SCAD accelerates robotics industry with new degree program
Bachelor of design in robotics to continue university’s innovative legacy within the SCAD School of Creative Technology
SAVANNAH AND ATLANTA, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is proud to announce the addition of a new bachelor of design degree in robotics to the university's innovative program offerings. Launching in Savannah and Atlanta for the 2026–27 academic year, the program will position SCAD as the premier university for human-centered robotics education. The demand for professionals with this skill set is accelerating across several leading industries, including entertainment, health care, logistics, and retail.
"By introducing the bachelor of design in robotics, SCAD expands its trailblazing curriculum to meet the industrial demand for experts who can bridge the gap between advanced technology and human experience,” said dean of the SCAD School of Creative Technology Nye Warburton. “This new degree empowers our students to redefine the future of automation across global markets, solidifying SCAD’s role as the vanguard of innovative, career-first education."
The global robotics market is projected to reach $146 billion by 2030. This new program will address a critical need in the robotics industry by training professionals on the cornerstone of design: placing the people who use, encounter, and are affected by technology at the center of how it is developed and built. SCAD collaborated with leading technology companies, including Google, Meta, Amazon, and NVIDIA, to build a robotics program that harnesses the full depth of the university's design disciplines to meet the needs of one of the greatest technological shifts of our time.
This new degree program will redefine robotics education by establishing human experience, design intelligence, and creative expression at the center of how robots are conceived and built. Graduates of the SCAD robotics program will be prepared for industry leading careers including:
- Robotics interaction designer
- Human-robot interaction specialist
- Animatronics and character designer
- Robotics UX designer
- Robotics product designer
- Behavior and motion designer
- Robotics UX researcher
- Robotics industrial designer
- AI interaction designer
- Robot interface designer
Curriculum highlights for this program include ROBO 280 Automation, Society, and the Future, ROBO 380 Simulation and Digital Twins, ROBO 290 Virtual Playgrounds, and ROBO 395 STUDIO X: Embodiment, Context, and Behavior. The SCAD robotics program will prepare students to envision, prototype, and build experiences that are as human as they are intelligent.
SCAD recently launched a new bachelor of fine arts degree in themed entertainment design within the School of Creative Technology. This program prepares students to conceive and construct the immersive environments behind theme parks, attractions, resorts, cruise ships, retail experiences, museums, and live events. In 2012, SCAD was the first university to offer an M.F.A. in this multibillion-dollar global industry, and over the last decade student teams have won design competitions from a variety of theme park enterprises including Walt Disney Imagineering Design Competition and Ryerson Invitational Thrill Design Competition.
Since its founding, SCAD has continued to innovate its degree offerings with a focus on the future. Inspired by visionary companies in entertainment like Universal Studios and Disney, SCAD reinvents the boundaries between artistic expression and mechanical intelligence within the School of Creative Technology, designing the next generation of human-centered systems alongside the very companies that are defining the future of intelligent automation.
To learn more about SCAD’s new robotics degree, visit scad.edu.
SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls approximately 18,500 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university’s renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2026 study found that 99% of recent SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 12 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.
School of Creative Technology
Combining technical mastery with artistic sensibility, students become architects of the imagination in the SCAD School of Creative Technology as they pioneer immersive realities and award-winning attractions, video games, and mobile apps. With a detailed curriculum that prepares students for careers, the School of Creative Technology offers degrees in applied AI, extended reality, interactive design and game development, robotics, and themed entertainment design.
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