MSc Intelligent Systems and Robotics

Introduction

Robots are widely used in industry, for example in factory automation, and there is great demand for robotic applications in everyday life and in the home, ranging from self-driving cars to house cleaning robots. Intelligent system and machine learning algorithms are at the core of data mining technology, computer games, advance user interfaces, surveillance systems, automated trading systems, biotechnology, bioinformatics and many others.

This MSc will give you skills that are in high demand from both the academic research community and a wide range of industrial companies working in these areas. The MSc provides you with a comprehensive coverage of contemporary intelligent systems, with robots serving as a major example of the technology.

Thanks to the leading research being undertaken at Essex, the course will give you not only a solid understanding of the foundations of this technology, ranging from the principles by which sensed data are converted into useful information to the practical aspects of developing intelligent and robotic systems, but it will also offer you a wide range of options which cover state-of-the-art modern techniques. These directly reflect research directions in the School, including biologically-inspired robots, biometrics, or computational intelligence.

The degree is delivered by a team of internationally-recognised researchers, with expertise spanning the entire range of intelligent systems and with experience of developing robots intended for land, under water and in the air. Research carried out by the team has resulted in appearance in the Robot Soccer World Cup final, an autonomous robot fish in the London Aquarium, a self-programming computer vision system, and many others.

Structure of the Scheme

The course consists of eight taught modules plus an individual project and associated dissertation. It is taught over 12 months (full-time) or 24 months (part-time).

Further Course Details

including offer levels, module structure, syllabus content details

MSc Industry-based Project and Dissertation

With the School's approval, a student may take the MSc Industry-based Project and Dissertation (CE911-7-SU) as an alternative to CE901-7-SU. This is designed to cater for students who are either taking the MSc whilst in employment, or who have secured industrial sponsorship in connection with their studies.

Demonstration Videos

Essex Robotic Fish

Evolved Neural Network Flight Controller for Helicopter

The video shows a dynamic a 3D simulation of a model helicopter flying through a predefined random sequence of waypoint. The helicopter is controlled by an artificial neural network evolved with a Genetic Algorithm. For more details surf the website of the UltraSwarm project http://gridswarms.essex.ac.uk

Onboard a Robot Car

Watch some footage shot from an on-board camera while under human remote control. This gives an idea of the challenge for computer vision. Watch out for a surprise at the end that nearly trashed the on-board camera!

Essex Humanoid Robot

Essex "Brain Computer Interface Mouse"

This video shows an experimental system where a 2-D pointer is directly controlled by brain activity recorded from the scalp. The video also shows a prototype speller based on our hands-free mouse. The system has been developed within the Brain Computer Interfaces Group at Essex.