Structure of the programme
The duration of the EMARO Masters course is two academic years (120 ECTS credits).
Each year is split into two semesters with 30 ECTS credits for each.
The language of instruction and examination is English.
The student will stay the first year in one institution and the second year in an another institution.
The first year (60 ECTS credits)
The aim of the first year (M1), is to provide the students with a solid interdisciplinary background
across the main areas of robotics: Perception (vision, sensors, signal processing), Cognition
(computer science, artificial intelligence, and neural networks), Action (kinematics, dynamics,
automatic control), and Mathematical Foundations (modelling, simulation, and optimisation).
The first year will be opened simultaneously in the three institutions with the same programme.
To exploit the full potential of the complementary areas of the expertise available in the consortium,
more than 30% of the modules in each institution will be taught by staff from the other institutions.
The structure of the first year is shown in Table 1. It consists of two semesters S1 (from September
till the end of January) and S2 (from February till the end of June). The first semester starts
with two weeks of intensive local language course (French or Polish).
Table 1 : Structure of the first year
First two weeks
September |
First semester
September – 30 January |
Second semester
March- End of June |
| - Local language course* |
- Interdisciplinary back-ground modules
- Local language course* |
- Interdisciplinary back-ground modules |
* Another language will be proposed , for students who master the language of the hosting country.
This could be for instance the local language of the country of the second year.
The second year (60 ECTS credits)
The second year, M2, will be opened in all the consortium institutions from September till the end
of July. It consists of the third semester S3 (from September till the end of January) and the
fourth semester S4 (from February till the end of July). During the third semester,
more specialised courses are proposed. The programme of this semester is based on the specific
research strengths of the partners institutions (thus varying from partner to partner).
The fourth semester is devoted to the Masters Thesis. The structure of this year is shown
in Table 2.
Table 2 : Structure of the second year in each of the consortium institutions.
First two weeks
September |
First semester
September – 30 January |
Second semester
March- End of July |
| - Local language course* |
- Specialised courses,
- Research planning,
- Local language course* |
- Master thesis |
* Another language will be proposed , for students who master the local language of the hosting country.
This could be for instance the local language of the country of the first year.
The third semester (30 ECTS credits)
The third semester (S3) starts with two weeks devoted to the local language of the hosting
institution. During these two weeks, the topic of the master thesis will be chosen by the
student out of a list of subjects proposed by the staff of the institution (or proposed by
the student, however subject to acceptance by the prospective supervisor). The topic of the
thesis must correspond to one of the current research activities of the hosting institution.
The modules of S3 consist of specialised courses based on the specific research strengths
of the partner institutions.
During this semester students are also prepared for their work on the dissertation through
the participation in the module Research planning. This module will let the students learn
the necessary tools to carry out and present a research topic, they will study the state
of the art of the research subject.
The fourth semester (30 ECTS credits)
The fourth semester (S4) is devoted to the Master Thesis, valued for 30 ECTS credits.
Each student will be jointly supervised by two advisors from two different institutions.
The research topic can be supervised and located in a R&D department of an industrial
institution. The research work is finalised by a written dissertation, i.e.the Masters
Thesis, which must be done individually and contain an element of original work. The
dissertation must be defended in front of a committee of experts. The constitution of this
committee and the conditions of the oral presentation will be detailed in the Student Handbook.