From Rosie the Maid to the Terminator, general interest in robots is nothing new.
Studying them, however, has been less common - until now.
Come fall semester, the School of Engineering and Applied Science will begin offering a master's program in robotics - the study of building, instrumenting and programming robots.
The program will incorporate coursework and faculty from three different existing SEAS departments: Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Electrical and Systems Engineering, and Computer and Information Science, according to General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Laboratory Director George Pappas.
Penn is the second university in the country to implement this type of program - Carnegie Mellon University already has one in place.
GRASP, which will administer the program, is one of the University's main interdisciplinary research centers, specializing in robotics, vision, perception, control, automation and learning.
In general, Engineering students are unaware of the new program, but Pappas said applications have already started rolling in.
The program is being advertised on the GRASP Web site and through contacts with various colleges.
It will consist of 10 courses and an optional thesis project.
SEAS currently offers courses that deal with robotics-related topics, but undergraduates are unable to major in the subject.
Creating this program "makes sense, considering Penn offers so many courses in robotics," said Engineering senior Kristin Condello, who has taken a few courses dealing with robotics.
Condello added that she thinks the new program "will only continue to attract a more diverse group of graduate students to our school."
The program also boasts course-selection flexibility.
Apart from three core courses - one in each of the major departments Pappas listed - the program will award credit for a wide range of classes, so long as they have some relation to robotics.
In addition, students will have the opportunity to participate in numerous projects already underway in the GRASP lab.
According to the GRASP Web site, students will graduate the program with a proficiency in artificial intelligence, computer vision, control systems, dynamics and machine learning.
Upon completion of the program, the Web site says, graduate students will be qualified to go into industries that focus on robotics-related skills, like aerospace and defense.
And other job opportunities are likely to open up.
"In the next decade, interest in robotics will continue to grow," Engineering professor Mark Yim said.
"Robotics has always been something that attracts people to sciences," Pappas added.
