Robotics & Automation project ideas

100 projects, from a first build to a final-year capstone. Each lists the skills it teaches and the tools it needs; times and costs are estimates.

Beginner projects

• Line-Following Robot — Follow a black line with an IR sensor array and tune proportional steering for speed and smoothness. Skills: IR sensing, proportional control, tuning. Tools: robot chassis, IR array, MCU. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Obstacle-Avoiding Rover — Drive a rover that turns away from obstacles detected by an ultrasonic sensor. Skills: reactive behaviour, ranging. Tools: ultrasonic sensor, motors. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Arm Joint Angle Visualizer — Drag joint sliders of a 2-link arm and watch the end-effector position update. Skills: forward kinematics, coordinate frames. Tools: web app. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Maze-Solving Micromouse Simulator — Solve mazes with wall-following and flood-fill in simulation. Skills: maze algorithms, flood fill. Tools: Python/web app. Simulator, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Sumo Robot Build — Build a small sumo robot that detects the ring edge and opponent. Skills: edge detection, strategy. Tools: chassis, IR sensors. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Gripper Force Test — Measure gripping force of different gripper jaw designs. Skills: grippers, force measurement. Tools: servo gripper, scale. Data lab, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Bluetooth Robot Joystick App — Control a robot's movement with a phone joystick over BLE. Skills: teleoperation, BLE. Tools: phone app, MCU. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Wheel Odometry Calculator — Convert wheel encoder counts to distance and heading for differential drive. Skills: odometry, differential drive. Tools: web calculator. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Behaviour State Machine — Design behaviours like wander, avoid and charge as a state machine. Skills: state machines, behaviours. Tools: web app. Simulator, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Light-Seeking Braitenberg Vehicle — Wire light sensors to motors to make fear and love behaviours. Skills: reactive control, sensing. Tools: LDRs, motors. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robotic Drawing Arm — Draw shapes with a 2-DOF arm from coordinate lists. Skills: inverse kinematics basics, plotting. Tools: servos, pen. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Ultrasonic Radar Display — Sweep a sensor on a servo and draw a radar-style map on screen. Skills: scanning, polar plotting. Tools: servo, ultrasonic sensor. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Safety Rules Explainer — Explain robot cell safeguards, zones and emergency stops interactively. Skills: robot safety basics, safeguarding. Tools: web app. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Pick-and-Sort Toy Robot — Sort coloured blocks into bins with a colour sensor and simple arm. Skills: colour sensing, sequencing. Tools: servo arm, colour sensor. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Vacuum Coverage Simulator — Compare random, spiral and boustrophedon cleaning patterns. Skills: coverage algorithms, path efficiency. Tools: Python/web app. Simulator, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Speech-Commanded Robot — Drive a robot with spoken commands recognised on a phone. Skills: speech commands, integration. Tools: phone, BLE robot. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Battery Runtime Estimator — Estimate run time from motor currents and battery capacity. Skills: power budgeting, duty cycles. Tools: web calculator. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Hexapod Gait Animator — Animate tripod and wave gaits of a six-legged robot. Skills: legged gaits, sequencing. Tools: web app. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Joint Servo Calibration — Calibrate servo angles to true joint angles with a protractor. Skills: calibration, mapping. Tools: servos, protractor. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Wall-Following Robot — Keep a set distance from a wall with side sensors and PID. Skills: PID, distance sensing. Tools: robot, IR sensors. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Arm Workspace Plotter — Plot the reachable workspace of planar arms of different link lengths. Skills: workspace analysis, kinematics. Tools: Python. Visualizer, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Tank-Track Robot Build — Build a tracked robot and compare traction with wheels on rough ground. Skills: locomotion, traction. Tools: tracked chassis. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.
• Robot Simulator With Turtle Graphics — Program a turtle robot to draw shapes and follow paths. Skills: programming, motion commands. Tools: Python turtle. Simulator, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Delivery Robot Route Planner on a Grid — Plan deliveries for a grid robot with shortest paths. Skills: path planning, grids. Tools: web app. Simulator, Up to 15 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Eye Tracking Face — Make a robot face whose eyes follow a person with a camera. Skills: face detection, servos. Tools: camera, servos. Hardware build, Up to 15 h, Under $30.

