Top 10 Schools for Robotics Engineering in 2027
Carnegie Mellon University is the best school for robotics engineering, ranked #1 in the world and the U.S. for robotics research by EduRank, with MIT (#2) and Stanford (#3) right behind. Georgia Tech (#5 in the world) is the top public pick.
At a glance
| # | Pick | EduRank robotics rank | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University | World #1, U.S. #1 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | The most robotics-focused research school in the country |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | World #2, U.S. #2 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | Robotics tied to AI and computer science research |
| 3 | Stanford University | World #3, U.S. #3 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | Robotics next to Silicon Valley |
| 4 | Georgia Institute of Technology | World #5, U.S. #4 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | A public school with full robotics degree programs |
| 5 | University of Southern California | World #6, U.S. #5 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | A dedicated robotics center inside a big engineering school |
| 6 | University of California, Berkeley | World #7, U.S. #6 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | A public university with a top AI-and-robotics research group |
| 7 | University of Michigan | World #12, U.S. #7 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | A dedicated robotics department and undergraduate robotics degree |
| 8 | University of Pennsylvania | World #14, U.S. #8 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | An Ivy League school with a long-running robotics lab |
| 9 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | World #19, U.S. #9 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | A large public engineering school with a robotics master’s |
| 10 | University of Washington, Seattle | World #25, U.S. #10 (EduRank, updated March 15, 2026) | Robot learning and manipulation research in Seattle |
Pick by what you want
The ranking
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh runs the Robotics Institute, founded in 1979 as a department of its School of Computer Science, and ranks #1 in the world for robotics.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts ties robotics to CSAIL, the lab formed on July 1, 2003, with over 600 personnel at its creation. It ranks #2 in the world.
Stanford University
Stanford’s AI Laboratory dates to 1963, and the Stanford Arm was designed there in 1969. The school ranks #3 in the world for robotics.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech in Atlanta is a public institute of technology with the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines and both a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Robotics. It ranks #5 in the world.
University of Southern California
USC in Los Angeles hosts the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Center, established in fall 2002, and ranks #6 in the world.
University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkeley, a public land-grant university, hosts Berkeley AI Research, which covers robotics alongside vision, learning, language and planning. It ranks #7 in the world.
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor founded a robotics department in 2021 within its College of Engineering and ranks #12 in the world.
University of Pennsylvania
Penn in Philadelphia is home to the GRASP Lab, founded in 1979, and ranks #14 in the world for robotics.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign houses the Center for Autonomy and its Master of Engineering in Autonomy and Robotics. It ranks #19 in the world.
University of Washington, Seattle
The University of Washington in Seattle carries out robotics research across six Allen School laboratories, including a 3,000 square foot robotics lab, and ranks #25 in the world.
How we ranked these
Questions people ask
What is the best school for robotics engineering?
Carnegie Mellon University, ranked #1 in the world and #1 in the U.S. for robotics by EduRank, with a Robotics Institute founded in 1979.
What is the best public school for robotics engineering?
Georgia Tech is the top public university here, at #5 in the world and #4 in the U.S. by EduRank, followed by UC Berkeley at #7 in the world.
Does any school offer a robotics degree directly?
Yes. Georgia Tech offers a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Robotics, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign houses a Master of Engineering in Autonomy and Robotics.
How is this ranking made?
EduRank ranks universities by research performance in robotics, using citations received by academic papers; we list the top 10 U.S. universities from its U.S. robotics ranking.
EduRank world robotics rank (lower is better) at a glance
Official sites
- Carnegie Mellon University · cmu.edu
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology · mit.edu
- Stanford University · stanford.edu
- Georgia Institute of Technology · gatech.edu
- University of Southern California · usc.edu
- University of California, Berkeley · berkeley.edu
- University of Michigan · umich.edu
- University of Pennsylvania · upenn.edu
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · illinois.edu
- University of Washington, Seattle · washington.edu
Sources
- edurank.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- robotics.gatech.edu
- rasc.usc.edu
- bair.berkeley.edu
- en.wikipedia.org
- grasp.upenn.edu
- autonomy.illinois.edu
- cs.washington.edu
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
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