Integrated Master-PhD Track | Advanced Robotics

The Integrated Master-PhD Track is available within Advanced Robotics (Control and Robotics).

Students on the track will be assigned to the Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes (LS2N) with supervision from a member of faculty. It is within LS2N Laboratory that the students on this track would naturally progress towards funded PhD studies, subject to successful completion of the Master's degree, final acceptance by the ad hoc committee and the award of a PhD grant.

Course Content

Course content in the M1 and M2 years is closely based on the chosen Master's specialism - Advanced Robotics - whereby Integrated Master-PhD Track students have a (limited) choice of modules, plus a research module and supervised research project. Full details below.
 

Advanced Robotics

M1 Year

30 ECTS Credits per semester.
Language of instruction: English
 

Autumn Semester 2025-26

Core Courses	ECTS
Advanced and Robot Programming	4
Artificial Intelligence	6
Classical Linear Control	5
Mechanical Design Methods in Robotics	4
Modelling of Manipulators	4
Signal Processing	5
Language Courses (1 out of 3)*
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).

In addition to the courses, students will attend scientific seminars to gain an overview of research activities in the field of control and robotics. This will enable them to identify the areas in which they wish to focus their research activities for the remainder of the programme.
 

Spring Semester

Core Courses	ECTS
Research project	6
Computer Vision	4
Dynamic Model Based Control	4
Mobile Robots	5
Optimization Techniques	5
Software Architecture for Robotics	4
Language Courses (1 out of 3)*
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).

NB Course content may be subject to minor changes

M2 Year

30 ECTS Credits per semester.
Language of instruction: English
 

Autumn Semester

Core Courses	ECTS
Research project	8
Elective Courses (choose 5 out of 6)
Advanced Modeling of Robots	6
Autonomous Vehicle	4
Advanced Visual Geometry	4
Optimal Kinematic Design	4
Soft Robot Modelling	4
Task-based Control	5
Language Courses (1 out of 3)*
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).
 

Spring Semester

	ECTS
Master Thesis/Internship	30

NB Course content may be subject to minor changes

Download syllabus | Integrated Master-PhD Track - Advanced Robotics

• M1 Year
• M2 Year

 

Research Environment

This programme relies on Centrale Nantes’ faculty and the research facilities of the Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes (LS2N).

About the LS2N

The LS2N Laboratory was launched with a single objective: bring together Nantes' research expertise in computer science and cybernetics to develop digital sciences, inclusive of other disciplines and taking account of the social challenges involved. The five areas of research expertise:
 

• Industry of the future | systems engineering, control, human factors, management, software engineering, robotics
• Management of energy and environmental impact  | embedded systems design, eco-design of robots, power grids, adaptable data centres
• Life Sciences  | medical imaging, neuronal signal processing, genomic data analysis,  biological network modelling, artificial organ design, automation of hospital equipment
• Vehicle and mobility | global vehicle automation, behavioural and usage modelling, traffic optimization
• Design, culture and digital society  | system design for the digital society, design of new interactions and links with digital artefacts, analysis of practices and interaction with digital artefacts

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Major Research Projects

• AVINECK is a bio-inspired research project bringing together LS2N (ReV team) and Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. The goal is to study the geometry and capabilities of a bird's neck through robotics formalism. It has led to numerous combinations of tensegrity modules, and their impact on the workspace and stiffness control.
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• SAMURAI is a project involving LS2N (Armen team), Inria and MIS (University of Picardie). This project aims to help mapping unknown environment through cooperation between autonomous ground robots and aerial drones.
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• STORM is an industrial project on maritime robotics between LS2N (Armen team) and various companies. The goal is to create a tele-operated system able to navigate inside a wind farm and deploy a remotely operated vehicle (underwater ROV) to perform underwater inspection of such offshore structures.

Research Facilities

The "Autonomous Vehicles" research facility allows the LS2N to integrate and evaluate the approaches under development in autonomous mobile robotics around the themes of environment perception, understanding of scenarios and multi-sensor referenced control. The platform includes 3 instrumented vehicles (sensors, computers and man-machine interfaces), 2 of which are fully robotized by the "Drive-by-wire" robotization kit developed by the ARMEN research group in the LS2N.