Intermediate projects

• Robot Arm Inverse Kinematics Explorer — Solve IK for a 3-DOF arm analytically and numerically and show multiple solutions. Skills: inverse kinematics, Jacobians. Tools: Python/web app. Visualizer, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• SLAM Map Viewer — Build a 2D occupancy map from lidar scans and visualise robot pose estimates. Skills: SLAM, occupancy grids. Tools: ROS, lidar data. Visualizer, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Vision-Based Object Picker — Detect objects with a camera, compute grasp points and pick them. Skills: object detection, hand-eye calibration. Tools: camera, robot arm. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Autonomous Mobile Robot Planner — Plan global and local paths with A* and DWA around obstacles. Skills: path planning, DWA. Tools: ROS 2/Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Safety Zone Simulator — Simulate speed reduction as people enter warning and stop zones. Skills: safety zones, speed monitoring. Tools: Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Gesture-Controlled Manipulator — Control an arm from hand gestures tracked by a camera. Skills: hand tracking, mapping. Tools: camera, MediaPipe, arm. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• ROS Telemetry Observability Board — Show topic rates, latency and node health of a ROS system. Skills: ROS, observability. Tools: ROS 2, dashboard. Dashboard, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Precision Docking Robot — Dock a robot to a charger using fiducial markers. Skills: fiducials, alignment. Tools: camera, AprilTags. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Robot Calibration Assistant — Calibrate camera-to-robot transform with a checkerboard. Skills: hand-eye calibration, coordinate transforms. Tools: camera, robot. Workflow, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• PID Tuning for Robot Wheels — Tune wheel velocity loops and compare step responses. Skills: PID, motor control. Tools: robot base. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Kalman Filter Robot Localisation — Fuse odometry and beacon ranges to localise a robot. Skills: Kalman filters, localisation. Tools: Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Arm Trajectory Planner — Plan smooth joint trajectories with velocity and acceleration limits. Skills: trajectory planning, polynomials. Tools: Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Pick-and-Place With Conveyor Tracking — Pick moving items from a conveyor by predicting their position. Skills: conveyor tracking, timing. Tools: robot, encoder. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Robot Teleoperation Over Network — Teleoperate a robot with video and measure latency effects. Skills: teleoperation, latency. Tools: robot, webcam. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Swarm Foraging Simulator — Simulate robots foraging with simple local rules. Skills: swarm behaviour, emergence. Tools: Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Perception With Depth Camera — Segment obstacles from depth images for navigation. Skills: depth sensing, segmentation. Tools: RealSense, Python. Data lab, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Mobile Manipulator Task Sequencer — Sequence navigate-pick-place tasks with a behaviour tree. Skills: behaviour trees, task planning. Tools: ROS 2. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Arm Payload Analysis — Compute joint torques for payloads and poses. Skills: statics, torque analysis. Tools: Python. Visualizer, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Underwater Robot Depth Hold — Hold depth with a pressure sensor and thruster control. Skills: depth control, underwater robotics. Tools: ROV kit. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Robot Collision Detection From Current — Detect collisions from unexpected motor current spikes. Skills: collision detection, sensing. Tools: robot joint, current sensor. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Object Tracking Camera Robot — Follow a coloured object with a pan-tilt robot camera. Skills: visual tracking, control. Tools: camera, servos. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.
• Robot Fleet Charging Scheduler — Schedule charging for warehouse robots to avoid downtime. Skills: scheduling, fleet management. Tools: Python. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Augmented Reality Robot Programming — Program robot waypoints by placing them in AR. Skills: AR, robot programming. Tools: AR device. Workflow, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Arm Digital Simulation in Gazebo — Model an arm in Gazebo and control it from ROS. Skills: simulation, URDF. Tools: ROS 2, Gazebo. Simulator, 15–45 h, Software only (free tools).
• Legged Robot Balance Controller — Keep a small quadruped balanced on a tilting board. Skills: balance control, IMU. Tools: quadruped, IMU. Hardware build, 15–45 h, $30–150.

