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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The program aims to prepare graduates for a wide range of careers and to supply the society with highly skilled, scientifically trained professionals in the field of Autonomous Robotic Systems, who can contribute to 鈥榩owering and driving鈥� the UAE鈥檚 knowledge-based economy.
The program is designed to equip graduates with advanced expertise in Autonomous Robotic Systems, ensuring they are well-prepared to contribute to the development of a knowledge-based economy in the UAE through their specialized skill sets and scientific training.
The program has been carefully designed to equip students with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary skill set, empowering them to address complex challenges within the fields of robotics and autonomous systems. By integrating rigorous theoretical foundations with practical applications, participants will gain valuable expertise through hands-on projects and innovative research that seamlessly connects academic theory with industry practice.
Graduates can pursue careers in various fields, including:
Applicants for the MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems must satisfy Khalifa University鈥檚 general posgraduate admission requirements as well as program specific requirements. Click here to view the general requirements
Students who are short-listed for admission receive an invitation for admission interview. The invitation letter provides information about the scope of the interview and the areas that the interview committee will be assessing.
The program is delivered as a full-time program, with classes scheduled during the normal working day. There are no part-time, distance education, or web-based delivery modes. The minimum period of study will be two years from the date of first registration as a degree student. Study is considered to commence from first enrollment in degree courses as a fully admitted (matriculated) student.
The courses have a weighting of three credit hours. Normally, 1 credit hour of lecture represents 50 minutes of contact time per week over a 15- week semester. Typically, students are expected to dedicate 2 to 3 hours of independent study time for each hour of lectures. For laboratory activities, 1 credit hour represents 150 minutes of laboratory contact time per week.
The M.Sc. in Robotics and Autonomous Systems program will produce graduates that will be able to:
Upon successful completion of the MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems program, the graduate will possess the following abilities:
Khalifa University has facilities and fully-equipped laboratories to support its Robotics and AI program.
The Robotics Teaching Labs, with state-of-the-art robotics platforms, dedicated for students includes:
Each of the Labs with approximately 100m2 in area will also have motion tracking systems. They are equipped with various robot hardware platforms (UGV, UAV, Marine Vehicles, Manipulators), robot sensors (cameras, Lidar etc), PCs, microcontrollers, and robot software.
These Labs are complemented by the following existing Khalifa University Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KUCARS) research labs including:
The BSc Robotics and AI students will also have access to the Labs in the Communication and IT, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Departments at Khalifa University, including:
Khalifa University has state-of-the-art robotics research labs covering approximately 1000m2. These Labs have a variety of state-of-the-art robotics platforms that will be available for use by BSc in Robotics and AI students. KU dedicated Robotics Labs include the following:
Autonomous Car Lab 鈥� The lab is located at the University鈥檚 Sas Al Nakhl (SAN) campus., Figure 1. This facility has approximately 2 Kms of road network (illustrated in Figure 1), and has an autonomous EasyMile GEN 2 vehicle and two further Autonomous Vehicles. The project is being developed in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipality and Transport (DMT) for end user case studies and Etisalat by e& for providing the 5G telecommunications network. The autonomous vehicle operates in a rich mixed mode (other traffic and pedestrians) road network. Khalifa University also has two driving simulators and two further autonomous vehicle development platforms. It also has several other Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) platforms including a Seekur UGV with a manipulator, a Husky UGV with a manipulator, Pioneer UGVs, and a Jackal UGV and a dedicated Computer Vision Lab engaged in autonomous driving research projects.
Figure 1 鈥� KU Autonomous Car Lab
Marine Robotics Lab 鈥� The Marine Robotics Pool, of dimensions 17mx10mx4.5m (illustrated in Figure 2), which includes wave and stream generating facilities equipped with an underwater tracking system. This robotics infrastructure is a world class facility including several unmanned underwater vehicles, including a Seabotix LBV under water ROV.
