
Overview
The robotics research, education, and club efforts at Washington State University have experienced a rapid period of growth in the past several years. They began with the Robotics Club & RoboSub Club and the establishment of the Modeling, Motion, and Medical Robotics Laboratory (Prof. John Swensen, Mechanical Engineering). More recently we have been joined by two more professors: Dr. Ming Luo and Dr. Nestor Perez-Arancibia.
We are in the process of establishing formal curriculum for those interesting in robotics and intelligent systems, regardless of whether their interests lie in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering.
Below you will find links to all the robotics efforts on campus, both those run by students and those in research labs. In the menu, you can find information about our robotics curriculum (current and planned) and information about applying to departments for robotics study at WSU.
Modeling, Motion, and Medical Robotics Laboratory

- High degrees of freedom, sensing, and actuation
- Tunably compliant mechanisms
- Applications in needle steering and medical devices
Robotics Club
The Robotics Club’s mission is to increase enthusiasm towards, and knowledge of, robotics by providing students of Washington State University a hands-on and multi-disciplinary collaborative experience in designing, building, and programming robots. The Robotics Club sponsors project teams working on:
- NASA RASC-AL Exploration Robo-Ops Competition
- Medical Robotics (2015-2016 Prosthetic Hand)
- Ping-Pong Robot
- Robotic Arm (Chess playing)
- Battlebot
- Internet of Things
Palouse Robosub Club
Palouse RoboSub Club is an organization made up of multiple groups all with one goal: build an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) that will be entered in the yearly international AUVSI competition in San Diego CA. Made up of a student club, as well as senior design groups from both Washington State University and University of Idaho, Palouse Robosub Club is a diverse student organization that focuses on collaborative engineering and design.