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We build on recent work on Unscented Dynamic Programming (UDP) - which eliminates dynamics derivative computations in DDP - to support general nonlinear state and input constraints using an augmented Lagrangian. The resulting algorithm has the same computational cost as first-order penalty-based DDP variants, but can achieve constraint satisfaction to high precision without the numerical ill-conditioning associated with penalty methods.

We describe the pedagogy behind the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute Robotics Program, a new high-school STEM program in robotics. The program utilizes state-of-the-art sensors and embedded computers for mobile robotics. The program was offered as a four-week residential program at MIT in the summer of 2016.