Spring 2027

Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control of Robotic Manipulators

ECE/ME 441 covers robotics analysis and design for serial chain manipulators, including forward/inverse/differential kinematics, dynamics, trajectory generation, and controls.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mike Zinn

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2016: 2.43 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.93 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 92.6% A/AB (n=27 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Analyze and design serial chain robotic manipulator kinematics

  • Simulate the dynamic motion of serial chain robotic manipulators

  • Form the equations of motion for robotic manipulators

  • Use feedback control for tracking and regulation of robotic manipulators for position, force, and hybrid control

  • Use trajectory generation methods to design robotic manipulator motion and force trajectories

  • Analyze the kinematics and controls of more complex serial chain manipulators

  • Design the kinematics of serial chain manipulators using kinematic and dynamics analysis methods

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

M E 340 and (MATH 320, 340, 341, or 375), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students. Not open to students with credit for E C E 739 prior to fall 2024.

  • take all
ECE/ME 441

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 500
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 580

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2016: 2.43 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.93 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 92.6% A/AB (n=27 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Forward and inverse kinematics, differential kinematics, dynamics, trajectory generation, and controls for serial chain manipulators

Skills

  • Analyzing and designing serial chain robotic manipulator kinematics and forming equations of motion
  • Applying feedback control and trajectory generation methods for robotic manipulator motion and force
  • Simulating the dynamic motion of serial chain robotic manipulators

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ECE/ME 441 · Spring 2027

Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control of Robotic Manipulators

Recorded 2026-10-14
ECE/ME 441 · Spring 2027

Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control of Robotic Manipulators

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
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