Name: Building a Future with Robots
Rating: 4.76923 (39 reviews)

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Explore the future of robotics in factories, homes, hospitals, schools and cars

In the near future, many of us will work alongside robots. Knowledge of robotics and autonomous systems will be a helpful skill for a surprising number of today’s careers.

On this course, we’ll look at current and future developments in the field of robotics that could shape many different aspects of our daily lives. We’ll build up a picture of the principles and the fundamental challenges of robotic design, and demonstrate how research here at The University of Sheffield is working to overcome some of these challenges.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds [A woman strokes toy-like robot animals] [The robot animals respond to the woman’s touch] [CAPTION:] ‘Will I help you feel better?’ [CAPTION:] ‘Will I help you learn?’ [A surgeon directs robotic arms to perform an operation] [CAPTION:] ‘Will I save your life?’

Skip to 0 minutes and 31 seconds [A technician operates a robotic arm lifting objects in a laboratory] [CAPTION:] ‘Will I work beside you?’ [CAPTION:] ‘Will I help you move things?’ [A small remote controlled drone flies inside a warehouse] [CAPTION:] ‘Will I find you if you’re lost?’ [A large number of small robot units activate and move together] [CAPTION:] ‘Will we repair the oceans?’

Skip to 0 minutes and 58 seconds [CAPTION:] ‘See what we can do…’ [CAPTION:] ‘Building a Future with Robots’ [CAPTION:] ‘A free online course from the University of Sheffield’ [CAPTION:] ‘Search ‘Future Robots’ at www.futurelearn.com. #FLRoboFuture’

What topics will you cover?

This course looked at current and future developments in the field of robotics that could shape different aspects of people’s daily lives. It built an understanding of the principles and fundamental challenges of designing robots including:

What a robot needs to be able to sense the world using drones, youBots and autonomous cars as examples.
Current and future developments in robotics and how and where they are being applied.
How robotics can take inspiration from nature looking at swarm robots and biomimetics.
How robots work with others for example, a robot surgeon and a robotic arm.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Describe the main challenges of working with autonomous systems and the ways in which we might meet these challenges.
Explore some basic principles of robotic design.
Apply knowledge of where developments in robotics are heading and their potential effect on our future.
Explain existing and potential real-life robotic applications.

Who is the course for?

This course is open to anyone with an interest in robotics. It will be of particular interest to engineers, designers, technicians and enthusiasts who are keen to explore the role of robots in our economic and industrial future.

What do people say about this course?

Wide in scope of applications and very thought provoking.

"Enjoyable course; wide in scope of applications and very thought provoking, particularly on ethical issues."

David Law

It introduced many of the issues surrounding robotics.

"Really enjoyed the course. It introduced many of the issues surrounding robotics, and gave an insight into research and development, and offered a taste of what is yet to come."

Simon Whitehead

Who will you learn with?

Sandor Veres

Sandor M Veres is professor of Autonomous Control Systems at the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

Who developed the course?

The University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is one of the world’s top 100 universities with a reputation for teaching and research excellence.

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