You desire a position in robotics. What a fantastic idea! Robotics is a field with a promising future and a wealth of untapped potential. But how may one find employment in robotics? What should you research? Which academic backgrounds best prepare you for a career?
I’ll try to answer those questions for you in this post. In the field of robotics, numerous persons with various majors are employed. Although we will focus on technical positions, there are several degrees that can prepare you to become a robotics developer. I’ll concentrate on the most prevalent ones and highlight the useful abilities they impart for various robotics fields. The degrees are not listed in any particular order because they will prepare you for many, equally significant and enjoyable sectors of robotics. Let’s begin, then!
1. Mechanical Engineering for Robotics
The mechanical design serves as the cornerstone for all robot development. A degree in mechanical engineering is the best preparation for it. You will gain knowledge of mechanical system design and manufacturing processes. You will learn about various materials and how to evaluate the system’s characteristics. All of this will assist you in creating the ideal robot design by determining the proper robot kinematics, doing structural analyses, and much more.
But this isn’t the end of it. Control theory, which focuses on how to instruct the robot’s motors so that it moves in the correct manner, is one of the most crucial subjects for designing robots. The control of the robot is closely related to its mechanical structure, making mechanical engineering particularly well-suited for this area of work. Control theory specialties are common in mechanical engineering degrees, and there are even distinct degrees just for it that are typically offered by the mechanical engineering faculty.
2. Electrical Engineering for Robotics
The robot’s movement is actually caused by electronics. It is in charge of establishing communication, managing electricity, and managing the robot motors. By creating electrical circuits and planning the layout for the electric boards, you will learn how to create electronics as part of an electrical engineering degree (PCBs).
These, however, are typically merely phases within a protracted growth process. A robot has a large number of sensors, both for sensing the environment and for monitoring and managing the robot’s internal status. The tough job of the electrical engineer is to analyze and integrate these sensors. Close cooperation with the other disciplines is required for this. To create their control algorithms, mechanical engineers are interested in sensors found inside motors, such as current or position readings. The sensors that computer scientists use for perception and their machine learning algorithms are important to them (e.g. cameras). Generally speaking, electrical engineering often works at the junction of other fields, therefore collaboration with them is crucial.
Finally, embedded programming employs a large number of electrical engineers. The software needed to combine the sensors and actuate the motors is created by embedded software developers. As a result, they require a thorough knowledge of the hardware, which is ideal for electrical engineers.
3. Computer Science for Robotics
The robot runs a ton of software, thus many computer experts are required tremendous create it. Motion planning algorithms are required to program the robot to move in the desired manner. To ensure that the robot is aware of its surroundings, perception is crucial. As a result, you must create the computer vision algorithms that analyze the data from your cameras.
A user interface that makes it simple to control the robot is also necessary. The software infrastructure needs to be improved in all larger software initiatives. This facilitates development and ensures that everything goes without a hitch. Software architects are crucial for organizing the various software modules and ensuring that everything works well together.
The aforementioned are only a few instances of the various jobs that computer scientists are involved in when developing robots. A computer science major will teach you all about the various components of quality software and give you a thorough understanding of how the execution process operates. Even if you don’t have a lot of experience in the field of robotics yet, it will provide you with all the fundamental tools you need to work on the different difficulties in that field. Simply pick a discipline that interests you, and the rest will come to you as you go.
4. Artificial Intelligence for Robotics
It is undeniable that artificial intelligence is a current hot topic. There is a cause behind this, too. The robot’s artificial intelligence is actually created by these algorithms. Additionally, it is probably where the majority of robotics innovation occurs.
In a normal AI course, you first master a significant amount of algebra and probability-based mathematics before moving on to the fundamentals of machine learning algorithms. You learn how to create machine learning models, how to train them, and how the performance of these models is influenced by the data you feed them. A subset of artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, focuses on multi-layered machine learning models with many well-known applications, such as object detection or tracking. Reinforcement Learning is a unique area of artificial intelligence that has a significant impact on robotics. The basic goal of this strategy is to train the model by making mistakes and learning from them. This aims to emulate how people learn, and many see it as a potential strategy for resolving challenging robotics problems.
AI is crucial for human-robot interactions as well. It is employed in both voice recognition and the analysis of human face expressions. All of this makes the interaction more natural and aids the robot in understanding what the user intends.
There are numerous challenges that have not yet been solved in the area of artificial intelligence in robotics. Separate degrees in AI are being established by more and more universities. A specialization in more broad degrees like computer science is also common.
5. Mathematics/Physics for Robotics
A degree in physics or mathematics can lead to several opportunities. Even if they lack domain-specific knowledge, graduates are in high demand if they have a solid mathematical background and experience approaching and solving challenging problems.
Graduates in mathematics and physics who are interested in programming can certainly work on any of the several algorithms that we already covered for the Computer Science degree (motion planning, Computer Vision, etc.). Many graduates go on to work on machine learning-related issues. A solid mathematical foundation is necessary once you begin researching machine learning techniques in depth.
After your studies, you will undoubtedly be able to enter the robots industry if mathematics or physics are your passions.
degrees in robotics
Universities that specialize in robotics are popping up everywhere. That is a fantastic chance to learn about a certain industry before beginning your career. But it’s crucial to pay great attention to the design and narrow concentration of these degrees.
Some programs place a greater emphasis on mechanical engineering, leading students to frequently study advanced control theory for robotics. Others are concentrating on the (artificial) intelligence component, which includes machine learning, perception, etc.
A degree in robotics can be a terrific way to get started on your future profession. As different robotics degrees have different emphasis, make sure the courses offered match your interests.
Conclusion
This list demonstrates the diversity of degrees that can lead to a career in robotics. Which one ought to you ultimately select? I made an effort to explain the little emphasis these degrees place on various branches of robotics. Therefore, you should ultimately determine whatever field most interests you.
How do you go about that? by putting a bunch of different things to the test! Investigate a topic if you believe you might be interested in it. Look for home-based tasks to work on (you can draw some inspiration from the article on projects to learn robotics). Start with tutorials on a topic and decide if you want to learn more about it. For example, check at the tutorials overview to learn about various robotics themes. If you are a newbie, you should read my comprehensive post on Where to Begin With Robotics.
Nothing is definite in the end. Even if the aforementioned descriptions give some indications of the potential directions a particular degree path can take you, there are just as many counterexamples. It is simple to transfer across fields because robotics is such an interdisciplinary field.
The setting in which you study is a different consideration that is equally significant to your degree of choice. A institution that allows its students to obtain experience in a quality robotics lab is extremely important. Use the chance you have if you have it!
If you decide to work in robots in the future, no matter what degree you are currently pursuing, you will unavoidably wind up doing it and you will love it! I swear.