Kamil Khusnutdinov, a 1-year student of the master's program “Intelligent Robotics” of the Higher Institute of Information technology and Intelligent Systems (ITIS) of KFU.

Reasons for admission

I completed my bachelor's degree at the Higher Institute of ITIS. The question of continuing my studies was not raised. For me, a master's degree is a logical continuation of a bachelor's degree. I consider my education incomplete without it.

The choice of the master's program "Intelligent Robotics" was spontaneous. I wanted to enroll there after a meeting with Professor Evgeni Magid. He told about a new program for masters.

This direction seemed interesting to me, I have not seen analogues in Tatarstan. There is something similar to programs in St. Petersburg, but there training is related to the construction of robots. And in the Laboratory of intelligent robotic systems of the Higher Institute of ITIS we are learning how to “revive" them. On the one hand, it seems to be related to information technology. On the other hand, related to a completely different area.

What surprised you within the master’s program

There are a lot of amazing moments in the master's program “Intelligent Robotics". There is enough practice in the classroom. Usually, the first semesters include theory disciplines in the universities, but here everything is different. From the first months of study, we started practicing.

We have many robots of various types, and we consistently work with them. We are mastering various tools used in working with real robots.

What kind of preparation is needed

Initially, I was not engaged in robotics before and worried about my studies without having much experience in this field. But Professor Magid said that previous experience is not important. It is more important to have a desire to study. But, of course, there should be a certain base: a master's student should still be able to write code and have a good mathematical background.

How are classes going

The format of our classes is very interesting. Firstly, the lessons are conducted in English (but at any time you can ask the lecturer to translate difficult material into Russian). Secondly, pairs are built in such a way that they are never boring. After each theoretical lesson we move to practice. As part of the courses, we have competitions where we design robots, program them in a certain way and demonstrate their work to the teacher and groupmates. For example, recently we had a competition where our robots had to knock down items in a certain order.

Master's project

After admission, we were offered a list of topics. I chose the one that is closest to me. To put it briefly and simply, my project is to teach an anthropomorphic robot to manipulate different objects with one hand.

What's next

I have two ways. The first option is to go into the industry, work with anthropomorphic robots. The second is to go for science. Each of them is interesting and unusual in its own way.

Why do I need a Master's degree

A master's degree is a further way to develop your professional level, an opportunity to make yourself competitive in the market and earn good money.