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Courses and curriculum

Below are the program requirements for the Robotics M.S. degree program, along with the total units required for the program and the recommended schedule. 

Program requirements

Master’s-level students may choose Plan A (thesis) or Plan B (courses-only). Each option requires that the students complete a theory course and that their courses span several areas of specialization within the college. The specific requirements of each option are detailed below. Please consult the UNR catalog for the definitive list of required courses.

Thesis option:

  • This option requires a total of 30 units
  • 24 units of regular courses
    • 12 credits of this coursework must be completed at the 700 level
  • 6 thesis units (CS/EE/ME/CPE/BME 797)

Courses-only option

  • This option requires a total of 30 credits of coursework
  • 12 credits at the 700-level
  • 18 credits at the 600/700-level

At most, one independent study and one internship study up to 3 credits each is allowed for both options. 

Additional requirements are as follows:

Below are various additional requirements.

A. Introductory courses requirement (3 units)

Students must complete one of the following courses with a grade of B or better, if they have not already done so at undergraduate or graduate level:

  • CPE 670 Autonomous Mobile Robots, 3 units
  • ME 622 Introduction to Robotics, 3 units

B. Breadth requirement (0 units)

M.S. students must complete one course from each of the following areas with a grade of “B” or better. The most recent list of courses offered in each area can be found in the robotics program handbook:

  • Actuation and Control
  • Reasoning and Computation
  • Sensing

C. Core courses requirement (12 units)

Students must complete four of the following courses with a grade of B or better:

  • CPE 671 Advanced Robotics, 3 units
  • CS 655 Mobile Sensor Networks, 3 units
  • CS 691 Topics, 1 to 3 units
  • [After] Human-Robot Interaction Intro to Aerial Robotics xxx
  • CS 777 Robotics for Humanity, 3 units
  • CS 790X Seminar: Robotics, 1 to 3 units
  • CS 791 Special Topics, 3 units
  • [After] Robot Manipulators xxx
  • Multi-Robot Control and Reinforcement Learning XXX
  • EE 626 Microprocessor Applications, 3 units
  • EE 661R Stochastic Systems, 3 units
  • EE 671 Control Systems II, 3 units
  • EE 672 Digital Control Engineering, 3 units
  • EE 776 Nonlinear Control Systems, 3 units
  • ME 658 Flight Stability and Control, 3 units
  • ME 682 Aerodynamics, 3 units
  • ME 710 Linear Systems, 3 units
  • ME 712 Adaptive Control, 3 units
  • ME 713 Robust Control, 3 units

D. Robotics electives (9 units or 15 units)

Students can use any of the above courses or these additional courses for their additional course credits. Students can take 9 elective credits for the thesis option or 15 elective credits for the courses-only option:

  • BME 626 Biomedical Instrumentation, 3 units
  • CS 620 Human-Computer Interaction, 3 units
  • CS 622 Introduction to Machine Learning, 3 units
  • CS 679 Pattern Recognition, 3 units
  • CS 682 Artificial Intelligence, 3 units
  • CS 685 Computer Vision, 3 units
  • CS 687 Fundamentals of Deep Learning, 3 units
  • CS 786 Advanced Computer Vision, 3 units
  • CS 790Q Seminar: Machine Learning, 1 to 3 units
  • EE 665 Wireless Sensor Networks, 3 units
  • EE 680 Digital Signal Processing, 3 units
  • EE 681 Image Analysis, 3 units
  • EE 693H Independent Study, 1 to 3 units
  • EE 782 Random Signal Analysis and Estimation Theory, 3 units
  • EE 786 Deep Learning, 3 units
  • ME 611 Comparative Biomechanics, 3 units
  • ME 644 Intermediate Dynamics, 3 units
  • ME 650 Additive Manufacturing Technology, 3 units
  • ME 663 Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, 3 units
  • ME 740 Advanced Dynamics, 3 units
  • MATH 620 Mathematical Modeling, 3 units
  • STAT 661 A First Course in Probability, 3 units
  • STAT 753 Stochastic Models and Simulation, 3 units
  • STAT 775 Advanced Study of Topics in Probability and Statistics, 3 units

E. Thesis Credits (0 or 6 units)

Thesis MS students are required to enroll in 6 credits of supervised research under any of these course numbers:

  • BME 797 Thesis, 1 to 6 units
  • CPE 797 Thesis, 1 to 6 units
  • CS 797 Thesis, 1 to 6 units
  • EE 797 Thesis, 1 to 6 units
  • ME 797 Thesis, 1 to 6 units

F. Declaration of advisor

The students must find an advisor and submit the Declaration of Advisor form (https://www.unr.edu/grad/student-academics/forms) to The Graduate School by the end of their second semester in the program.

G. Advisory committee

Students must find an advisor and submit the Declaration of Advisor form (https://www.unr.edu/grad/student-academics/forms) to The Graduate School by the end of their second semester in the program.

Total units (30 units)

Thesis option is 30 units. Courses-only option is 30 units.

Recommended schedule

These schedules are merely suggestions and can vary depending on your advisor and course availability, etc.

Thesis plan

  • First year
    • First semester
      • CPE 670 Autonomous Mobile Robots OR ME 622 Introduction to Robotics, 3 units
      • 600/700-level courses, 6 units
    • Second semester
      • 600/700-level courses, 9 units
  • Second year
    • Third semester
      • 600/700-level courses, 6 units
      • Thesis, 3 units
    • Fourth semester
      • Thesis, 3 units

Courses-only plan

  • First year
    • First semester
      • CPE 670 Autonomous Mobile Robots OR ME 622 Introduction to Robotics, 3 units
      • 600/700-level courses, 6 units
    • Second semester
      • 600/700-level courses, 9 units
  • Second year
    • Third semester
      • 600/700-level courses, 9 units
    • Fourth semester
      • 600/700-level courses, 3 units