2019-08

Arizona State University
University Senate

Senate Motion #2019-08

Motion Introduced by: Curriculum and Academic Programs Committee,

Date of First Reading: August 27, 2018

Date of Second Reading: September 24, 2018

Title of Motion: Request from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering –for the establishment of a graduate degree – MS in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Action Requested: This curricular proposal has received all college, school, unit and university administrative approvals, and is being presented to the Senate for review and voting decision.  

Rationale: Robotics and autonomous systems are interdisciplinary technologies that impact manufacturing, transportation, aerospace, defense, healthcare, etc. Robots take many different forms, but in general they are physical systems capable of carrying out a set of complex tasks, such as those required in a manufacturing assembly line. Good examples of autonomous systems are self-driving cars and auto-piloted flying drones. The 32-member ASU Robotics Faculty Group includes faculty from several engineering disciplines, and a large number of graduate robotics-related engineering courses are already being offered at both the Tempe and Polytechnic campuses. Autonomous systems and robotics are related, and extend the field of “traditional” robotics to emerging fields, such as collective behavior, autonomous vehicles, advanced sensing technologies, etc. The proposed interdisciplinary MS degree will bring together students from various engineering backgrounds and allow them to take advantage of the broad variety of available courses and faculty.