Advanced projects

• Multi-Robot Task Allocator — Assign tasks to robots with auction algorithms and compare makespan. Skills: task allocation, auctions. Tools: Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Force-Controlled Assembly Demo — Insert pegs into holes with impedance control and force sensing. Skills: impedance control, assembly. Tools: robot, F/T sensor. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Robot Fleet Traffic Manager — Coordinate AMR traffic at intersections to avoid deadlocks. Skills: multi-robot coordination, deadlock avoidance. Tools: Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Bin-Picking Perception Pipeline — Detect and pose-estimate cluttered parts for bin picking. Skills: 6D pose estimation, point clouds. Tools: depth camera, Python. Data lab, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Warehouse Digital Twin — Mirror a warehouse's robots, racks and orders to test layouts. Skills: digital twins, logistics. Tools: simulation. Digital twin, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Reinforcement-Learning Locomotion Sandbox — Train a simulated legged robot to walk with RL. Skills: reinforcement learning, locomotion. Tools: PyBullet/MuJoCo. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Defect Inspection Robot — Scan parts with a camera on a robot and detect surface defects. Skills: inspection, vision. Tools: robot, camera. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Adaptive Grasp Planner — Choose grasps for unknown objects from point clouds. Skills: grasp planning, perception. Tools: Python, point clouds. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Swarm Coverage Simulator — Spread robots to cover an area evenly with Voronoi methods. Skills: coverage control, Voronoi. Tools: Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Human-Robot Handover Demonstrator — Hand objects between a person and robot safely and naturally. Skills: HRI, handover. Tools: robot, sensors. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Visual SLAM on a Drone — Estimate drone pose and map with visual SLAM. Skills: visual SLAM, features. Tools: drone, ORB-SLAM. Data lab, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Robotic Welding Seam Tracker — Track weld seams with a laser line sensor and adjust the path. Skills: seam tracking, sensing. Tools: laser sensor, robot. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Model Predictive Control for Mobile Robots — Track paths with MPC respecting speed and acceleration limits. Skills: MPC, path tracking. Tools: Python, CasADi. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Learning From Demonstration — Teach a task by demonstration and generalise with DMPs. Skills: imitation learning, DMPs. Tools: robot, Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Outdoor Navigation With GPS-RTK — Navigate an outdoor robot with RTK GPS and waypoints. Skills: GNSS navigation, RTK. Tools: robot, RTK module. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Robotic Process Automation Monitor — Monitor software bots for failures and throughput. Skills: RPA, monitoring. Tools: dashboard. Dashboard, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Cable Harness Routing Robot — Plan and execute routing of flexible cables. Skills: deformable object handling, planning. Tools: robot, Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Agricultural Weeding Robot Concept — Detect weeds with vision and actuate a weeding tool. Skills: plant detection, actuation. Tools: camera, robot. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Exploration Robot Frontier Planner — Explore unknown spaces with frontier-based planning. Skills: exploration, mapping. Tools: ROS 2. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Arm Energy Optimisation — Reduce arm energy by optimising trajectories. Skills: energy-optimal trajectories, dynamics. Tools: Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Multi-Camera Robot Cell Calibration — Calibrate several cameras into one cell coordinate frame. Skills: multi-camera calibration, extrinsics. Tools: cameras, Python. Workflow, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Snake Robot Locomotion — Build a modular snake robot and compare gaits. Skills: serpentine locomotion, gait design. Tools: servo modules. Hardware build, 45–100 h, $150+.
• Robot Grasp Success Predictor — Predict grasp success from images with a CNN. Skills: deep learning, grasping. Tools: Python. Data lab, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).
• Autonomous Forklift Pallet Detection — Detect pallets and plan approach for an autonomous forklift. Skills: perception, docking. Tools: depth sensor, Python. Data lab, 45–100 h, $30–150.
• Robot Navigation in Crowds — Navigate among moving people using social force models. Skills: social navigation, motion prediction. Tools: Python. Simulator, 45–100 h, Software only (free tools).

