Fancy shaping the future of technology? Think you’ll enjoy experimenting with robotics and mechanisation? Learn to innovate and create in our engineering facilities.
At ARU you’ll get the hands-on experience needed to design and develop ground-breaking solutions to real-world challenges. Whether you’re interested in robotics, electrical, biomedical or mechanical engineering, our facilities are equipped to empower you to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Choose from a range of accredited engineering courses; you’ll be able to explore your passions and hone your skills in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Explore our courses
Here you’ll progress from using basic hand tools to manufacturing an artefact such as a joystick or a sterling engine using lathes, CNC mills and other advanced manufacturing techniques.
You can use the workshop to work on your own project during years two and three, and undertake a practical final year dissertation project of your choice to prove or demonstrate an engineering concept.
Concrete, steel and timber are at the heart of many civil engineering and construction projects. Here you’ll mix, cure and crush concrete to understand its properties and practical applications. Make use of:
Concrete is not an environmentally friendly material; you can experiment with different ways of reducing its environmental impact by using recycled materials such as glass in place of aggregate, and alternative materials such as glass fibre and bamboo in place of steel reinforcing.
Coursework includes practical sessions in the workshop and you can undertake a dissertation based on practical workshop experiments or material testing.
Geotechnical engineering is a thread that runs throughout the civil engineering course. It’s important to understand the properties of the ground beneath our feet as not only does it provide the foundation (literally) for many civil engineering and construction projects, but many projects involve reshaping the ground with retaining walls, cuttings, embankments or tunnels. Geotechnical investigation and testing is core to the efficient design and execution of earthworks.
You can explore soil properties by testing for things like plasticity, particle size distribution, permeability and consolidation on different types of soil. You’ll use the laboratory’s test equipment for coursework, as part of your project work or as part of your final dissertation.
The current climate emergency has made it more important than ever that we understand the behaviour of liquids, including water. More severe rainfall events can have a significant impact on the environment by scouring water courses and adversely affecting natural habitats.
Here you’ll experiment with different methods of designing sustainable drainage systems. You can use flumes to test laminar and turbulent flow systems and hydraulic jumps, and experiment on pipe friction and fitting losses (an essential element in designing effective plumbing and drainage systems).
Use the wind tunnel for experiments on aerodynamic design (essential to investigate the effect of high winds on structures and buildings, and in vehicle design).
You’ll carry out experiments as part of your modules. You can use the hydraulics lab for project work and your practical dissertation.
In a competitive world the skills to design, operate and maintain robotic and mechanised production lines will be in high demand. You’ll experiment with high-tech intelligent manufacturing equipment; of the same type used in cutting-edge manufacturing plants making goods from electronic components to food items. You can investigate the type of modern pneumatic controls and robotic systems used in modern production lines, simulate them using a computer simulation and then try it out on the scaled-down equipment.
Here you’ll design electronic systems, simulate your designs on a computer and test by building them in real life using a range of machinery and equipment.
You can use Matlab and Simulink to simulate robot programming and testing as part of your modules and project work, or engage in activities such as designing a robot to navigate a maze.
You can also use the workshop to design and construct electronic circuits or robotic control systems as part of your final year dissertation.
The collaborative design studio is a space used exclusively by Engineering and Built Environment students for group and project work. You can collaborate to solve design problems, hold group discussions and carry out trial assembly for experiments on different types of structure.
Take a guided tour and meet our students