Building a Future with Robots

4.8 (39 reviews)

25,192 enrolled on this course

Explore the roles robots will play in future everyday life, from job automation and medical science to our homes and cars.

Building a Future with Robots

Duration

3 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100%

online

Learn how your life could be changed by robots and autonomous systems

Robots and autonomous systems have already begun to transform our jobs and everyday lives. From self-driving cars and home robots to chatbots like ChatGPT, technology powered by artificial intelligence and robotics is set to play a pivotal role in our future world.

On this three-week course from the University of Sheffield, you’ll delve into current and future developments in robotics. You’ll discover how robots operate, learn, and interact with the world.

Understand how robots sense, learn, and interact

Over the three weeks of the course, you’ll explore how robots sense the world around them and how they can be made to work with humans and with one another.

You’ll build up a picture of the fundamental principles and challenges of robotic design, looking deeper into how research is working to overcome these.

Build skills and prepare for a future with robots

As you learn about the theory and science of robotics, you’ll also be building practical skills for your own career and life. You’ll learn what a future with robots might look like, and what role you could play within it.

You’ll finish the course with the expertise you need to understand and shape the future of robotics.

What topics will you cover?

Robots and autonomous systems are set to change our lives in the not-too-distant future; from travel (self-driving cars), to work (job automation), to medicine (biomedical robots), and even domestic life (household robots).

On this course, we’ll look at current and future developments in the field of robotics. You’ll learn how robots sense the world around them, how robotics takes inspiration from nature, and how robots will work with humans.

You’ll build up a picture of the principles and the fundamental challenges of robotic design and learn to demonstrate how research is working to overcome these.

Building a Future with Robots

4.8 (39 reviews)

25,192 enrolled on this course

3 weeks


3 hours per week


Digital certificate when eligible


Introductory level


FutureLearn Programmes

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone interested in learning about the future of robots and robotics.

It will be particularly useful for aspiring mechanical, automotive, and robotics engineers, as well as product designers, technicians, and enthusiasts keen to understand the role robots are set to play in our domestic, economic, and industrial futures.

Who will you learn with?

Sandor M Veres

Sandor M Veres is professor of Autonomous Control Systems at the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

Who developed the course?

The University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is one of the world’s top 100 universities, renowned for the excellence, impact and distinctiveness of its research-led learning and teaching.

As a member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group, almost 30,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learn alongside some of the best academics from across the globe.

Sheffield’s outstanding performance for excellent teaching and research is consistently confirmed by international independent assessments. Renowned for its student experience, Sheffield’s Students’ Union is regularly voted as the best in the UK.

The University’s life enhancing research, innovation and education not only transforms the lives of its graduates, but shapes the world we live in. In the most recent UK Research Excellence Framework, 86 percent of Sheffield’s research was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent.

With six Nobel Prize winners among its former staff and students, Sheffield has a proud history of discovery, innovation and social change. In 1930, it pioneered the very first medical use of penicillin, while more recently researchers developed a lifesaving drug for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer.

Today, it’s pioneering research into sustainable farming to safeguard the world’s food supply, recreating the interiors of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear reactors to aid the clean-up process, and working with the world’s biggest social media companies to protect vulnerable users from harmful content.

Focussed on equipping students for life after Sheffield, the outstanding research-led teaching is empowering the next generation of global citizens.

Endorsers and supporters
supported by

Uk aid

EC x FutureLearn

Entrepreneurship: From Business Idea to Action

4.8 (611 reviews)

64,594 enrolled on this course

Improve your knowledge of entrepreneurship and discover how to plan, develop, nurture, and build a successful business.

Entrepreneurship

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

4 hours

100%

online

Learn key business skills, from pitching your idea to writing a vision statement

On this course, you’ll enhance your understanding of business and improve your skills in entrepreneurship for university study and work.

You’ll develop yourself as an entrepreneur by learning how to approach key stages of entrepreneurship, from coming up with a business idea to writing a business plan.

Using case studies of local businesses and entrepreneurship in the MENA region, you’ll learn how to apply business concepts and ideas to different contexts.

You’ll also practice pitching your business ideas and learn about developing your enterprise within an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

What topics will you cover?

  • How to understand yourself as an entrepreneur, and create a self-development plan
  • Sources of business ideas and inspiration
  • The business idea and how to develop it, including: the business model canvas; the minimum viable product; the value of having a mentor; resource requirements; raising finance
  • Pitching skills and tips; communication and language skills
  • The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, including leadership and management; using feedback for development; family business models; working in a team; customer service; networking’ marketing basics.
  • Putting plans into action: the action plan, thinking long term about your enterprise and using resources for continuous development.

Entrepreneurship: From Business Idea to Action

4.8 (611 reviews)

64,594 enrolled on this course

4 weeks


4 hours per week


Digital certificate when eligible


Introductory level


FutureLearn Programmes

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for refugees, displaced people and the communities supporting them in the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) region who wish to study an entrepreneurship or business related course at a university in English.

It has been created as part of the PADILEIA project, which aims to increase access to higher education and employment.

This course will also be of interest to anyone looking to start their own business and develop their knowledge of entrepreneurship.

It will be helpful for those looking to improve their English language vocabulary and communication skills in a business setting.

We recommend learners have a minimum of CEFR B1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) to get the most from this course.

Who will you learn with?

Sabrina Mistry

Sabrina’s main interests are business innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
She holds an MSc in this area, and is nearing completion of her PhD.

Who developed the course?

King’s College London
King’s College London, established in 1829 and a founding college of the University of London, is one of the world’s leading research and teaching universities, based in the very heart of London.

King’s is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, learning and understanding in the service of society. We are one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2022; THE, 2022).

Over the past 180 years King’s has made an extraordinary contribution to modern life, particularly in the areas of humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. We have played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. We are the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

Currently over 33,000 students from more than 150 countries study at King’s, with over 15,000 postgraduate students. We employ around 9,500 staff and boast 14 Nobel Laureates and more than 57,000 registered international alumni.

Endorsers and supporters
supported by

Uk aid

EC x FutureLearn