Monday, January 15, 2007

WPI launches first undergrad robotics degree in nation

By Catherine Williams

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is launching the nation's first undergraduate degree in robotics -- and business leaders are already lining up to hire its future graduates.

While several name-brand universities offer graduate programs in the field, none offer a robotics degree at the undergraduate level.

WPI's plan is supported by regional businesses, whose work-force needs have grown faster than local colleges can graduate young talent.

Its program is scheduled to launch this fall against the backdrop of a catapulting demand for robotics technologies in areas from homeland security to household automation. While MIT, Wentworth Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology provide undergraduate courses in robotics, none have a full undergraduate degree program.

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh plans to follow the lead of WPI and is developing a similar program, according to CMU officials, who didn't say when it would be ready to take students.

The blossoming of WPI's program is aimed at offering a new pipeline for businesses eager to find qualified workers, such as Cambridge-based Bluefin Robotics Corp.

"In this arena, the business needs have really outpaced what is being offered at the university level," said Brian Abraham, Bluefin president and CEO.

Bluefin has looked as far as France and Norway for qualified employees, said Abraham, who also sits on WPI's robotics advisory board.

Bluefin, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute, specializes in autonomous underwater vehicles for ocean-floor surveys and mine warfare and reports revenue of $10 million to $20 million. Bluefin employs 70 people and won an $18 million U.S. Navy contract in August 2006.

Brian Hart, CEO of Tyngsborough-based Black-i Robotics Inc., said he is looking to WPI to provide qualified applicants for his young company.

"I believe the tight collaboration between industry and academic research means that the projects are relevant and that graduates have jobs at the end of the program," said Hart, who also sits on the advisory board.

Black-i, a company that just incorporated in 2006, plans to release a series of unmanned six-wheeled battlefield robots for the military in the coming months. Hart founded the company three years after his son, Pfc. John Daniel Hart, was killed Oct. 18, 2003, in Iraq at the age of 20.

Other robotics companies operating in the region include Stockbridge, Vt.-based Advanced Animations Inc. and Amherst, N.H.-based MobileRobots Inc. And the well-known Burlington-based iRobot Corp., whose robotics made the leap from bomb detection to home cleaning, continues its blaze into the consumer market. IRobot unveiled a new self-programmable mobile robot this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

IRobot's chairman, Helen Greiner, also sits on WPI's robotics advisory board.

WPI officials are counting on industry growth to fuel the success of the program. Robotics use in elder care, household technologies and defense markets are growing rapidly, according to Carol Simpson, WPI provost and senior vice president.

"We think it is the fastest growing area of technology out there," said Simpson.

The robotics industry is growing rapidly because it touches sectors ranging from medical devices to manufacturing. Demand for the technology is expected to boom in the next decade, according to industry reports.

The worldwide market size of the robotics industry sat at $11 billion in 2005 and is expected to rise to $66 billion by 2025, according to the Japan Robot Association. Upton-based Robotics Trends Inc. measures the industry at $5 billion in 2005 and expects it to grow to $52 billion by 2025.

Another measure of industry growth is the number of students interested in studying robotics.

The number of staff and students devoted to robotics study at Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center doubled from 2000 to 2005, according to Robin Shoop, director of the center's Robotics Academy.

WPI's program is a combination of curriculum taken from three fields: computer science, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Bluefin's Abraham agrees with the multidisciplined structure of the program.

"New hires need to have a broad understanding of the scientific fields involved," said Abraham.