To earn a Master of Science in Mechatronics and Robotics degree at the School of Engineering, you must complete 30 credits as outlined below. At least 6 credits will be fulfilled through your chosen specialty.
Required Courses
- Mechatronics ME-GY 5913
- Introduction to theoretical and applied mechatronics, design and operation of mechatronics systems; mechanical, electrical, electronic, and opto-electronic components; sensors and actuators including signal conditioning and power electronics; microcontrollers—fundamentals, programming, and interfacing; and feedback control. Includes structured and term projects in the design and development of proto-type integrated mechatronic systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or advisor approval
- Introduction to Robot Mechanics ME-GY 6913
- Robot components and types, and their mathematical modeling. Spatial description of position and orientation. Types and modeling of robotic joints. Differential rotation and translations. Forward and inverse kinematics. Homogeneous transformation. Denavit-Hartenberg kinematic convention. Jacobian and mapping. Manipulator statics and dynamics. Robot mechanism design. Power train and transmission. Motion planning and control. Kinematic/kinetic redundancy and optimization. Locomotion and balancing. Biomimetics and humanoids.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing, ME-UY 3223, and ME-UY 3413 or advisor approval
- Simulation tools and software algorithms for mechatronics and robotics ME-GY 6923
- The student who completes this course will gain an advanced understanding of the principles underlying simulation of dynamical systems, with particular reference to mechatronics and robotic systems. He/she will be able to use modern tools for simulation of mechatronics and robotic systems. Moreover, he/she will be able to design and implement control algorithms and assess their performance on the simulated systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or advisor approval
- Advanced mechatronics ME-GY 6933
- Introduction to, applications of, and hands-on experience with microcontrollers and single-board computers for embedded system applications. Specifically, gain familiarity with the fundamentals, anatomy, functionality, programming, interfacing, and protocols for the Arduino microcontroller, multi-core Propeller microcontroller, and single-board computer Raspberry Pi. Includes mini-projects and term projects in the design and development of proto-type integrated mechatronic systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and ME-GY 5913 or advisor approval
- Entrepreneurship MG-GY 7703
- This course focuses on entrepreneurship and venture creation as key engines for wealth creation and successful business strategy in the modern, innovation-intensive, high-tech economy. The course deals with key issues such as: (1) assessing attractiveness of opportunities; (2) launching a new venture; (3) nurturing, growing and entrepreneurial venture; (4) obtaining the necessary financial, human and technology resources; (5) managing the transition from a small entrepreneurial firm to a large, sustainable, professionally managed but still entrepreneurial corporation; and (6) being an entrepreneur and promoting entrepreneurship in a large corporation.
ME-GY xxxx Required for Specialty Area, Credits: 6.00 total
ME-GY xxxx Project (ME-GY 9963) or Thesis (ME-GY 9973) Approved by Research Advisor, Credits: 6.00 total
Free Electives, Credits: 3.00 total
Free elective suggestions: MG-GY 7743 Advanced Trends in Technology Management & Innovation; MG-GY 7861 High-Technology Entrepreneurship; MG-GY 7871 Introduction to Managing Intellectual Property; MG-GY 8653 Managing Technological Change & Innovation.
Specialty
Two courses from the same specialty area must be taken from the following list to develop a specialization
Assistive mechatronic and robotic technologies
- Robots for Disability ME-GY 7913
- This course will introduce personal, societal, and technological challenges related to physical disability, cognitive disability, and senior living. After an introduction to these challenges, students will learn about current state of art mechatronics and robotics solutions to handle these problems. Finally, they will apply their mechatronics and robotics learning to produce novel robotics solutions to address a specific problem related to a disability.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and ME-GY 5913 or advisor approval
- Gait and manipulation ME-GY 7923
- Review of fundamental robot kinematics, dynamics, and control. Types of robotic manipulation. Design and control of robotic manipulators. Robotic hand and arm. Robotic manipulation modeling, simulation, and experiments. Gait types of legged systems. Biped and quadruped systems. Human walking and running, and passive dynamics. Design and control of biped walking robots. Robotic gait modeling, simulation, and experiments. Focus on hands-on experience in design, fabrication, and control of simple mechanisms.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and ME-GY 6913 or advisor approval
Mobile robotics
- Fundamentals of robot mobility ME-GY 7933
- This course will consider wheeled mobile robots. It will cover forward and inverse kinematics, mechanisms, sensors, actuators, and controllers for wheeled mobile robots. In addition, it will consider various control architectures for such robots. Topics related to navigation, localization, and mapping as applicable to wheeled mobile robots will also be covered. The course will address various applications of such robots in real-world. Finally alternative mechanisms for robot mobility will be considered (e.g., legged locomotion).