Figure 2 KU Marine Robotics Pool
Aerial Robotics Lab 鈥� Khalifa University has both outdoor and indoor labs for small UAV flight testing, with safety netting, as shown in Figure 3. The indoor Labs have two Optitrack Tracking Systems with 12 Prime cameras, VisualEyez II Motion tracking system and a Leica Absolute Indoor Tracking System (with absolute Interferometer, range 60m, and probing Range 20m with 0.001mm resolution). The Aerial Robotics Labs are equipped with a number of small UAV platforms (Steadidrone Vader, DJI Matrice , Astec Pelican , DJI 550, DJI 450), as well as larger UAVs including DJI Agras and fixed wing platforms.
Figure 3 KU Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Lab
The UGV Robotics Lab as seen in Figure, 4, is equipped with Seekur and Husky UGVs, several UAVs and sensing equipment including non-contact metal magnetic memory systems.
Figure 4 KU UGV Robotics Lab
The Grasping and Manipulation Lab and the Advanced Research and Innovation Center (ARIC) have a number of robot hands and manipulators including a KUKA manipulator (7DOF KR60-HA Robot, 60kg payload and equipped with a rail), a Mitsubishi manipulator (5DOF Robot Arm with 6kg payload), and a Baxter two arm Manipulator (2.2 KG Payload,7 DOF per arm). They are also equipped with a selective laser sintering machine, BigRep One 3D printer with a 1 cubic meter build area, and carbon fiber manufacturing and inspection capabilities.
Khalifa University鈥檚 computing teaching labs include file servers for high data accessibility throughout the campus. A Computing Lab with 24 multicore computers is equipped with state-of-the-art data analysis frameworks such as Anaconda, Big Data Technologies such as a Hadoop Cluster, NoSQL, extensive Python ecosystem, Fault tolerant fileservers (KU Drive), network + bandwidth, R Studio, Matlab, and other programming development platforms.
ROBO 601 Robot Dynamics and Control
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 303, ROBO 306, or equivalent
This course will teach fundamentals of kinematics, dynamics and control of robotic systems, mostly focusing on 听serial robotic manipulators and mobile robot platforms. The students will learn to derive the equations of motion of robot systems, including kinematics and dynamics of serial link manipulators and mobile robot platforms. They will learn transformation from task space to joint space, for joint space control. They will learn both theoretical and practical aspects of designing robot controllers using classical and state鈥恠pace methods. We will study robots operating in free space and in contact with the environment.
ROBO 602 Robot Perception
(2 Lectures鈥恠essions, 1 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 401, ROBO 306, or equivalent
In this course we will study the problem of how robots perceive the world to accomplish navigation and manipulation tasks. You will learn to critically evaluate the sensing requirements of real鈥恮orld robot application, and to specify the required sensor characteristics to meet design specifications. You will learn about typical robot sensors, in particular cameras and LIDAR sensors, including specifications and models. You will learn how to acquire, process and analyze sensor signals from robot platforms. You will study algorithms to find, locate, track and classify robot scene objects, from camera images and LIDAR point clouds. You will learn about using neural networks to detect and classify objects.
ROBO 603 Autonomous Robot Navigation
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Pre requisites:ROBO 302, ROBO 307, or equivalent
This course will teach you some of the common algorithms for autonomous robot motion planning and localization, to enable a robot to decide what to do to achieve its goals. You study how robots use information from the external world to plan navigation actions. You will learn and implement search algorithms to plan optimum safe paths subject to constraints. You will learn and implement filters to localize moving robots subject to noise. You will also learn and implement a SLAM algorithm for a mobile robot moving in 2D.
ROBO 604 Robotic Systems
(2 Lectures鈥恠essions, 1 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601, ROBO 602, or equivalent
This is a practical learn by doing course where the students will design, construct and test their own Robotic system (e.g. UAV or UGV or mobile manipulator or manipulator), to achieve task specifications, with robustness and cost鈥恊ffectiveness, in the presence of uncertainty. The students will work in small teams and will be supervised by a team of faculty. This course is a comprehensive hands鈥恛n introduction to the hardware and algorithms needed to make a robot function reliably and effectively. The key topics of this course include the design, construction and implementation, system integration, testing, evaluation and validation of the overall systems and sub鈥恠ystems including: platform hardware, actuator system, sensing system, control system, navigation system and operator interface. The main focus of the course will be about applying autonomy to real鈥恮orld systems, to cope with uncertainties present when robot systems operate in the field (external forces, unknown parameters, sensor noise, mechanical errors etc).
