The Department of Mechanical Engineering has a strong Dynamics, Systems and Controls (DSC) group that is research active with wide expertise in Robotics including rehabilitation robotics, soft robotics, medical robotics, industrial robotics and automated manufacturing, biomedical robotics and field robotics. This Robotics minor will educate students in the DSC domain of Robotics and will be accessible to non-ME students, e.g., Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics and Physics to just name a few. Students going through this minor will be prepared to enter a diverse and globally competitive workforce with interdisciplinary knowledge that can meet next-generation challenges relating to robotics and mechatronics.
Robots today are making a considerable impact on many aspects of modern life, from industrial manufacturing to healthcare, transportation, and exploration of the deep space and sea. Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that goes beyond engineering into fields like physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry and psychology. Tomorrow, robots will be as pervasive and personal as today’s personal computers. While Mechanical Engineering has a critical contribution to the interdisciplinary field of robotics, the future Mechanical Engineer needs to be well-versed in the interdisciplinary concepts of robotics.
The contribution of Mechanical Engineering to this field can be viewed as a duality of (a) wide exposure to multiple domains at the freshman and sophomore level, and (b) focus on interdisciplinary engineering education in DSC at both junior and senior levels. In recent times, the perception of the industry, students and parents has dramatically changed as the field of robotics is starting to play a critical role in our daily lives. Surveys have shown that given the interdisciplinary nature of the field, a minor in Robotics will strengthen students' education and their job prospects post-graduation. This minor is open to all students interested in robotics and mechatronics engineering. However, some of the required courses in the minor do have a number of prerequisites.