Using the building on Fort Moore will allow Columbus State the room for students to test and fly ground and air robotic systems—more commonly referred to as drones—in a GPS-denied environment. The additional space also will allow students and faculty to test and gain experience operating a 16-camera motion-capture and 3D tracking system worth $75,000.

COLUMBUS, Georgia — Columbus State University has signed an agreement with Columbus-based U.S. Army Fort Moore that will allow the university to expand its Robotics Engineering program's academic and research capabilities into a 25,000-square-foot building on the post.

Using the building on Fort Moore will allow Columbus State the room for students to test and fly ground and air robotic systems—more commonly referred to as drones—in a GPS-denied environment. The additional space also will allow students and faculty to test and gain experience operating a 16-camera motion-capture and 3D tracking system worth $75,000.
"Fort Moore has been a steadfast partner with our Robotics Engineering program at Columbus State since its inception in 2019," explained Dr. Mahmut Reyhanoglu, a professor of robotics engineering and the program's director. "This extension of that partnership will provide us the room to finally test the equipment we have already acquired and give us the space to provide real hands-on experiences to our students and researchers."
Partnering with Fort Moore's Maneuver Battle Lab was a natural extension of the lab's mission to use robotics technology to keep America's soldiers safer while equipping them to be more efficient in their jobs.
"The Maneuver Battle Lab is extremely happy to team with Columbus State's Robotics Engineering program," said Chris Willis, director of Fort Moore's Maneuver Battle Lab. "This partnership allows us to expose CSU students to the Army's robotics needs, and it also allows us to potentially serve military dependents, veterans, and our local community at large."
Reyhanoglu expects to have everything ready in the new space by August. He also said this collaboration is part of his and the College of Letters & Sciences' long-term vision of a joint Robotics Innovation Center at Fort Moore, where the university can teach classes on the post and work alongside its military partners for students' learning, experimenting and research.
ABOUT THE ROBOTICS ENGINEERING PROGRAM
Since their inception, both the undergraduate and graduate Robotics Engineering programs have grown exponentially: the bachelor's program tenfold since its launch in 2019, and the master's program threefold since 2021. Reyhanoglu expects the program's undergraduate enrollment to climb to 100 students and graduate enrollment to 30 master's degree students within the next five years.
Based in the College of Letters & Sciences' Department of Earth & Space Sciences, Columbus State's program hosts Georgia's only bachelor's and master's degree programs in robotics engineering. At Columbus State, students prepare for careers in robotics, automation, hardware development, software development and machine learning. In addition to traditional bachelor's and master of science degrees in robotics engineering, its accelerated Robotics Engineering program allows exceptional students to complete both a bachelor's and master's degrees in five years.
The university's suite of robotics engineering offerings also includes an associate of science degree in engineering studies and a seven-course, 21-credit-hour robotics certificate program open to all Columbus State students and others seeking to expand their knowledge in the field.
For more information about the robotics programs at CSU, visit the Robotics Engineering website.