About the course: Robots are everywhere!

Welcome to How to Get Into Robotics! It’s great to have you here.

Robots have fascinated humans since ancient times. In Greek mythology, Talos, dating back to around 700 BC , was a bronze automaton created to safeguard Europa and the island of Crete and prevent invaders. It is regarded as one of the earliest conceptualised robots. Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid automaton, called ‘Leonardo’s robot’ or ‘Leonardo’s mechanical knight’, believed to have been built by him around 1495.

Today, robots appear in people’s imagination too, in fiction books and sci-fi movies, but more importantly, they also exist in our world and they are very capable machines! Robotics enjoy a vibrant community today that is well established, with robots being deployed to different areas in the world, while breakthrough research is undergoing to bring intelligent robots to the world.

Robots exist in factories to assemble cars and electronics. They exist in medicine, e-commerce, and logistics. Robots take the form of cars, help with space exploration and inspect sites that are dangerous for humans.

A career in robotics is exciting for many reasons:

1. It’s rewarding to work on robotics problems, and there is something special in seeing a robot doing what it was supposed to do.
2. Robots can help improve the quality of our lives and save human lives; the feeling of positive impact is there.
3. Robotics currently enjoy new applications in exciting industries, including autonomous vehicles and medicine. This opens new opportunities, allowing individuals to switch careers and work in new and exciting industries.
4. It’s a future-proof job. Demand for roboticists is unlikely to fade in the following years, and a career in robotics could be a great choice.

In this course, the aim is to guide you through the different career path of robotics and help you understand if you want such a career. Specifically, this course will:

• introduce what robot and intelligent robots are
• review the different roles in a career in robotics
• review different applications/areas of robotics in the world today
• provide professional advice on how to get started: Giuseppe from Ocado Technology and Annagiulia from Shadow Robot will provide tips on how to get started in your career. There are some exciting discussions with Giuseppe and Annagiulia, too.

Course structure and assessment

• The course is divided into two weeks, but you can take longer if you want.
• Each week there will be two activities, with a range of different tasks for you to complete at your own pace.
• The course is not facilitated, but is designed to support peer learning through online discussions.
• There will be a range of quizzes, reading sections, videos, and chances for you to discuss questions with other learners; this can be a great way of getting different viewpoints and ideas, so do use these chances to network with your peers and share your ideas!
• Finally, there is a graded assignment at the end of the course to get your Certificate of Achievement. The pass mark is 70% and you can have three attempts at each question. You must also complete 90& of the steps in the course to get your certificate.

Click Start

This course is part of the Click Start collection of short courses provided by the University of Leeds. Click Start is a nationwide training programme developed by the Institute of Coding (IoC), supported by a consortium of industry leaders, educators, and outreach providers, and funded by Nominet. Click Start aims to diversify the tech industry and address the UK’s digital skills gap.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Describe the components of an intelligent robot
• Describe the application and challenges of each robotic area (industrial robotics, autonomous vehicles etc)
• Explain the difference between career paths in robotics (research engineer, automation specialist etc)
• Describe the skills required to succeed in a career in robotics.

What do you need to do next?

We only ask that you maintain your enthusiasm and work your way through all the materials provided (video, reading, investigations, discussions).

Glossary

Throughout this course, you might come across words and phrases which are new to you. You can look these up in the course glossary which can be accessed from here at any time.