Robotics education: A review of graduate profiles and research pathways

Robotics is a rapidly emerging field of engineering, and many of the Australian universities that offer a Bachelor of Engineering now offer majors in robotics/mechatronics. This article explores and analyses some implications for robotics education, with a focus on graduate attributes and research pathways. The preliminary results of this review suggest that courses in robotics tend to include introductory material from a relatively large number of sub-disciplines, and robotics courses do not ordinarily permit the selection of sub-majors from other inter-related disciplines. This analysis finds that the current structures can in some cases prevent students from traversing pathways towards postgraduate research in their own particular areas of special interest. It is concluded that courses might place greater emphasis on the graduate attributes that are essential to be able to work effectively in cross-discipline teams. It is also concluded that it may be beneficial to undertake further research, which compares the approaches to robotics education taken within Australian universities with the approaches of overseas counterparts. © 2010 WIETE