Undergraduate Focus Area: Robotics

The Robotics Focus Area in the Computer Science Major
Department of Computer Science
Tufts University
Last updated by Matthias Scheutz on June 5, 2024

Overview

The crux of robotics in CS is to understand how different types of robots can be programmed to perform useful tasks in variety of settings, from rovers roaming around on Mars, to collaborative robots in manufacturing, to socially assistive robots in elder care settings. The purpose of this focus area is to provide you with breadth and depth in the broad area of CS robotics with a strong technical foundation in computer science. This focus area applies equally well for Arts and Sciences (A&S) and School of Engineering (SoE) students.

The Computer Science Core

1. Introduction to Computer Science (CS 11)
2. Data Structures (CS 15)
3. Machine Structure & Assembly Language Programming (CS 40)
4. Discrete Mathematics (CS 61)
5. Programming Languages (CS 105)
6. Algorithms (CS 160)
7. Theory of Computation (CS 170)

The CS Robotics Core

1. Probabilistic Robotics (CS 141)
2. Artificial Intelligence (CS 131)
3. Ethics in AI, Robotics, and HRI (CS 139)

CS Robotics Electives

Pick at least three courses from the list below:

1. Human-Robot Interaction (CS 133)
2. Machine Learning (CS 135)
3. Autonomous Intelligent Robots (CS 50)
4. Developmental Robotics (CS 150-XX)
5. Statistical Pattern Recognition (CS 136)
6. Deep Neural Networks (CS 137)
7. Reinforcement Learning (CS 138)
8. Computational Models in Cognitive Science (CS 134)
9. Computer Vision (CS 150-XX)
10. Bayesian Deep Learning (CS 150-XX)

Capstone

To be successful in CS robotics in the future (in academia and industry alike), you will need hands-on experience with different types of robots and with experimental evaluations of robotic systems. You can fulfill the capstone de facto requirement in our CS robotics focus area by either doing a year long senior capstone project via CS 97 and CS 98 or doing a thesis in CS robotics via CS 197.