The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is pleased to offer a Master of Science in Robotic Systems Development (MRSD). The MRSD program prepares students for successful careers in industry by teaching both technical and business skills. The rigorous core curriculum equips students with a broad technical skill set in systems engineering, manipulation, mobility, control, computer vision, etc. Students are exposed to high-level business concepts through a robotics business course. Deeper learning is obtained through elective courses, an internship, and a hands-on team project. The MRSD Project Course allows students to apply the skills they are learning in the classroom to a real-world scenario. To complete the MRSD requirements, each student must complete a project.

To find exciting and dynamic projects, we are seeking the partnership of industry sponsors.

SPONSOR A PROJECT

The MRSD Project Course provides a unique opportunity for students to work on a hands‐on, real‐world problem that is focused on a particular market, application and technology solution.

The two-semester Project Course is structured to allow students to take the proposed project description from conceptualization to final design. The course requires students to form 4-5 person teams with the goal of understanding and implementing all the mechanical, electrical and software elements required for the prototype. The Project Course guides students through a methodical systems-based approach, which includes project planning, management, and budgeting, based on their limited time (9 months) and budget ($5,000).

The cost of sponsoring a project is $15,000 per student, up to a maximum of $60,000 per team. Each team has a minimum of 4 students.

The Work

The first semester (September-December) focuses on getting to know the project sponsor, setting the scope of the project, writing a Design Proposal that includes system requirements and project management, and initial prototyping. At the end of the first semester, students will demonstrate their prototype and present their results, which include a documented report, photographs, videos, and a team website.

In the second semester (January-May) the objective is for students to refine, test, and validate their prototype. At the end of the semester, each student team will present the results of its work in a final prototype demonstration, final written report, public poster presentation, and team website.

Intellectual Property

Carnegie Mellon University is a non-profit organization. It is Carnegie Mellon’s policy that the students own all intellectual property they develop through their work in the Project Course. However, the student may grant the course sponsor additional rights to the intellectual property developed by the student in the conduct of the course.

WHAT INDUSTRY NEEDS TO PROVIDE

Project Description

We seek a brief descriptive project title, followed by a description of the application, market, technical elements desired and how a successful solution would impact the marketplace. The project proposal must be somewhat specific about the ultimate application and market of interest to the company, and what preferred technical elements (hardware, sensors, software, algorithms, etc.) would be of interest in a demonstration. Please use this Project Template as guidance when proposing a project. Note that the MRSD faculty and students may collaborate with the sponsor to expand and/or modify the project, to ensure that it contains mechanical, sensing, and software elements, and thereby provides a complete broad‐system experience and exposure for all team members.

Examples of suitable proposed projects are (market, application, and technology specific):

  • Autonomous Navigation: Performance enhancement in automated waypoint following for human‐safe navigation using Radar and camera systems for cost‐effective vehicle‐fleet retrofit.
  • Next‐Gen Interfaces: Optimal combination of novel haptic interface modalities (gesture, sound, touch, etc.) to enhance man‐machine interfaces for use in automated factory production lines.

An example of an unsuitable proposed project is (overly generic, non‐implementation specific):

  • Market‐Expansion: Development of a robotic/automated solution to generate a $50M/year business opportunity in the unmanned vehicle market sector.

Note that the student team will develop a complete design for a system they are able to design/build/test/demonstrate, subject to their time and financial constraints, to include a broad set of elements in the mechanical, sensing and software domain(s), to ensure a system‐based educational experience in a multi‐disciplinary team setting.

Signed Educational Project Agreement

To proceed with the sponsorship of a capstone course project, Carnegie Mellon and the project sponsor will enter into the “Carnegie Mellon University Educational Project Agreement”. This Agreement sets out the terms for the sponsorship of the capstone project between the sponsor and Carnegie Mellon. In addition, each student will sign a Participation Agreement that clearly informs the student of his/her rights and obligations in the project.

Point of Contact (POC)

While all projects are overseen by the Project Course instructor, we encourage industry partners to identify a POC for the proposed project. We believe this to be of great benefit not only for the students, but also for the company, as it allows them to take advantage of the student’s output, and to also observe the capabilities and intellect of potential interns/employees.

There are multiple ways an industrial partner may consider participating more actively as a POC, or even in ways beyond that.

  • Point‐of‐Contact (POC): Volunteer as a POC to provide technical, market and experiential perspectives to the team as they develop the proposed project. POC activities can include e‐mail, teleconferencing, face‐to‐face meetings and attendance at reviews/demonstrations. The type and frequency of interaction is completely determined by the POC in conjunction with the project team.
  • Equipment Loan/Donation: Consider the loan, or even donation, of a critical subsystem in order to increase the fidelity, completeness and relevance of the team output to a level that is more readily applicable/transferable to the real‐world application the industrial partner is interested in.
  • Facility Access: It might be possible and effective for an industrial partner to offer a student team the ability to use a company‐owned test‐facility/‐site for the student team to carry out their critical testing and demonstration activities, to increase the level of realism and utility/evaluation‐level to the company and heighten the educational experience.