The main goal of the course is to bring students closer to research laboratories by engaging them in laboratory-type activities to be carried out in coordinated groups. Students will perform the above activities in research laboratories of the M.Sc. program and under the direct supervision of faculty members and researchers. The educational benefits of the course include the direct experimentation by students of the “job of the researcher” within research realities such as research laboratories, and the training on group-work targeting research projects in close contact of skilled researchers.

Dublin Descriptor 1 (knowledge and understanding): the lab sessions of the course will provide a solid background, allowing the students to understand the basis of lab research and to face suitable experimental problems.

Dublin Descriptor 2 (applying knowledge and understanding): the students will be able to apply the principles and tools acquired during M.Sc. courses covering topics such as the Internet infrastructure, communication protocols, and the Internet of Things. The students will be able to clearly see connections between theoretical concepts and experimentation.

Dublin Descriptor 5 (Lifelong learning skills): the student will acquire the ability to solve complex experimental problems on his own.

The project seeks to explore gesture-based control of the Crazyflie 2.1 nano-drone (https://www.bitcraze.io/products/crazyflie-2-1/). The goal is to design and implement a machine-learning pipeline that uses the camera feed and onboard AI capabilities to this end (https://www.bitcraze.io/products/ai-deck/). The work includes identifying a few candidate algorithms, setting up the minimal necessary infrastructure, creating a prototype implementation, and carrying out experiments to measure the control latency and overall reliability. The lab is already equipped with a nano-drone testbed using the Lighthouse system for indoor positioning (https://www.bitcraze.io/documentation/system/positioning/ligthouse-positioning-system/).

• SDG9 - INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Programming skills are required using high-level languages such as Java or Python. Expertise in low-level system languages, such as C or C++ is welcome but not strictly required.

The course has a PASS/FAIL evaluation procedure based on the student’s commitment to the proposed lab activities, his/her ability in handling the hardware/software tools used in the course, and his/her ability in carrying out group project work.