Program Overview

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Course Overview

The Robotic Engineering course, EEEN 325, presents the principles of robotic and mechatronic design, construction, and control. It covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of integrating mechanical, electronic, and software components.

Course Details

• Dates: 6 July 2026 to 8 November 2026
• Starts: Trimester 2
• Fees:
  • NZ$1,269.45 for domestic students
  • NZ$5,806.35 for international students
• Lecture Start Times:
  • Monday 10:00am
  • Wednesday 11:00am
  • Thursday 10:00am
• Campus: Kelburn
• Estimated Workload: Approximately 150 hours or 8.3 hours per week for 18 weeks
• Points: 15

Entry Restrictions

• Prerequisites: EEEN 201
• Corequisites: None
• Restrictions: ECEN 301

Taught By

The School of Engineering and Computer Science — Faculty of Science and Engineering

Disclaimer

This course outline may be subject to change.

Key Dates

Find important dates, including mid-trimester teaching breaks, on the University's key dates calendar. Assessment dates will be provided once the course has begun.

About This Course

This course includes:

• Sensor fundamentals and terminology
• Software interfacing for sensors and actuators
• Resisitive, capacitive, inductive, and self-generating sensors
• Signal conditioning, voltage dividers, bridges, amplification, and filtering
• Ranging systems, specifically infra-red and ultrasonic
• Analogue to digital conversion techniques
• Sampling and aliasing
• Robotic arm types and configurations
• An introduction to forward and inverse robotic kinematics
• Robotic mechanical engineering fundamentals
• Basic control systems

Course Learning Objectives

Students who pass this course should be able to:

1. Have a working knowledge of a variety of sensors and actuators and understand how these might be implemented on a robotic device to complete a specific task.
2. Understand and apply mechanical and electronic theory and practice in a mechatronic/robotic setting.
3. Operate and control a mobile robotic device.
4. Design, implement, and calibrate infra-red and ultrasonic ranging systems.
5. Understand fundamental robotic control systems and how these might be implemented on an embedded controller.

How This Course Is Taught

This course requires attendance for some of its activities, for which there are no online alternatives, specifically the laboratory work. The course is designed for in-person study, and students are strongly recommended to attend all lectures on campus.

Assessment

• 5 quizzes - best 4 are marked = for a total of 5% Mark: 5%
• Assignment 1 Mark: 12.5%
• Assignment 2 Mark: 12.5%
• Test 1 Mark: 20%
• Test 2 Mark: 20%
• Laboratory work Mark: 30%

Mandatory Requirements

To pass this course, students must:

1. Achieve an overall pass mark of at least 50%.
2. Score an average of 40% or greater in the two tests.
3. Satisfactorily complete at least 75% of the assigned laboratory work.

Group Work

Students will be working in pairs for the laboratory work, but individual reports are required. Assessment will be individual, not group.

Lecture Times and Rooms

• 6 July 2026 to 16 August 2026
• 31 August 2026 to 11 October 2026

What You'll Need to Get

You do not need to get any texts or equipment for this course.