Program Overview

Oregon State University Robotics Program

The Oregon State University Robotics program offers a comprehensive range of courses and research opportunities in the field of robotics.

Course Descriptions

• ROB 421: Applied Robotics: Multidisciplinary teams of students design, build, and demonstrate a robotic system, including all sensing, computation, and actuation. The specific task changes each year and is designed to be challenging for ambitious students. Robots will compete in a friendly competition at the end of the term. Lec/lab.
• ROB 456: Intelligent Robots: Foundations of probabilistic reasoning for robotics. Topics include state estimation, robot motion, perception, localization, and decision making under uncertainty.
  • Recommended: ME 373 or ME 373H or ECE 353 or CS 331
• ROB 501: Research: Graded P/N. This course is repeatable for 99 credits.
• ROB 503: Thesis: This course is repeatable for 999 credits.
• ROB 505: Reading and Conference: This course is repeatable for 16 credits.
• ROB 506: Projects: Graded P/N. This course is repeatable for 16 credits.
• ROB 507: Seminar: Graded P/N. This course is repeatable for 16 credits.
• ROB 514: Introduction to Robotics: A broad introduction to the field of robotics and to the graduate Robotics program. The goal is to give students with different backgrounds a common base in the fundamentals of robotics.
• ROB 521: Research Robotics: Multidisciplinary teams of students use the backdrop of a robotics competition to generate a research question, then design, build, and demonstrate a robotic system that is used to answer this research question.
• ROB 534: Sequential Decision Making in Robotics: Examines sequential decision making in robotics with a focus on motion planning and related optimization problems applied to fielded systems in marine, aerial, and ground domains.
• ROB 537: Learning-Based Control: Provides an introduction to learning systems and their application to the control of nonlinear systems. Covered topics include neural networks, reinforcement learning, and evolutionary algorithms.
• ROB 538: Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems: Provides an introduction to autonomous agents and multi-agent systems, focusing on how to use agents as building blocks for different autonomous systems.
• ROB 541: Geometric Mechanics: An introduction to geometric methods in the analysis of dynamic systems, using the kinematics of simple robotic systems as a motivating example.
  • Recommended: Prior exposure to linear algebra and differential equations
• ROB 542: Actuator Dynamics: Focuses on how inertia, spring compliance, and other passive dynamics affect highly dynamic, software-controlled systems.
  • Recommended: Prior courses on dynamics and control such as ME 531, ME 533, ME 535
• ROB 562: Human Control Systems: Covers mechanisms of human motor systems and control of the neuromusculoskeletal anatomy, followed by functional analysis of these system components.
  • Equivalent to: ME 539
  • Recommended: Basic feedback control systems, linear algebra, differential equations
• ROB 564: Soft Robotics: Soft robotics researchers propose building intelligent machines purely out of stretchable compressible soft materials. The course is centered on term-long projects that will result in real soft robots.
• ROB 567: Human Robot Interaction: The field of human-robot interaction brings together research and application of methodology from robotics, human factors, human-computer interaction, interaction design, cognitive psychology, education, and other fields.
  • Recommended: Background in one of human factors, usability/hci, programming experience, design
• ROB 568: Social Robotics: In-depth exploration of the leading research, design principles, and challenges in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), with an emphasis on socially interactive robots.
• ROB 599: Special Topics: This course is repeatable for 32 credits.
• ROB 601: Research: Graded P/N. This course is repeatable for 99 credits.
• ROB 603: Thesis: This course is repeatable for 999 credits.
• ROB 605: Reading and Conference: This course is repeatable for 16 credits.

Program Overview

The Oregon State University Robotics program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in robotics, including theoretical foundations, practical skills, and research experience. The program offers a range of courses and research opportunities, allowing students to explore various aspects of robotics, from applied robotics to intelligent robots, and from human-robot interaction to social robotics.