Expert projects

• Robotic Process Mining Optimizer — Improve automated workflows by finding bottlenecks in bot logs. Skills: process mining, automation. Tools: Python. Data lab, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Fault-Tolerant Navigation Stack — Keep navigating when sensors fail through redundancy and health checks. Skills: fault tolerance, navigation. Tools: ROS 2. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Digital Twin for Robot Cell — Mirror a robot cell to validate programs and predict cycle times. Skills: digital twins, offline programming. Tools: simulation. Digital twin, 100 h+, $150+.
• Event-Based Vision Robot — Use an event camera for fast obstacle avoidance. Skills: event cameras, low latency. Tools: event camera data. Data lab, 100 h+, $150+.
• Autonomous Inspection Mission Planner — Plan inspection missions over structures with coverage guarantees. Skills: coverage planning, inspection. Tools: Python. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Vision-Language Robot Commands — Execute natural-language commands with a vision-language model and a safety checker. Skills: VLMs, task grounding. Tools: Python, robot sim. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Sim-to-Real Transfer Study — Train a policy in simulation and adapt it to a real robot with domain randomisation. Skills: sim-to-real, domain randomisation. Tools: simulator, robot. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Soft Continuum Robot Control — Model and control a tendon-driven continuum robot. Skills: continuum robots, modelling. Tools: prototype, Python. Hardware build, 100 h+, $150+.
• Multi-Robot SLAM — Merge maps from several robots into one consistent map. Skills: collaborative SLAM, map merging. Tools: ROS 2. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Safety Verification With Formal Methods — Verify robot controller safety properties with model checking. Skills: formal verification, safety. Tools: model checker. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation — Reorient objects in a multi-finger hand with learned control. Skills: dexterous manipulation, RL. Tools: simulation. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Aerial Manipulation Drone — Attach a small arm to a drone and stabilise contact tasks. Skills: aerial manipulation, control. Tools: drone, arm. Hardware build, 100 h+, $150+.
• Robot Anomaly Detection With Self-Supervision — Detect abnormal robot behaviour from sensor streams. Skills: anomaly detection, self-supervised learning. Tools: Python. Data lab, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Human Motion Prediction for Robots — Predict human motion to plan safe robot paths. Skills: motion prediction, planning. Tools: Python, datasets. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Autonomous Construction Robot Concept — Plan brick laying with a robot and verify placement accuracy. Skills: construction robotics, planning. Tools: simulation. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Tactile-Based Object Recognition — Recognise objects by touch with tactile sensors. Skills: tactile perception, ML. Tools: tactile sensors, Python. Data lab, 100 h+, $150+.
• Underwater Swarm Exploration — Coordinate underwater robots with limited acoustic communication. Skills: underwater swarms, communication limits. Tools: simulation. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robot — Reconfigure modules into new shapes for different tasks. Skills: modular robotics, reconfiguration. Tools: modules, simulation. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Surgical Robot Tool Tracking — Track surgical tools in video for robotic assistance research. Skills: instrument tracking, vision. Tools: Python, datasets. Data lab, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Explainable Robot Decisions — Explain why a robot chose an action to human operators. Skills: explainability, HRI. Tools: robot sim. Simulator, 100 h+, $150+.
• Energy-Autonomous Field Robot — Design a solar-powered field robot that manages its own energy. Skills: energy management, autonomy. Tools: robot, solar. Hardware build, 100 h+, $150+.
• Benchmarking Robot Manipulation — Run standard manipulation benchmarks and report reproducible metrics. Skills: benchmarking, reproducibility. Tools: robot/sim. Workflow, 100 h+, $150+.
• Robot Ethics Impact Assessment — Assess social and ethical impacts of deploying a service robot. Skills: ethics, impact assessment. Tools: framework. Workflow, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Learned Collision Avoidance for Arms — Learn fast collision checks for motion planning. Skills: learned models, planning. Tools: Python. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).
• Robot Cell Throughput Optimiser — Optimise task order and robot assignments to maximise throughput. Skills: optimisation, scheduling. Tools: Python. Simulator, 100 h+, Software only (free tools).

Project ideas for every branch · Robotics & Automation roadmap