ROBO 699: Master鈥檚 Thesis
(8 Credits)
Prerequisites: ENGR 695 Seminar in Research Methods
In the Master鈥檚 Thesis, the student is required to independently conduct original research-oriented work related to significant problems in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (R&AS) under the direct supervision of a main advisor, who must be a full-time faculty in any engineering department, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as co-advisor. The outcome of the research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others and lead to publications in suitable reputable journals/conferences. The student鈥檚 research findings must be documented in a formal thesis and defended through a viva voce examination.
ROBO 650 Industry 4.0 Robotics
(2 Lectures鈥恠essions, 1 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 202, or equivalent
In this course you will learn about industrial robots, and how they are transforming industry and is at the forefront of the ongoing fourth industrial revolution. You will learn how industrial robots operate, their history, societal impact and current trends. You will study about industrial robot hardware and software sub鈥� systems that provide autonomous functionalities. These include the perception, planning, control and human鈥恟obot interface sub鈥恠ystems. You will study the new generation of collaborative robots that work with humans without physical barriers. You will also learn to implement what you study into practice.
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ROBO 651 Medical Robots
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601, ROBO 500
This course will teach the use of robots in medical applications, particularly focusing on surgery and radiology. Other healthcare applications including assistive and rehabilitation robotics will be covered. applications. The course will teach robot fundamentals for the design and control of medical robot systems.
ROBO 652 Space Robotics
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601, ROBO 602
In this course you will learn about space robotics including history, missions, technologies, impact and current trends. You will study the technologies required by space rovers and various space robotics missions, including exploration, sample collection, satellite servicing, refueling, logistics, assembly and orbital debris removal. You will study the unique challenges faced by space robots, including long distances and communication time delays, extreme space environments, and the need to minimize energy usage. The course will then outline strategies to mitigate these challenges. Topics covered include robotic fundamentals with special focus on space applications, including mobility, navigation, terrain mapping, terrain interactions, localization, path planning, teleoperation with time delays and human鈥恟obot interfaces. You will also learn to implement what you study into practice.
ROBO 653 Self-Driving Cars
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601, ROBO 602
In this course you will learn how self鈥恉riving cars work. You will understand the commonly used software and hardware systems in self鈥恉riving vehicles. You will learn the techniques that enable the vehicle autonomous capabilities, including algorithms for control, scene understanding, path planning, reasoning and localization. You will apply what you learn to study self鈥恉riving cars using computer simulations and hardware experiments.
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ROBO 654 Autonomous Aerial Robotic Systems
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601, ROBO 602
In this course you will learn about how aerial robots fly and operate. You will learn about the various aerial robot hardware and software sub鈥恠ystems that provide autonomous functionalities. These include the sensors (e.g. inertial sensors, positioning system, vision etc.), perception, state estimation, path planning, and control (auto鈥恜ilots) sub鈥恠ystems. You will also learn to implement what you study into practice. The course will also introduce the history, societal impact and current trends in aerial robotics.
ROBO 655 Marine Robots
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 601
In this course you will learn about how marine robots swim and operate. The course will also introduce the history, societal impact and current trends in marine robotics. You will study about marine robot hardware and software sub鈥恠ystems that provide autonomous functionalities. You will learn about the various marine robot hardware and software sub鈥恠ystems that provide autonomous functionalities. These include the sensors, communications, perception, state estimation, path planning, control (auto鈥恜ilots) and human鈥恟obot interface sub鈥恠ystems. You will also learn to implement what you study into practice.
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ROBO 656 Legged Robots
(2 Lectures, 3 Laboratory 鈥� 3 Credits)
Prerequisites: ROBO 600, ROBO 601, ROBO 602, ROBO 603
This course will introduce the principles of legged locomotion, as they apply to robots and animals and control of legged robots. The course will cover modeling and dynamics of legged robots, trajectory planning for designing walking and running gaits, and common control strategies to achieve the planned motions. Projects will involve students applying knowledge on a simulated / real system (biped/quadruped robots).