Trustworthy Autonomy

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General Course Information

Instructor

Dr. Bineet Ghosh

Course Description

Last decade has a significant growth in deployment of autonomous systems in several places, such as, driving, factory floors, surgeries, wearables, and home assistants, etc. As a result of such diverse areas of its deployment, autonomous systems are required to operate in a wide range of environments with uncertainties (viz., sensor errors, timing errors, dynamic nature of the environment, etc). Such environmental uncertainties, even when present in small amounts, can have drastic impact on the safety of the system. In this course, we shall discuss formal techniques that are able to verify and design safe autonomous systems, even in the presence of such uncertainties, allowing for their trustworthy deployment in the real world.

Design and Verification of Autonomous Systems lies at the intersection of Formal Methods, Real-Time and Embedded Systems, and Control Theory, with practical applications in diverse domains such as Robotics, Automotive, Industrial and Home Automation Systems. Importantly, prior knowledge of Formal Methods, Real-Time and Embedded Systems, or Control Theory is NOT a prerequisite for this course, as we will cover the fundamental concepts during the class. The main objective of this course is to equip the students with the knowledge of techniques that guarantee performance and safety of autonomous systems, instilling trust in their deployment, especially in critical safety-critical situations.

Prerequisites

  1. Algorithms (CS 201/470)

  2. Theory of Computation (CS 475)

  3. Mathematical Maturity

  4. Coding in Python (Or, strong background in other languages and willing to learn Python)

Speak to instructor, if unsure.

Textbooks

NO textbooks are required, but following textbooks can be very beneficial.

Course Objectives

  1. Introduction to Formal Methods:

    • Understand the fundamental concepts and principles of formal methods.

    • Gain insights into the techniques used for verifying the safety and correctness of programs and autonomous systems.

    • Explore the theoretical foundations of formal methods and their practical applications.

  2. Autonomous Systems:

    • Understand the concept of autonomous systems.

    • Learn to model autonomous systems for formal analysis.

    • Learn about different types of models and their inherent properties.

  3. Design and Verification of Safe Autonomous Systems:

    • Apply the formal methods introduced in the first part of the course to design and verify autonomous systems.

    • Explore real-world applications of safe autonomous systems, with a focus on automotive and robotics.

    • Review research papers related to formal methods in autonomous systems.

    • Engage in a course project that involves the design, verification, and practical implementation of safe autonomous systems, using knowledge from the course.

Student Learning Outcomes

Outline of Topics

Grading

Student’s growth. Identifies the effort being made by a student to understand the concepts being taught, despite their prior backgrounds. In other words, this can be used identify the efforts being put in by a student even if it is not being reflected in their scores. Discussing with instructor (especially during office hours) is a good way to demonstrate that.

Late work policy

Final project

Typical Class Activity

The class activities are designed to promote active learning, critical thinking, and a understanding of the challenges in the design and verification of autonomous systems.

Attendance and Participation

Disclaimer Notification of Changes

The instructor will make every effort to follow the guidelines of this syllabus as listed; however, the instructor reserves the right to amend this document as the need arises (including project due dates and test dates). In such instances, the instructor will notify students in class and/or via email and will endeavor to provide reasonable time for students to adjust to any changes.

Standard Course Policies

Please refer to the university's standard course policies (Honor code, misconduct, behavior etc.) for details.

Schedule