Mission Statement – ROB

Mission

Michigan Robotics continually strives to realize a collaborative and inclusive community of scholars that uplifts the discipline of robotics through advancing and teaching its organizing principles of embodied intelligence – the idea that robots must sense, reason, act, and work with people to improve quality of life and productivity equitably across society.

Goals

The department aims to foster technical aptitude in robotics hardware, robotics software, and how robots relate to people, their environment, and their greater impact, all while growing skills in collaboration and communication that are necessary for students to become successful roboticists in industry, academe, and society. Roboticists from Michigan will become leaders in technical expertise and integrity in a field with transformational potential for societal change.

Objectives

Michigan Robotics will graduate students who are highly competent in the following areas:

  • Foundational Learning Objectives:
    • Computational fluency to express ideas through coding –“coding is believing”
    • Design, Maker, and Shop competency for realizing systems that can function in the physical world
    • Linear algebra to structure, process, and manipulate data at scale
    • Human and social dynamics to work in teams and develop solutions for people
    • Technical communication and project management to understand and meet the needs of stakeholders in a professional and conscientious manner
  • Intermediate Robotics Concepts: Sound understanding in at least 3 of the following core areas of robotics:
    • Localization and mapping for autonomous navigation under uncertainty
    • Reasoning, kinematics, and simulation for robots performing autonomous mobility and dexterous manipulation tasks
    • Mechanical design and dynamics for fabrication and sensorimotor control of physical robot systems
    • Electrical sensors and signals for design of robot circuitry and embedded systems
    • Human-robot interaction for measuring and quantifying robot efficacy
  • Advances and applications in Robotics:
    • Explore and extend cutting-edge knowledge across the sensing, reasoning, acting, and human-centered dimensions of robotics.

Outcomes

The following objectives describe what Robotics graduates are expected to achieve within several years of graduation:

  • The graduates of Michigan Robotics will have the necessary intellectual tools and technical skills to take on careers of leadership in the development of new robotics technologies spanning the breadth of sensing, reasoning, acting, and working with people
  • Graduates will have a solid foundation in robotics and achieve success in graduate education and a broad range of career opportunities
  • Our graduates will become dynamic and inclusive team leaders, respectful collaborators, and have the critical thinking skills to successfully innovate and address open-ended problems
  • Michigan Robotics graduates will become effective communicators of technical and professional information in written, oral, visual, and graphical form
  • Our graduates will distinguish themselves by both their high awareness and positive practice of moral, ethical, legal, and professional obligations, including how robotics integrates with all aspects of society

Enrollment and Graduation Data

The University Registrar publishes the number of students enrolled annually in this program, and the number of degrees granted each term by this program.