About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: H671
- Applications: UCAS
- Level: Undergraduate
- Tariff points: 300
- Department: Engineering, Design and Mathematics
- Campus: Frenchay
- Duration: Four years sandwich; three years full-time
- Delivery: Full-time, Sandwich
- Programme leader: Matthew Studley
- Key fact: The Bristol Robotics Laboratory will play host to the world's most advanced autonomous robots, who will compete against each other along with the expertise of their creators, at the FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2012.
Introduction
Robotics is going to be big business! It's no longer the stuff of just science fiction, but now reality. Bill Gates predicts the new hot field of the future will be robotics. In his keynote speech A 'Robot in Every Home he said that 'we are on the verge of a new area....where robotic devices will become nearly a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives'.
Industry forecasters predict massive growth in the robotics industry and estimate the market for service robotics in the home and our daily lives will be over $66 billion a year by 2025. How will we change when military robots replace soldiers in frontline operations? What will life be like when the machines around us seem to have emotions and respond to our body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and even our mood changes? Robots will be involved in every aspect of our lives - the way we are cared for when we are sick, with the development of medical assistive robots; rehabilitation robotics developed to enable the disabled; the robot toys we will grow up with and which will form a key part of our development and learning as human beings; through to robots which will entertain us in so many other ways. Robots will change the way we experience the world and will raise big questions about us and our relationships with them.
The World Robotics Report produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe predicts massive growth in the robot industry over the next decade. This means lots of jobs for people to design, market and regulate this burgeoning sector of the economy.
At UWE we will teach you both the practical and theoretical skills you will need to start a career in this very exciting industry. You could play a key part in helping to shape the future of robots and what they will do for us. This is the only Robotics degree in the UK which is geared to producing the fully-rounded professionals who will be essential if Britain is to compete with the US and Japan in the up-and-coming robotic economy.
UWE has a long history of research in robotics, boasting the biggest robot lab in the UK - Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL). Current projects include robots that mimic real brains to discover more about our own biology, robots that make their own electricity by digesting dead insects and other biological waste, and 'Whiskerbot' with a biomimetic artificial whisker system making it able to recognise objects and textures just like a real rat or mouse! Our research also spans the breadth of how humans and robots can work and interact together in everyday life. Additionally the Faculty of Environment and Technology has strong complementary research covering broader areas of intelligent systems, complex co-operative systems and unconventional computing.
plan+make degree show June 2011
Have a look at our students' work which was on display at the plan+make degree show 2011.Students from across the Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics exhibited along with students from across the Faculty. The event, held in June each year, enables our students to showcase their final year projects to both family and friends as well as employers from the region.
Gareth Griffiths, B.Eng.(Hons) Robotics exhibited. Hear what he has to say!
Bristol Robotics Lab wins bid to host Robot soccer World Cup
Hot on the heels of London 2012, Bristol will play host to the world's most advanced autonomous robots, who will compete against each other along with the expertise of their creators, at the FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2012.
The competition will take place at the Bristol Robotics Lab (BRL), a collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, from 20-25 August 2012.
UWE Robot Submarine Wins Award
In the 'SAUC-E' competition since 2006, students from all over Europe have competed to design, build, and programme robot submarines competing in a series of challenging tasks.Robotics students from Engineering Design and Mathematics entered for the first time in 2009, and won 1000 Euros and the 'Next Generation Design Award' for their design in 2010 when the competition was held at a NATO marine base in La Spezia, Italy. Have a look at the students' website.
The UWE students have been sponsored extensively with gifts of specialist equipment from companies including; SEA Ltd, Harwin, Balmoral, OtterBox, ValePort, PNI Corp, Tritech and Seabotix.
Check out some of our Robotics students' work on YouTube:
Autonomous Motion Tracking and Target Acquisition Sentry Robot - Richard Huish
Hex Walker Robot Spider
Structure
Content
The B.Eng.(Hons) Robotics degree is for anyone interested in learning about, understanding and developing robots. Although this is primarily an engineering programme, it does extend and redefine the boundaries of engineering into new and exciting areas, including artificial life, biologically-inspired robotics, swarm intelligence and human-robot interaction. It is the blend of hardware, software and problem solving skills that you will acquire on this course that will make you so valuable to a wide range of industries.
Year One
In Year One you will lay the foundations of your knowledge and study Analogue and Digital Electronics, AI, Robotics, Programming, and Mathematics.
Year Two
In Year Two you will gain more in-depth understanding of Robotics as a subject, and will work with fellow students to design and build your own mobile robot to compete against your classmates. You will learn the theory and practice of precision control of robots, how robot software systems and AI integrate, and how to make complex electronic systems communicate with each other.
Final year
A significant part of the final year is taken up with an individual project. You'll also learn more advanced topics in specialised areas; such as machine vision, how to make robots learn to control themselves, digital signal processing, and important preparation for your future work as a certified engineer or as a researcher in robotics.
You can find out more about our Computer Science and Electrical and Electronic Engineering courses on the Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics website.
Teaching and learning
We place a strong emphasis on a hands-on approach and you'll start building robots from your very first week at UWE! We teach with a mixture of lab sessions, lectures, tutorials and projects. The great thing about UWE Robotics students is that they support each other and you can easily find somebody who can give you a hand in understanding difficult concepts or learning new skills. In fact, we have regular sessions where students teach each other. Some of our students reckon it's the competition to build the fastest or best-performing robot which drives them to success!
