MSc in Robotics
Bedford, United Kingdom
MSc
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
21 Sep 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 29,025 **
STUDY FORMAT
* for UK and Irish students
** for overseas students | £13,005 - for home students
Key Summary
About: Cranfield’s MSc in Robotics covers intelligent and autonomous robot systems across industry, hazardous environments, health care, assistive robotics and autonomous vehicles. It emphasizes human aspects and combines theory with practical work, covering embedded systems, control, perception and human-robot interaction. The course draws on Cranfield’s expertise in technology and management to prepare graduates for robotics, automation and systems roles.
Career Outcomes: You’ll be prepared for UK and overseas roles such as these: Robotics Engineer; Embedded Software Engineer; Software Engineer; Test Engineer; Consultant; Mechanical Project Engineer; Researcher; Automation Engineer; Electrical Engineer. Related careers include systems integrator, controls engineer and robotics consultant.
Robots are becoming ubiquitous in industrial environments as well as in everyday life. Industries including automotive, oil and gas, aerospace and energy have significant future growth in the service robot domain. The course provides insight into multiple application domains for intelligent and autonomous robot systems, including industry, hazardous environments, health care, domestic/assistive robotics, and autonomous vehicles.
Unique in its focus on human aspects and supported by practical applications, this course will enhance your employment prospects by providing you with relevant theoretical knowledge and practical skills to meet the rising global demand for professionals in this field.
Compulsory Modules
All the modules in the following list need to be taken as part of this course.
- Fundamentals of Robotics
- Robotics Control
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Robotics
- Programming Methods for Robotics
- Psychology, Ethics and Standards
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Machine Vision for Robotics
- Autonomy in Robotic Systems
- Cranfield University has been ranked amongst the world’s top universities in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject.
- In Engineering – Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing, Cranfield has been ranked 27th in the world and attained top scores in Employer and Academic Reputation.
As the demand for robotics engineers is increasing, this MSc has been developed for graduates to equip themselves with the skills and knowledge required for associated careers. The course provides a unique experience of the breadth of the field of robotics, preparing students with not only a broad understanding of their uses and applications in modern society but also the fundamental science behind them.
To help students find appropriate funding, we have created a funding finder where you can search for suitable sources of funding by filtering the results to suit your needs. Visit the funding finder.
ASEAN-UK: Women in STEM Scholarships
Cranfield University is proud to join the Women in STEM Scholarship initiative by offering six fully funded scholarships for female students from selected countries in East Asia. We are looking for women with a background in STEM who can demonstrate their need for financial support and who wish to inspire future generations of women to pursue careers in STEM.
Cranfield University GREAT Scholarship
In partnership with the British Council and the GREAT Britain Campaign, Cranfield University is offering 5 scholarships of financial support to the value of £10,000 to students from Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Thailand and Vietnam.
Master's Loan from Student Finance England
A Master's Loan is now available for UK applicants to help you pay for your master’s course.
Commonwealth Scholarships for Developing Countries
Students from developing countries who would not otherwise be able to study in the UK can apply for a Commonwealth Scholarship, which includes tuition fees, travel and a monthly stipend for master’s study.
Chevening Scholarships
Chevening Scholarships are awarded to outstanding emerging leaders to pursue a one-year master’s at Cranfield University. The scholarship includes tuition fees, travel and a monthly stipend for master’s study.
Lendwise Postgraduate Student Loan
The Lendwise Postgraduate Student Loan provides tuition fees and maintenance loans of between £5,000 and £100,000 for eligible applicants studying at Cranfield University.
The MSc in Robotics is designed to equip you with the skills required to pursue a successful career working in the UK and overseas.
Typical jobs that our graduates go into include:
- Robotics Engineer
- Embedded Software Engineer
- Software Engineer
- Test Engineer
- Consultant
- Mechanical Project Engineer
- Researcher
- Automation Engineer
- Electrical Engineer
The course is suitable for those with essential engineering mathematics knowledge and basic computer programming skills who are looking to broaden their understanding of robotics uses, applications and science.
Typically, our students come from backgrounds in aeronautics/aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, pure mathematics, computer science, software engineering, mechatronic engineering, and information technology.
Why this course?
Robotics technologies are being increasingly adopted across various industries, including automotive, oil and gas, aerospace and energy, as well as potential significant future growth in the service robot domain. Application domains for intelligent and autonomous robot systems include hazardous environments, health care, domestic/assistive robotics and autonomous vehicles.
With this MSc, your employability prospects will be enhanced thanks to the relevant theoretical knowledge and practical skills that you will gain, helping you to become successful robotics engineers and experts in robotics and to meet the rising global demands.
This course consists of eight one-week assessed modules, a group project and an individual project. Students are also supported in their learning and personal development through industry seminars, a group poster session, group discussions, group presentations, video demonstrations, case studies, laboratory experiments, coursework and project work. Students will receive hands-on experience with our range of conventional and collaborative robots located in the Aerospace Integration Research Centre - supporting practice workshops, student group projects and individual projects. You will participate in a study tour carried out at ABB Robotics in Milton Keynes, where you will spend up to a week at our industrial partner ABB Robotics’ training centre, receiving practical robot training.
The new MSc in Robotics will use standard teaching and assessment methods as well as technology-enhanced teaching (TET) methods such as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to support different learning styles. Theories and fundamentals of robotics will be taught in both lecture and workshop formats, where videos and technology demonstrators will be used as teaching aids. For example, a collaborative robot will be used in the teaching of human-robot interaction, and virtual reality technology will be used in teaching digital robotics. Lecture videos will be available on the VLE to provide an interactive learning experience. Students will receive hands-on experience in programming industrial robots, initially in a robot simulation lab, which follows a practical robot-programming workshop using a real industrial robot supported by ABB Robotics. The use of robotics technology will enable students to see robot engineering phenomena first-hand, where they can test engineering principles and theories with real devices.
Taught modules 40%, group project 20%, individual research project 40%
Group Project
The group design project is intended to provide you with the invaluable experience of delivering a project within an industry-structured team. The project allows you to develop a range of skills, including learning how to establish team member roles and responsibilities, project management, delivering technical presentations and gaining experience of working in teams that include members with a variety of expertise and often with members who are based remotely.
2019 group project: In-To-Net-Bot
Students worked to explore the feasibility of a self-learning ball-catching robot system that can potentially solve logistics and mobility issues in human-robot interaction. The main objective was to use a combination of engineering and artificial intelligence methods to provide the robot the ability to predict the trajectory of an object in-flight, and to generate the robot motions required to catch the object.
Part-time students are encouraged to participate in a group project as it provides a wealth of learning opportunities. However, an option of an individual dissertation is available if agreed with the Course Director.
Individual Project
The individual research project allows you to delve deeper into an area of specific interest. It is very common for industrial partners to put forward real-world problems or areas of development as potential research thesis topics. For part-time students, it is common that their research thesis is undertaken in collaboration with their place of work.
Previous projects have included:
- The design of a novel human-robot collaboration decision-making framework for the Flying Co-Worker,
- Accurate tether-based localisation system for tank-inspection robotic crawler,
- Design of a modular self-assembling robot system (MoSARS).