are posted here and on Piazza. All due dates are at 11:59 PM ET.

DateLectureOptional ReadingsLogisticsTopic Groups
08/27Lecture 1: Course Introduction: What is Robot Learning? [slides][Building Machines That Learn and Think Like People]🔴 Introduction
08/29Lecture 2: Robot Learning: An Overview [slides][RL Textbook, Ch 1]🔴 Introduction
09/03Lecture 3: ML/DL Refresher Part 1 [slides][DL Textbook, Ch 5-10]HW1 Out🟠 ML/DL Refresher
09/05Lecture 4: ML/DL Refresher Part 2 [slides][DL Textbook, Ch 5-10]🟠 ML/DL Refresher
09/10Lecture 5: MDP Basics and Imitation Learning Part 1 [slides][ICML Tutorial][An Invitation to Imitation]🟣 Imitation Learning
09/12Lecture 6: Imitation Learning Part 2 [slides][DAgger][GAIL][Diffusion Policy][Transporter]🟣 Imitation Learning
09/17Lecture 7: RL Basics: Value/Policy Iteration [slides][RL Textbook, Ch 3-4][Key Concepts in RL][Kinds of RL Algorithms]🟢 Model-Free RL
09/19Lecture 8: Q-Learning and Variants [slides][RL Textbook, Ch 5-7][DQN]HW1 Due; HW2 Out🟢 Model-Free RL
09/24Lecture 9: Policy Gradient Methods [slides][RL Textbook, Ch 13][Intro to Policy Gradient]🟢 Model-Free RL
09/26Lecture 10: Actor-Critic Methods [slides][RL Textbook, Ch 13]🟢 Model-Free RL
10/01Lecture 11: Advanced RL Algorithms [slides][PPO][TRPO][DDPG][SAC]🟢 Model-Free RL
10/03Lecture 12: Model-Based Control Basics [slides][Feedback Systems Textbook]HW2 Due; HW3 Out (Oct 5)🔵 Model-Based RL
10/08Lecture 13: Optimal Control and Planning Part 1 [slides][Murray's Notes][iLQR][DDP][SCP]🔵 Model-Based RL
10/10Lecture 14: Optimal Control and Planning Part 2 [slides][PETS][Neural-Control Family][MPPI][PILCO][MBPO]Project Proposal Due (Oct 11)🔵 Model-Based RL
10/15Fall Break⛱️
10/17Fall Break⛱️
10/22Lecture 15: Deep Model-Based RL[Dreamer][TD-MPC]🔵 Model-Based RL
10/24Lecture 16: Bandits and Preference-Based Learning[RL Textbook, Ch 2][Dueling Bandits]🟡 Bandits and Exploration
10/29Lecture 17: Exploration[Curiosity][RND]HW4 Out🟡 Bandits and Exploration
10/31Lecture 18: Guest Lecture: Offline RL (Aviral Kumar)[NeurIPS Tutorial][IQL][Diffuser]HW3 Due⚪ RL from Offline Data
11/05Democracy Day🗳
11/07Lecture 19: Inverse RL[Maximum Entropy IRL][LP-IRL]⚪ RL from Offline Data
11/12Lecture 20: Robot Simulation and Sim2Real[Domain Randomization][Champion-Level Drone Racing]🟤 Specialized Topics
11/14Lecture 21: Safe RL and Safe Robot Learning[Safe Robot Learning Survey][Data-Driven Safety Filters]HW4 Due🟤 Specialized Topics
11/19Lecture 22: Guest Lecture: Foundation Models in Robotics (Yonatan Bisk)[Survey][SayCan][CLIPort][RT-1][Code as Policies]🟤 Specialized Topics
11/21Lecture 23: Multi-Task/Adaptable/Transferable Robot Learning[Teacher-Student][RMA][Neural-Fly]🟤 Specialized Topics
11/26Lecture 24: Course Summary⚫ Project
11/28Thanksgiving🦃️
12/03Lecture 25: Student Project Presentations⚫ Project
12/05Lecture 26: Student Project Presentations⚫ Project
12/13Project Report Due✨