Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Robotics
Program website: http://phdrobotics.gatech.edu
Program requirements: http://phdrobotics.gatech.edu/program
Students pursuing a PhD in Robotics must take 36 credit hours of core research and elective courses, pass a comprehensive qualifying exam with written and oral components, and successfully complete, document, and defend a piece of original research culminating in a doctoral thesis. Students select a home school, such as ECE, AE, ME, or IC, and apply for admission to the PhD program in robotics through that home school.
All PhD programs must incorporate a standard set of Requirements for the Doctoral Degree.
Program of Study
The main emphasis of the Ph.D. program is the successful completion of an original and independent research thesis. The degree requirements are designed around this goal.
Minimum Requirements
- Completion of 33 semester hours of courses with a letter grade
- Passing a comprehensive qualifying exam with written and oral components.
- Successfully conducting, documenting, and defending a piece of original research culminating in a doctoral thesis.
- Note: A maximum of two classes (6 semester hours) at the 4000-level may be used to satisfy 33 semester hour requirement.
- Minor Field of Study
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CS/AE/ECE/ME 7785 | Introduction to Robotics Research | 3 |
| CS/AE/ECE/ME 8750 | Robotics Research Foundation I | 3 |
| CS/AE/ECE/ME 8751 | Robotics Research Foundation II | 3 |
| Foundation Courses 1 | 9 | |
| Elective Courses 2 | 9 | |
| Courses Outside of the Major | 6 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 33 | |
Ph.D. Candidacy
Prior to completing all of these requirements, Georgia Tech defines the Ph.D Candidate milestones. Admission to candidacy requires that the student:
- Complete all course requirements (except the minor);
- Achieve a satisfactory scholastic record;
- Pass the comprehensive examination;
- Submit and receive approval naming the dissertation topic and delineating the research topic.
Core Area Courses
The following courses are in the robotics core areas of Mechanics, Control, Perception, Artificial Intelligence, and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). They are used to select three foundation courses and three targeted elective courses. Foundation courses are noted with a footnote.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanics | ||
| AE 6211 | Advanced Dynamics II | 3 |
| AE 6230 | Structural Dynamics | 3 |
| AE 6270 | Applied Nonlinear Dynamics | 3 |
| AE 6520 | Advanced Flight Dynamics | 3 |
| BMED 8813 | Special Topics (Robotics) 1 | 3 |
| CS 7496 | Computer Animation | 3 |
| ME 6405 | Introduction to Mechatronics | 3 |
| ME 6407 | Robotics 1 | 3 |
| ME 6441 | Dynamics of Mechanical Systems | 3 |
| ME 6442 | Vibration of Mechanical Systems | 3 |
| ME 7442 | Vibration of Continuous Systems | 3 |
| Control | ||
| AE 6505 | Random Processes and Kalman Filtering | 3 |
| AE 6506 | Aerospace Guidance and Navigation | 3 |
| AE 6511 | Optimal Guidance and Control | 3 |
| AE 6530 | Multivariable Linear Systems and Control 1 | 3 |
| AE 6531 | Aerospace Robust Control I | 3 |
| AE 6532 | Aerospace Robust Control II | 3 |
| AE 6534 | Control of Aerospace Structures | 3 |
| AE 6580 | Aerospace Nonlinear Control | 3 |
| AE 8803 | Special Topics (Nonlinear Stochastic Optimal Control) | 3 |
| ECE 6550 | Linear Systems and Controls 1 | 3 |
| ECE 6551 | Digital Control | 3 |
| ECE 6552 | Nonlinear Systems and Control | 3 |
| ECE 6553 | Optimal Control and Optimization | 3 |
| ECE 6554 | Adaptive Control | 3 |
| ECE 6555 | Optimal Estimation | 3 |
| ECE 6559 | Advanced Linear Systems | 3 |
| ECE 6563 | Networked Control and Multiagent Systems | 3 |
| ME 6401 | Linear Control Systems 1 | 3 |
| ME 6402 | Nonlinear Control Systems | 3 |
| ME 6403 | Digital Control Systems | 3 |
| ME 6404 | Advanced Control System Design and Implementation | 3 |
| Perception | ||
| CS 6476 | Introduction to Computer Vision GR 1 | 3 |
| CS 7476 | Advanced Computer Vision | 3 |
| CS 7616 | Pattern Recognition | 3 |
| CS 7636 | Computational Perception | 3 |
| CS 7499 | 3D Reconstruction and Mapping in Computer Vision, Robotics, and Augmented Reality | 3 |
| CS 7626 | Introduction to Behavioral Imaging | 3 |
| CS 7643 | Deep Learning | 3 |
| ECE 6255 | Digital Processing of Speech Signals | 3 |
| ECE 6258 | Digital Image Processing | 3 |
| ECE 6273 | Methods of Pattern Recognition with Application to Voice | 3 |
| ECE 6560 | Partial Differential Equations in Image Processing and Computer Vision | 3 |
| ME 6406 | Machine Vision 1 | 3 |
| Artificial Intelligence | ||
| CS 3600 | Introduction to Artificial Intelligence | 3 |
| CS 6601 | Artificial Intelligence 1 | 3 |
| CS 7612 | Artificial Intelligence Planning | 3 |
| CS 7640 | Learning in Autonomous Agents | 3 |
| CS 7643 | Deep Learning | 3 |
| CS 7648 | Interactive Robot Learning | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Mobile Manipulation) | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Robot Intelligence) | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Robot Motion Planning) | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Computation and the Brain) | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Statistical Techniques in Robotics) | 3 |
| CS/ECE 8803 | Special Topics (Probabilistic Graph Models and ML in High Dimensions) | 3 |
| ECE 6254 | Statistical Machine Learning | 3 |
| Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) 2 | ||
| AE 6721 | Evaluation of Human Integrated Systems 1 | 3 |
| CS 7633 | Human-Robot Interaction 1 | 3 |
| CS 6455 | User Interface Design and Evaluation | 3 |
| CS 6750 | Human-Computer Interaction | 3 |
| CS 7648 | Interactive Robot Learning 1 | 3 |
| CS 8803 | Special Topics (Computational Social Robotics) | 3 |
| ISYE 6215 | Models in Human-Machine Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6224 | Topics in Human-Integrated Systems | 3 |
| PSYC 6011 | Cognitive Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 6014 | Sensation and Perception | 3 |
| PSYC 6017 | Human Abilities | 3 |
| PSYC 7101 | Engineering Psychology I: Methods | 3 |
| PSYC 7104 | Psychomotor and Cognitive Skill Learning and Performance | 3 |
- 1
Foundation course
- 2
HRI includes two core courses. Students are encouraged, but not required to take both HRI core courses. Students taking both core courses may use their second core class in place of an HRI elective course.
Minor Field of Study
The Robotics Ph.D. Minor consists of two related courses (six semester credit hours) outside of robotics that forms a coherent field of study in accordance with the Institute’s policies. The minor courses must be distinct from any of the robotics core areas (i.e., are not listed under any of the 5 core areas on this website) but can be taken from the student’s home school as long as they are distinct from robotics courses (e.g., ECE-ROBO student can take ECE circuits courses or ME students can take fluid mechanics courses).