TECH 80 — The Future of Robotics
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Steve Cousins
Date(s): Sep 30—Nov 4
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $500
Refund Deadline: Oct 2
Unit(s): 0
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 6 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 30—Nov 4
Unit(s): 0
Tuition: $500
Refund Deadline: Oct 2
Instructor(s): Steve Cousins
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Recording Available: No
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Robotics is moving beyond research labs and factory floors into hospitals, oceans, farms, construction sites, warehouses, classrooms, and the arts. The question is no longer whether robots will shape the future, but how. Steve Cousins, executive director of the Stanford Robotics Center, leads this course, drawing on decades of experience at the forefront of robotics research and innovation.
Beginning with the field’s early foundations and extending to today’s most advanced systems, you will explore robotics through history, state-of-the-art research, and live demonstrations that reveal both capabilities and limitations. Topics include medicine and assistive technologies, extreme environments such as underwater and construction settings, and agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics, where adoption is most advanced. You will also examine aging and demographic change through Stanford’s SOAR initiative, along with creative applications in the arts and education, including robotic choreography and coordinated swarms.
Designed for professionals and lifelong learners, the course offers a clear framework for understanding how robotics is shaping the world now—and what comes next.
Beginning with the field’s early foundations and extending to today’s most advanced systems, you will explore robotics through history, state-of-the-art research, and live demonstrations that reveal both capabilities and limitations. Topics include medicine and assistive technologies, extreme environments such as underwater and construction settings, and agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics, where adoption is most advanced. You will also examine aging and demographic change through Stanford’s SOAR initiative, along with creative applications in the arts and education, including robotic choreography and coordinated swarms.
Designed for professionals and lifelong learners, the course offers a clear framework for understanding how robotics is shaping the world now—and what comes next.