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Masters in Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing  (T405)

MEngSc (NFQ Level 9) · Academic Year 2025/2026
School
School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Attendance
Full Time
Level
Graduate Taught
NFQ Level
9
Award
Master of Engineering Science
Mode of Delivery
On Campus
Programme Director
Assoc Professor Nikolaos Papakostas
Overall Programme Credits:
90
Programme Credits:
Stage 1
Core/Option: 90 Electives: 0
Major/Minor Core & Option Credits:
Stage 1: 90

Curricular information is subject to change.

The development and deployment of robotic as well as smart manufacturing technologies have become very important for a significant number of industrial sectors in Ireland and the rest of the world, including biomedical, pharmaceutical, agricultural as well as electronics manufacturing companies.

The main barrier towards implementing modern, smart automation technologies in standard manufacturing practices is the lack of skills of automation experts in the areas of robotics and digital manufacturing. In Ireland, this is manifested in the difficulty Irish robotic and system integration companies have in recruiting engineers who can be readily involved in today’s complex automation cell and line building projects. This is also reflected on the average salary of automation experts, which is among the highest in the country. The main goal of this programme is to produce experts with sufficient scientific and practical skills in the areas of robotics and smart manufacturing.

This programme is delivered by a highly research-intensive school, which is in the top 150 in the QS world subject rankings. An example of this research activity is the coordination of the 2.23-million-euro Horizon Europe iCircular3 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project, with one of its main research goals being to take advantage of circular economy principles for improving the efficiency as well as for extending the lifecycle of industrial robots.

Individual Modules:
For students that are not in a position to take on the full programme a number of the modules on this programme can be taken individually via the Advance Centre  catalogue. Most modules are online so that you can fit study around your work and life.

Read our interview with Programme Director
(28) UCD's New Programme MEngSc Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing: Insights from Programme Director, Nikolaos Papakostas | LinkedIn

The College of Engineering and Architecture has invested more than 1 million EUR over the last years on robotics, smart automation, and digital manufacturing technologies. The available equipment, which will be used in a number of lab and training workshops include state-of-the-art industrial and collaborative robots, as well as autonomous industrial / logistics mobile robotic platforms, advanced sensors, and digital manufacturing / simulation software.

  • Knowledge and understanding: The programme will offer multiple sources of knowledge in the areas of robotics and manufacturing.
  • Applying knowledge and understanding: The programme will be including a series of advanced labs and projects thus allowing students to take advantage of modern equipment and apply their knowledge to complex engineering applications.
  • Making judgements: Students will have a lot of opportunities to decide about which resources, processes, potential process / resource configurations may be used in specific applications.
  • Communication and working skills: Students will have multiple opportunities to present their work, work as part of multi-disciplinary teams, communicate with engineering or manufacturing firms and improve their working skills.
  • Learning skills: Students will have the chance to further develop their learning skills and prepare for lifelong learning. On top of the multiple learning sources, they will be using during the programme, they will also be talking part in a real engineering research project thus applying standard and specialised research methods.

At this point of time there is a quite significant lack of automation scientists and engineers in the Irish job market. The prospectives for the programme graduates are excellent. Leading automation companies, such as KUKA Ireland and Cobots.ie, as well as biomedical manufacturing companies, such as STRYKER and Boston Scientific, are continuously looking for automation experts in the Irish job market.

  • KUKA Robotics Ireland Ltd
  • Cobots.ie
  • Tricon Automation Ireland Ltd
  • DesignPro Automation Ltd
  • Eiratech Robotics
  • Robotics and Drives
  • ATA Group
  • Irish Manufacturing Research
  • Reliance Automation

Stage 1

T405 MEngSc Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing FT is a 1-year 90-credit full-time Masters Programme. There are 70 credits of Core Modules and students must also take 20 credits of Option Modules. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Coordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously.

Below is a list of all modules offered for this degree in the current academic year. Click on the module to discover what you will learn in the module, how you will learn and assessment feedback profile amongst other information.

Incoming Stage 1 undergraduates can usually select an Elective in the Spring Trimester. Most continuing undergraduate students can select up to two Elective modules (10 Credits) per stage. There is also the possibility to take up to 10 extra Elective credits.

Module Type Module   Trimester Credits
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN40790 Supply Chain Design & Analysis Autumn  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN40800 Engineering Project Management - Tools & Techniques Autumn  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41330 Data Analytics for Engineers Autumn  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41350 Introduction to Robotics Autumn  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41090 Eng. Decision Support Systems Spring  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41100 Operations Management Spring  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41390 Industrial Automation Spring  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41440 Robotic Applications Spring  5
Stage 1 Core Modules
 MEEN41470 Applied Robotics Research Proj Summer  30
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
EEEN40010 Control Theory Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
EEEN40300 Entrepreneurship in Engineering Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
EEEN40720 Machine Learning for Engineers Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
EEEN40730 Biosensors & Actuators Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN40030 Manufacturing Engineering II Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN40560 Research Skills and Techniques Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN41490 AI in Engineering Autumn  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
COMP47670 Data Science in Python (MD) Autumn and Spring (separate)  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
EEEN40280 Digital & Embedded Systems Spring  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN40110 Advanced Polymer Engineering Spring  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN40430 Professional Engineering (Management) Spring  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN40670 Technical Communication Spring  5
Stage 1 Options - A)20CR:
OPTION MODULES: All students take 20 credits of Option Modules (4 x 5cr). Students should choose 10 credits of Option Modules in Autumn and 10 credits in Spring. Students should aim for a balanced workload of 30 credits per trimester. Students must consult with the Programme Director and Module Co-ordinator(s) to ensure that they satisfy prior learning requirements for their chosen module(s) and may not have taken module(s) with similar content previously. Students registering for COMP47670 MUST select the Spring Trimester offering of this module.
MEEN41150 Advanced Metals Processing Spring  5

See the UCD Assessment website for further details, including worked examples of how degree award GPAs are calculated

Module Weighting Info
 
  Award GPA
Programme Module Weightings Rule Description Description >= <=
MTEMP001 Stage 1 - 100.00%
 Standard Honours Award First Class Honours

3.68

4.20
Second Class Honours, Grade 1

3.08

3.67
Second Class Honours, Grade 2

2.48

3.07
Pass

2.00

2.47
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