The campus of the future may be filled with flying machines.

VOA News reports.

Flying Robots Are Coming to US Universities

Flying devices, called drones, may be one of the most important technologies of the future.

The number of jobs for people who know how to design, build and control them is increasing.

Because of this increase, several U.S. universities and colleges started offering degrees in unmanned aerial systems, or UAS.

One of these universities is the University of Washington in Seattle. Christopher Lum is an aeronautics research scientist with the university’s Autonomous Flight Systems Laboratory. Lum helps students explore how civilian drones can safely share the skies with regular aircraft.

Ryan Valach loves the three years he spent in the flight lab.

“One of the coolest parts is [working] with industries and all the cool technology we work with. It is a definitely an opportunity that a lot of students don’t usually get,” he said.

Ward Handley is seeking a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at University of Washington. When the drone program first began, he did not think it was a good idea.

“I … decided, no I do not want to work on drones because of the privacy issues,” he said. Drones can be used to invade people’s privacy.

But when an offer for a paid position in the drone lab appeared, Handley changed his opinion.