Does ASU have a robotics program?

How long does the robotics and autonomous systems review take?

The work that I do is very interdisciplinary.

I'm interested in how we understand the brain, how we understand behavior, how we understand how we think. What I'm trying to do is apply those insights to robotics and autonomous systems and build the tools that we need to move forward and improve our ability to move forward. So, in my own research, the process for answering questions is just to really understand how the brain works and how the brain learns and what we can learn from it. But when I look at the problems we need to solve in robotics and autonomous systems, a lot of the problems require me to go beyond the brain and look at some of the technology, look at the hardware, look at the software, look at the social and cultural aspects, look at the politics. So it requires me to take more of a global view.

What are your favorite books or articles on the topic? There are a lot of really good books. I would recommend The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil. It's a good book about the future. I think it's written very clearly. I don't agree with everything he says, but I think it's written very clearly. There's also Autonomy by Tom Mitchell, which is a more academic-style book. It's a little bit more technical.

Where did you get your interest in the topic? I got into it by reading about artificial intelligence and reading about AI and robotics and then working on AI systems and building software for AI. And then going off and doing more research on the brain and on AI systems. That's what I do for a living, to be honest.

Have any of the advances in AI impacted your life? It's changed my life for sure. I'm not sure if that's an impact that I'm ready to admit. I think that I'm maybe too old to say, Oh, I've got a robot vacuum cleaner. I'm not sure I have one. It's certainly changed my work life. I find that my day to day activities, like getting up, getting a cup of coffee, are very different than they were five years ago.

Does ASU have a robotics program?

Does it offer classes for people who want to learn to code?

The answer to these questions is yes. In addition to their core CS classes, ASU offers several robotics classes for undergraduate students. These classes typically combine intro and advanced courses and span both CS and non-CS topics. I've taken three of them myself: Rovio, the class offered by the University of Washington Bothell (which was pretty good), and Robocop, the one offered at Arizona State University. You can see a list of all of the classes that ASU offers here, along with links to some video examples.

My last class had an amazing professor, Dan Eppstein. He spoke really well, and he made us all feel very welcome and inspired. He also had some great ideas about how to make autonomous robots, and his final project involved building a robot that moved itself. It was a fun class, and he pushed us to try new things like webcams and 3D printing.

He also made some great comments that are relevant to those of you who are thinking about becoming roboticists. In particular, he said, I see many students who enter our program, and they do not think of themselves as being roboticists. They don't understand that it is a career path. It's not just a field of study. It's an occupation. And you need to think of yourself as an occupation. And if you want to be a roboticist, then you have to learn to write software.

That is good advice, especially coming from someone who's been in the industry for a long time. Most of the companies that hire roboticists don't require a degree, but they expect you to be capable of writing software. If you want to work in robotics, you need to be a software engineer first.

Is MS in robotics worth it?

Recently, there has been some great discussion on the Value of MS in robotics on this site and elsewhere.

If you've taken it yet, I'd really recommend taking the survey before commenting - it'll help you answer questions about what exactly it is you do. Also, if you are thinking of pursuing an MS in robotics, check out the "Do you really need a Masters?" page, particularly the sections that list things to consider before selecting an MS (particularly the "Is it realistic for me?" section).

I'm planning on applying to many universities next year to do my MS in Robotics with a goal to finish a couple months before graduating college. But when it comes to selecting where I'll apply for graduate school, after reading the survey which gives me a broad idea on what I want to pursue, I'm a bit worried because the university that offers more flexibility and lower admission tuition costs is probably going to have a much less demanding program then the program offered at my top school. I know people have told me, that you shouldn't compare schools based solely on tuition costs and admissions requirement/admission cost is usually lower for people who do well in college but from what I've seen, some students are going on to become professors because the course was easier than expected while others who got into their top school went on to be software developers which has no relation to the curriculum. I don't know what's good to expect for grad school so any tips would be appreciated and thanks again for the survey : EDIT : Thanks for pointing this out; I completely missed it so it's a late update but still important since what I've said so far doesn't apply in the case of a double major. Anyway, I think both universities have roughly similar learning difficulty but in the case of University Y, since its a 4 year program the classes are bigger and the work load is higher than a 1 year.