Courses & Research | Human-Robot Interaction & Social AI

Your Master’s in Robotics is worth 120 EC. In addition to the six compulsory specialisation courses, you will take two courses from the profile you have chosen and electives to shape your expertise in a specific application area. In your second year, you will do an internship, take more elective courses, or do an Academic-Skills project. You will complete your Master’s by conducting research for your master’s thesis project.

European Credit Transfer System

Student workload at Dutch universities is expressed in EC, also named ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), which is widely used throughout the European Union. In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

Structure

Year 1	Number of EC
Specialisation courses For all students in Human-Robot Interaction & Social AI.	30 EC	Systems Engineering Human-Robot Communication Robot Perception, Cognition, and Navigation Tele-presence Robotics Advanced Software Development for Robotics Human-Robot Collaboration
Profile courses Each profile consists of two courses. You can choose one profile or combine courses from different profiles.	10 EC	Some of the courses from which you can choose are: Research profile Human Movement Control Social Robot Design Advanced Research Projects in Human-Robot Interaction Trends in Human Robot Interaction Research Design profile Modelling of Technical Design Processes Manufacturing Facility Design Human Centered Design Safety by Design for Products, Equipment and Systems Innovation & Entrepreneurship profile Robotics Innovation Tournament (mandatory) I&E Basics: Innovation management for EIT Basics of Impact, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Design Thinking for Service and Business Innovation
Elective courses You can choose courses that match your interests and career ambitions. You can select courses from the other specialisations or profiles. You will do this in consultation with your programme mentor.	20 EC	Some of the elective courses from which you can choose are: Virtual Reality Speech Processing Soft Robotics Technology for Health Control for UAVs Identification of Human Physiological Systems

Year 1

Number of EC

Specialisation courses
For all students in Human-Robot Interaction & Social AI.

30 EC

Profile courses
Each profile consists of two courses. You can choose one profile or combine courses from different profiles.

10 EC

Some of the courses from which you can choose are:

Research profile

Design profile

Innovation & Entrepreneurship profile

Elective courses
You can choose courses that match your interests and career ambitions. You can select courses from the other specialisations or profiles. You will do this in consultation with your programme mentor.

20 EC

Some of the elective courses from which you can choose are:

Year 2	Number of EC
Internship, elective courses, or Academic-Skills project	20 EC	You have a lot of freedom to compose the first part of your second year. You can do an internship or take courses from other specialisations and related Master’s programmes. If you have a degree from a university of applied science (Dutch HBO), you need to do an Academic-Skills project instead of an internship. Internship Academic-Skills project and elective courses Elective courses
Master’s thesis project	40 EC	In the final part of your programme, you will join one of the robotics research groups and work on your master’s thesis project.
Total EC	120 EC

Year 2

Number of EC

Internship, elective courses, or Academic-Skills project

20 EC

You have a lot of freedom to compose the first part of your second year. You can do an internship or take courses from other specialisations and related Master’s programmes. If you have a degree from a university of applied science (Dutch HBO), you need to do an Academic-Skills project instead of an internship.

Internship
Academic-Skills project and elective courses
Elective courses

Master’s thesis project

40 EC

In the final part of your programme, you will join one of the robotics research groups and work on your master’s thesis project.

Total EC

120 EC

or skype with a student and gain first-hand experience!

Internship

In the second year of your Master’s in Robotics, you will gain practical experience through a three-month internship. Your extensive expertise in Human-Robot Interaction & Social AI opens up numerous opportunities, allowing you to choose both the topic and place of your internship. However, if you are a student from a university of applied science (Dutch HBO), you will do an Academic-Skills project and take courses instead of pursuing an internship.

Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s by joining one of the robotics research groups and doing research for your master’s thesis project. There are many research and design areas on which you can focus. Your choice of a research group and thesis topic depends on your interests. For example, you can refine the control of a robot from a distance by mimicking a human’s arm position. Another possible assignment is developing a physical avatar and a wearable device that allows a person to feel touch. What about improving spoken interaction with a robot?

You can work on projects such as:

Creating algorithms to guide the movement of a robotic hand
Investigating how drones can safely and accurately pass objects to humans while considering human movements in the process
Developing a method to control how a gripper-mounted telerobot handles a flexible object

Career perspectives