As part of an industrial research chair with Renault, which aims to improve the performance of electric propulsion in motor vehicles, Centrale Nantes has an electric vehicle test bench specifically for automotive electric propulsion. It comprises of test engines supplied by Renault and a control, power electronics and dynamic load environment to simulate driving situations.

PhD Opportunities

• Contribution to wide angle visual perception for mobile robots and self driving cars
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• Multi-sensor-based control in Intelligent Parking applications
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• Design of high-speed robots with drastically reduced energy consumption
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• Dynamic Control and Singularities of Rigid Bearing-Based Formations of Quadrotors
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• Dynamic Visual Servoing for Fast Robotics Arms
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• Contributions to utilize a Cobot as intermittent contact haptic interfaces in virtual reality
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• Cable-Driven Parallel Robots with Large Translation and Orientation Workspaces
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• Collaborative Mobile Cable-Driven Parallel Robots
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What our students and graduates say

Andrea, PhD Student 2021-2024 | Master EMARO Advanced Robotics, Class of 2021

Video Transcript

My PhD Story - Andrea

Hello, I'm Andrea Gotelli, a PhD student at the LS2N Lab here in Centrale Nantes. I come from Italy. I did a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering and then I moved here for an Erasmus programme in Robotics engineering and now I'm a PhD student at the LS2N - Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes. 

Why did you decide to come to Centrale Nantes? 

I joined Centrale Nantes for the strong scientific basis of this programme in robotics engineering. 

When and why did you decide to pursue your PhD here? 

At the time I was studying in Genoa, I started to have an interest in robotics engineering and then I found that there was this Erasmus programme - this European programme - where I could study in some European countries in advanced robotics. So, I asked around with some professors in Genoa and everyone highly recommended the programme. Towards the end of my work in my Master's thesis, one of my supervisors proposed that I continue working with him on a PhD topic. Since I really liked the subject I was working on and the relationship with my supervisor I accepted because I felt that it was the right thing for me. 

What is the subject of your PhD?

My PhD is focused on the field of continuum robotics, which means robots with slender and deformable bodies, connected together. So, they are robots that move, hence the deformation of some of the elements. Specifically what I do is work on the modeling and control of these robots; so, to develop stable and efficient ways to model and control.

How would you rate the research facilities and support?

The support is really good; the facilities, a lot of resources and a lot of machinery. There are engineers and technicians that are ready to help researchers where some specific skills are needed and support required to perform some maybe heavy or precise operations. 

Any advice for future applicants? 

Doing a PhD is not easy, but it can be amusing, and that's also true for a Master's thesis. It's really important that you find a PhD or a Master's thesis topic that you are interested in, and that you find a supervisor that has an interest in supervising you and with good people skills. So, I encourage students to reach out to professors even during their Master's to see with whom you have the most compatibility, with whom you have the most interest in the field of research. Also, keep in mind that during a PhD it's very common that you can collaborate with some labs in Europe, in France or even further abroad. This is, for example, what I did - I travelled to Canada for five months for collaboration with a lab. So, it's also possible to experience other countries and cultures during your PhD. 

Centrale Nantes in 3 words?

Community - Effort - Success 

Meet the Programme Coordinator

Pierre-Emmanuel Hladik is an Assistant Professor at Centrale Nantes and he carries out his research activity at the Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes (LS2N) in the STR team. He previously spent 14 years in Toulouse at the Laboratory of Architecture and Analysis of Systems (LAAS-CNRS). He teaches in the field of autonomous embedded systems. His research interests deal with the modelling and verification of constraint concurrent systems, and in particular scheduling and methods to design safe systems.

There is no need to apply for the track before arriving at Centrale Nantes for your Master's programme. Your choice will be taken into account during the first year of the Master's programme so as to orient your laboratory research activities and the choice of elective modules towards the PhD thesis subject.