robot colleges

[gamefreak]

Hey, I have just recently started looking at colleges and I am curious about any colleges that have a good robotics curriculam, right now in High School, i've done BEST, am doing FIRST, and next year im planning on taking thetwo engineering classes my school is starting to offer.

[fr4ncium]

My college, University of Tulsa, mentors two FIRST teams as a robotics class.  You might want to look through the FIRST mentor list for colleges and then check out their curriculum.  I don't know of any schools famous for undergrad robotics though.

[Admin]

Carnegie Mellon 

There are two posts somewhere in this forum where people have asked this already . . . but I couldn't find it with a quick search . . .

[vidam]

University of Southern California (www.usc.edu) Computer Science Department has a fast growing robotics program (http://www.cs.usc.edu/Research/RAreas-Labs.htm). Additional the weather is beautiful and you can go to the beach on the weekends.

I did my MS degree in Electrical Engineering (i.e. Robotics). Most of my classwork was in the Computer Science Department and taking Robotics courses since they counted toward my degree anyway.  USC tuition is expensive. Try to get scholarships/grants and not just loans if you go here.

[bukowski]

Or, if you still want the great weather of SoCal without the astronomical tuition fees, the EE department at CSUF funds a great robotics club for engineer minded individuals. It meets twice a month, with an hour or two of class followed by a show and tell / contest segment. I'll admit, these guys are sharp, and much of the discussion is over my head, but everyone is really friendly and helpful.

[Half Shell]

I go to WPI, the first and currently only college to have an undergraduate Robotics Engineering Degree (which I am currently taking). They are the home of last years national champions team 190, and quite a bit of other FIRST and non FIRST teams around. There is a battle bots team which is growing and consists of several competition winning robots. I'm one of the co-founders of the WRC, which is a student ran umbrella organization for robotics projects. The robotics curriculum itself though is cool, being a student in it and a TA in it has been a blast and the courses can be quite complex. I say definitely check us out and gimme a ring when you do :-D.

http://www.wpi.edu/

[ed1380]

i'm wondering what you guys have heard of kettering uni. it's one of my top picks ATM

[gamefreak]

Alright, i'll look into these, thanks

[david_or_johnny]

Hey, Half Shell! I used to live next door to WPI and I know the compsci head Michael Gennert. I messed around there in the summer before WPI instituted its Robotics major!

[Half Shell]

Cool. I just started Unified Robotics I yesterday,the first time its ever been offered. So far so good and we're already discussing interesting stuff.

[Fredrik Andersson]

Any swedes here?

I'm referring to this program: http://www.mdh.se/ide/program/robotik/index.php and I am wondering if i have the luck to find someone thats studying in this program or someone that will be. At least i will.

[gamefreak]

I looked into Carnegie mellon in the large books o' college my sister has, 50 grand a year, quite expensive, and some other odd thing it said, no core curriculum, why?

and WPI is 42 grand a year, not very cheap

[SmAsH]

lol i hope i dont have to choose this stuff anytime soon...in year 8 now

[Admin]

50 grand a year, quite expensive, and some other odd thing it said, no core curriculum

whoa . . . when I started CMU 8 years ago, it was $30k/year, which includes ALL fees (dorm, books, food, etc)

When I left CMU (2004) it was up to $36k/year . . . hard to believe its gone up that fast . . . are you sure?

Anyway, CMU gives lots of breaks to poor students (like me), with lots of no-interest and low-interest loans. I never really counted, but I think I paid like $90k for 4.5 years, which includes interest on the loans. Worth every penny, too

edit: forgot to mention the core stuff . . . you don't declare a major until your sophomore year, I think thats what it meant

[SmAsH]

OMG..that scares me tot think about it...

[Admin]

Don't worry, the average engineer right out of college makes like ~$60k per year.

The average experienced engineer makes like ~$90k/year . . . and works like 40 years . . . you do the math, education is a good investment

[gamefreak]

actually those numbers are for the 2006 to 2007 school year, and im going to assume the book is right, also what exactly would a mechanical or electrical engineer do as a job, everyone in my school seems unsure....

[Admin]

Engineering is the 2nd largest profession in the world, with teaching being the largest. No limits, really.

Picture anything that has electronics in it, and thats what an electrical engineer could do as a job. Car electronics, GPS, speakers, satellites, watches, cellphones, TV's, ROBOTS, etc.

Mechanical engineers do everything. Name it, and a mechanical engineer was/is involved. They even do cancer research! (Im a mechanical engineer)

Just look them up in wikipedia