MEng (Hons) Autonomous Robotics

Autonomous robots are transforming the world, from self-driving vehicles and drones to smart manufacturing, healthcare technology, and planetary exploration.

Our new Autonomous Robotics degree will prepare you to design, build, and control intelligent machines that can sense their environment, navigate themselves, make decisions, and act independently.

You’ll explore how machines perceive the world, process information, and make decisions in real time. From mobile robots to advanced automated systems, you’ll gain the skills to create technologies that operate without constant human control. You will learn engineering fundamentals too, from materials to system, from coding to control.

• Get a head start when you graduate, with specialist knowledge in autonomous robotics at master's level.

• Hone hands-on, practical skills throughout your study with experienced academics, and employers from industry to guide you along the way.

• Develop the ability to integrate, synthesise, apply and gain knowledge, with an awareness of social and ethical responsibilities.

• Learn to identify problems that need solving, and to find creative solutions to society’s challenges.

• The final level of your MEng degree will allow you to take your knowledge to a greater depth, and to focus in on an area of your own interest, through project work.

• The NMITE MEng has been designed to satisfy the necessary educational standards for the award of Chartered Engineer by meeting the requirements of the Engineering Council Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes.

• An MEng degree provides the most direct way of meeting the educational requirements for successive registration as a Chartered Engineer (subject to accreditation), and graduates typically command higher starting salaries than those with the equivalent BEng.

• Receive support, whenever needed - 1:1 support through your allocated Personal Tutor, use of the Academic Skills and Knowhow Centre, and Student Services.

• Students can expect significant involvement from industry and community partners throughout the course, clearly differentiating NMITEs approach from other engineering courses.

• The optional foundation year has been designed for those who don’t meet the entry requirements of the degree. On successful completion, students will be able to progress directly onto year one of the degree.

Level 4

The 21st-Century Engineer - Start your study by building a physical and digital artefact. Along the way, you'll be introduced to the different disciplines of engineering, the influential role of the engineer in society, and the responsibilities we carry as professional engineers.

Thermodynamics & Fluids - Here, you will analyse and improve a fluid flow system. You'll combine observation, an awareness of how energy is converted to be put to work, and a knowledge of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics, phenomena that underpin the engineer's understanding of how fluids and gases move in engineered and natural systems.

Statics and Dynamics of Simple Mechanisms - You will design and validate a single-element mechanism under a straightforward load case. This includes consideration of static and dynamic behaviour, properties and selection of material(s), and awareness of material treatments.

Fundamentals of Analogue and Digital Circuits - You will specify and build an open loop control system that meets the needs of a given application. You will be able to differentiate between analogue and digital electronics approaches, and apply circuit theory, circuit laws and principles of digital logic.

Level 5

Creating Social Value through Engineering - This is your opportunity to integrate your skills and knowledge from Level 4 to work on a community-based project that creates social value. You'll develop key mindsets relating to stakeholders, equity, inclusive design, prototyping, and new product development, as well as learning some basic project management tools.

Systems Engineering for Robotics – Kickstart your journey into autonomous systems by exploring how hardware and software integrate. You will develop essential programming and mathematical skills while working with sensors, actuators, and modern robotics software ecosystems. Through simulation and practical challenges, you’ll implement your first control strategies and computer vision techniques to bring a robotic system to life.

Statics and Dynamics of Complex Mechanisms - You'll build on your knowledge from level 4 to design and model a more complex (multi-element) structure under differing load cases, including selection of appropriate material(s) from a wider, more specialist range. You will address more complex structures and load cases and explore the advantages of multi-component materials.

Mechatronics and Control - This module is the second of a pair of engineering science-driven modules (the first at Level 4) that explore topics and applications associated with analogue and digital circuits, instrumentation, mechatronics and control. It allows integration of mechanical, electrical and electronics engineering to develop engineering solution. In Mechatronics and Control, students will apply understanding of mechatronics, open- and closed-loop systems, and feedback system design to enhance automation of engineering systems.

Level 6

People and Projects in Engineering - You'll deliver an engineering project which you will design, plan and execute. You'll explore the project lifecycle as a way of understanding and breaking down projects, and you'll learn to use a range of tools to work within and manage projects effectively.

Autonomous Mobile Robots – Take your robotics knowledge into the real world by mastering navigation in unpredictable environments. You’ll explore advanced AI for perception, probabilistic robotics to manage uncertainty, and Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM). By implementing high-level decision-making on physical platforms, you will solve complex navigation challenges designed alongside industrial partners.

Autonomous Drones – Elevate your expertise from ground-based robots to the three-dimensional world of flight. You will master drone kinematics and dynamics, developing the flight control systems and trajectory planning needed for autonomous aerial operation. Through a mix of simulation and practical flight testing, you’ll learn how to stabilise and navigate drones through complex 3D environments.

Bachelor's Project - This module builds on the knowledge, experience and skills you have gained in the course to date, and allows you to demonstrate your capability in a self-managed innovative project.

Level 7

Robotics Applications – You will synthesise everything you have learned to tackle complex, large-scale engineering challenges. Working with real-world scenarios from sectors such as agriculture, logistics, and defence, you will design and integrate complete robotic solutions. This is your opportunity to prove your capability in system integration and task planning for the next generation of industrial automation.

Lifetime Performance of Engineering Assets - In this module, your skillset and integrated approach is applied to a durable engineering application, providing an opportunity to explore the management of physical assets (e.g. structures, water/waste infrastructure, energy generation) with a firm eye on their lifecycle performance. You'll draw on engineering asset management frameworks that carefully integrate different engineering disciplines; nuanced financial treatments; maintenance, reliability, project, and risk mindsets; and critical perspectives on sustainability.

Master's Project - You'll work individually on a demanding engineering challenge for an extended period, typically with an industrial or community partner on a research-based or self-defined challenge.  You'll address an industrial or social need by synthesising technical complexity, novelty, an integrated approach, and a requirement to meet the needs of varied stakeholders.

https://nmite.ac.uk/undergraduate-degree/autonomous-robotics-degree

We believe that your assessment should be as reflective of a real workplace as possible and that means no traditional exams. Instead, our assessments take the form of in-studio quizzes, presentations and debates, display of artefacts you’ve developed and built, industrial reports, development of specifications, test reports and project plans, creative media presentation and general question and answer sessions where your participation and knowledge can be assessed.