Assessment is through a mixture of examination and coursework.
Special Features
Professional accreditation
This degree has been accredited by the British Computer Society under licence from the UK regulator, the Engineering Council. Accreditation is a mark of assurance that the degree meets the standards set by the Engineering Council in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC). An accredited degree will provide you with some or all of the underpinning knowledge, understanding and skills for eventual registration as an Incorporated (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). Some employers recruit preferentially from accredited degrees, and an accredited degree is likely to be recognised by other countries that are signatories to international accords.
In the Department, all courses that are determined as appropriate for accreditation and exemption are regularly inspected by the relevant institutions. This course received Full Exemption and Partial CEng accreditation from the BCS. Accreditation visits are cyclical and it is important that you check the current accreditation status of courses. For more information please visit www.bcs.org.
Find out more about the Department's accredited courses.
We intend that from 2012 the course will be accredited by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET: http://www.theiet.org/)
Placements
We encourage all our students to take the optional placement year between Years Two and Three of their degree. We have found that once employers have taken a UWE robotics student they ask for more the next year! Many also recruit their placement students after graduation.
The placement year is highly recommended and it is likely to enhance your subsequent employment and career prospects. It provides you the opportunity to try out some of the ideas and techniques that have been studied in the first two years and to judge their value in the more demanding commercial arena.
The Department's Placements Office provides help and guidance in finding suitable industrial or commercial placement opportunities.
Study facilities
We have a growing fleet of mobile robots with their own Linux computers and, of course, the facilities for you to build your own. This includes metalworking machinery, rapid production tools like 3D printers and CAD plasma-cutters, labs equipped with Linux and Windows PCs, oscilloscopes, test equipment, surface-mount soldering systems and much, much more. All supported, of course, by Bristol Institute of Technology's very skilled technical staff. With 24 hour computing facilities, many of our students work well into the night in pursuit of robotic perfection!
The Department hosts its own servers to provide Windows, Linux and Unix based operating systems. There are over 500 available workstations in our teaching laboratories, as well as a large open-access laboratory, providing PC and Unix based machines. We have our own IT Helpdesk, staffed by students from within the Institute and available for both students and staff to use. We also operate an extensive pastoral care system that includes induction programmes and access to academic staff and student advisers for guidance and support throughout your time here as a student.
Careers/further study
Our first B.Eng.(Hons) Robotics graduates have been offered great jobs with both national and international companies. From AI consultancy on the London Stock Exchange, to developing robots for the world's biggest computer hardware company, to UK engineering, hardware and software businesses - UWE Roboticists are in demand! Others have started their own businesses and are pursuing their creative and technical dreams.
This degree will prepare you for work in a very broad range of careers, in research or industry. You could find yourself working on unmanned vehicles in the aerospace industry, robots for sub-sea exploration, 'smart' robotic toys, or in the creative arts. The increasing use of 'embedded intelligence' in everything from cars to domestic appliances means that with a degree in robotics, you would have the preparation to apply your skills to almost any application of intelligent systems.
Graduate destinations
Find out what our graduates are doing six months after graduating- includes examples of careers, employers and further study. Download a PDF from graduate destinations.
Key employer partnerships
Our degrees can lead to a wide variety of career choices. To ensure that our degrees make you as employable as possible we work closely with seven major partner employers in our engineering and computing consortium.
Creating employable students
UWE places strong emphasis on employability and skills development at every level. Through work placements, volunteering, study abroad and UWE initiatives which nurture talent and encourage innovation, students gain valuable real world experience and graduate with diverse career opportunities and a competitive place in the job market.
See great graduate prospects for further information.
Be inspired
Read how Zan won a prestigious award for her robotics ideas.
Meet Robothespian!
Useful links
UWE - careers in manufacturing and processing
UWE - careers in creative arts and design
The UWE careers service provides guidance and support throughout your studies in addition to useful resources, CV checks, career coaching and details of current job vacancies.
Entry
Typical offers
- Tariff points: 300
- GCSE: Maths and English Language at grade C or above required.
- A-level subjects: A level Maths Grade C or above plus a Science or Technology subject. If BTECH National Diploma, must include Further Maths for Technicians. If 14-19 Diploma, must do either the additional specialist learning Maths for Engineers or A level Maths.
- Specific subjects: A level Maths grade C; IB Maths (Higher) grade 5; Advanced Diploma Additional Specialised Learning in Maths; BTEC unit Further Maths for Technicians; or equivalent. Also one of the following: Chemistry, Computing/Computer Science, Design and Technology, Electronics, Engineering, Information and Communications Technology, Music Technology, Physics.
- Access: Achievement of the Access to HE Diploma; achievement of level 3 credits in Maths (to include algebra and calculus); achievement of level 2 credits in Maths and English Language. The Maths Unit at Level 3 must cover the core content for AS Maths.
- Baccalaureate IB: Accepted (see the UCAS website for the UCAS tariff points that you can gain from the IB to put towards our points requirements above)
Advice on typical offers
In addition to the 'typical offer' given here, please read the general information about
entry requirements.
How to apply
Please see the general information about
applications.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011