MSTI Curriculum Focus Areas: Tracks

Explore trends and skills in different emerging technology areas

In addition to key skills in Engineering, Business, and Design, the MSTI program allows students to take a deeper dive into exploring the skills necessary to succeed in specific technology areas.

Students must choose a track during the program to focus their studies and projects, and most of the MSTI core curriculum is shared across both tracks.

Each track contains specialized lab classes and capstone projects to help students explore trends and use practical skills to gain knowledge and experience with key technologies.

Robots are rapidly moving into dynamic, spaces where they must interact with human users.

Develop and test custom hardware solutions in the real world

Robotics Track

Applied Robotics Solutions

The Robotics Track is the only program at the University of Washington with guaranteed hands-on time with a variety of robotics platforms and focuses on the practical deployment of robotics in real-world human-facing settings.

As robots are no longer used only in industrial settings but are moving into dynamic, human-occupied spaces with a variety of commercial platforms and applications, there is an increased demand for specialists who can program commercially available robots for a range of solutions.

Many of these skills are also highly transferable to other areas, including self-driving capabilities for cars and other vehicles or advanced unmanned systems (drones) deployment.

Key skills include:

  • How robots sense the world around them: Robot Sensing, Environment Mapping, and Navigation Planning using Computer Vision and Machine Learning
  • How robots can successfully communicate intent: Human-Robot Interaction concepts and design
  • How robots can pick up and move objects: Detection and Manipulation of objects (including complex non-rigid shapes)
  • What environments are suitable for specific types of robots: Understanding infrastructure needs and limitations
  • What are emerging service robotics applications: Exploring a range of application areas including healthcare, food service, and logistics

Connected Devices Track

IoT, Smart, and Applied AI solutions

The Connected Devices track allows students to explore a wide range of emerging hardware and software solutions.

Smaller and more advanced sensors and microcontrollers are paving the way for a wide range of new custom hardware devices, which can help users gather more data and process it more effectively with the assistance of AI/machine learning and cloud computing integration.

Students work together with a wide range of technology companies who provide expert insight and knowledge to develop technology solutions to real-world problems.

A wide range of technologies are explored in this track including:

  • Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality: Explore the latest application areas in a variety of fields
  • Edge Devices: Develop custom hardware and use a range of sensors to gather data with connectivity to other IoT devices.
  • Unmanned Systems (Drones): Learn how unmanned systems are being utilized in a different applications, like forest mapping or monitoring whale health
  • Cloud Computing: Understand how data processing can be handled in the cloud, expanding the capability of a small hardware device to nearly infinite potential
  • Computer Vision: Explore how sensors can map the environment around them, detecting humans, animals, or a range of other objects visually.
  • Machine Learning: Apply the latest in AI and Machine Learning to analyze data and detect trends and issues using Big Data at scales that humans are unable to map.

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