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and ME-GY 5913 or advisor approval
- Swarm robotics ME-GY 7943
- The student who completes this course will gain an advanced understanding of the analysis and control of networked dynamical systems, with a specific accent on networked robotic systems. He/she will be able to study the properties of networked robotic systems through the analysis of the intertwining properties of the network structure and of the individual dynamics of the single robot. Moreover, he/she will be able to understand and design algorithms for distributed control of teams of mobile agents and robots.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or advisor approval
Microrobotics
- Introduction to smart materials and structures ME-GY 7953
- This course presents the fundamentals of fabrication, modeling, analysis, and design of smart materials and structures. Students will be exposed to the state of the art of smart materials and systems, spanning piezoelectrics, shape memory alloys, electroactive polymers, mechanochromic materials, and fiber optics. They will explore the application of such materials in structural systems from the aeronautic, automotive, biomedical, and nautical industry. They will gain familiarity with multiphysics phenomena taking place within smart materials. Such knowledge will, in turn, inform the use of commercial software to simulate smart materials and structures for application in sensing and actuation.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or advisor approval
- Design and simulation of microelectromechanical systems ME-GY 7963
- This course presents the fundamentals of fabrication, modeling, analysis, and design of micro/nano sensors and actuators. Students will be exposed to the state of the art of micro/nano fabrication. They will gain familiarity with multiphysics phenomena at the micro/nano scale toward an improved understanding of fundamental sensing and actuation principles. Such knowledge will, in turn, inform the use of commercial software to design and simulate micro/nano devices for real world application.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or advisor approval
- M.S. Project ME-GY 996X
- This course is an engineering project under faculty guidance. A written project proposal and final report must be submitted to the department head and the adviser and may be extended to a thesis with the project advisor’s recommendation. Credit only upon completion of project.
- M.S. Thesis ME-GY 997X
- The master’s thesis presents results of original investigation in the student’s specialty. This effort can be an extension of ME-GY 9963, with approval of the project adviser. Continuous registration is required. Maximum of 9 credits of ME-GY 996X/ME-GY 997X are counted toward the degree.
Important Credit and Course Notes
- To graduate, you must have a 3.0 GPA or better in each of the following:
- In the average of all graduate courses taken at the School of Engineering (whether or not some of these courses are being used to satisfy specific degree requirements)
- In the average of all courses submitted for the graduate degree
- In each guided studies, readings, projects, thesis, courses, or credits enrolled
- You must take at least 21 credits out of the 30 credits needed for the degree at the School of Engineering. In other words, 9 credits may be transferred from elsewhere.
- No more than 6 credits in “Guided Reading” courses are allowed
- Validation credit is not allowed, but the graduate adviser may waive specific requirements (and substitute designated ones), based upon your prior studies or experience
- Transfer credits are not granted for the following:
- Undergraduate courses
- Courses counted toward satisfying undergraduate degree requirements
- Courses not related to the graduate program as stated in this catalog
- Courses that received a grade lower than B
- You must complete your degree in 5 years, unless a formal leave of absence is approved before the period for which studies are interrupted
- If you decide to do a ME-GY 9973 Master Thesis for 9 credits as part of your work for the degree, 3 out of the 9 credits will be counted against the 3 credits of Free Electives.
- You are not allowed to submit more than 3 courses (9 credits), starting with a 5 for MS degree requirements satisfaction
- Departmental electives include courses with a mechanical (ME), aerospace (AE), or materials (MT) prefix, plus departmental thesis or project credits
- All courses and program details are subject to adviser approval
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