Best path to robotics engineering depends on your interests, strengths, and career aspirations. Whether you choose mechanical engineering, electrical engineering .
Choosing between mechanical engineering and electrical engineering as a path to robotics engineering depends on your interests, skills, and career goals. Here’s a breakdown of each path and how they relate to robotics engineering:
- Mechanical Engineering Path:
- Strengths: Mechanical engineering focuses on the design, analysis, and manufacturing of mechanical systems and components. If you enjoy working with physical systems, mechanisms, and materials, mechanical engineering may be the right fit for you. You’ll learn about concepts such as kinematics, dynamics, thermodynamics, and materials science, which are all relevant to robotics engineering.
- Robotics Relevance: In robotics engineering, mechanical engineers are responsible for designing and building the physical structure of robots, including their frames, actuators, joints, and end-effectors. They also work on systems integration, ensuring that mechanical components work smoothly with electrical and software systems.
- Career Paths: With a background in mechanical engineering, you can pursue roles such as robotics design engineer, mechanical systems engineer, mechatronics engineer, or automation engineer.
- Electrical Engineering Path:
- Strengths: Electrical engineering focuses on the study of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. If you’re interested in circuits, control systems, and electronic devices, electrical engineering may be a better fit. You’ll learn about topics such as circuit analysis, digital systems, signal processing, and control theory, which are essential for robotics.
- Robotics Relevance: Electrical engineers play a crucial role in robotics engineering by designing and implementing electronic control systems, sensors, actuators, and embedded systems. They work on circuit design, power distribution, feedback control algorithms, and sensor integration, among other things.
- Career Paths: With a background in electrical engineering, you can pursue roles such as robotics control engineer, embedded systems engineer, automation specialist, or sensor systems engineer.
- Best Path to Robotics Engineering:
- Interdisciplinary Approach: While both mechanical and electrical engineering paths can lead to robotics engineering, many robotics programs and roles require knowledge and skills from both disciplines. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach that combines aspects of both mechanical and electrical engineering may be the best path to robotics engineering.
- Specialized Robotics Programs: Some universities offer specialized programs or tracks in robotics engineering that cover a broad range of topics, including mechanical design, electrical systems, computer programming, and artificial intelligence. These programs provide a comprehensive education specifically tailored to robotics engineering.
- Hands-On Experience: Regardless of your chosen path, gaining hands-on experience through internships, research projects, or extracurricular activities in robotics-related fields is essential. Practical experience will complement your academic studies and help you develop the skills needed for a career in robotics engineering.
Robotic engineering is a multiatimdisciplinary subject that deals with the construction, operation, design, and manufacturing of robots. This discipline combines the principles of electrical, mechanical, and computer science engineering under one umbrella. Robotics engineering works on the automation of machines which includes designing and operating robots.
The manufactured robots have been proven to be very helpful in assisting human beings in various works. Robots can be seen as an important functional element in a lot of fields ranging from defense to medical, mining, and even teaching.
With artificial intelligence booming in every sector, many students are opting for a M.tech in robotics after graduation. The average salary of a robotics engineer in India is Rs.483,053 per year which makes it a dream course for many young students.
There are a few pre-requisite skills and knowledge that one needs to possess to study robotics in masters. Subjects like advanced engineering mathematics, basic electronics, and knowledge of material and design of machines, software design, and coding are a few of them.
There is no doubt that robotics engineering is emerging as one of the most high-demand subjects alongside the advancement of science and technology in recent years. However, many students get confused about the subjects that they can choose in their bachelor’s degree which will help them in further pursuing Robotics in their masters. The main confusion arises about whether they should pursue electrical engineering in their bachelor’s or mechanical engineering. Well, the answer is not very simple as both the subjects have equal importance in the field of robotics.
Robotics is a multifaceted subject that requires knowledge of both mechanical and electrical engineering. In simple words, if you compare the body of a robot to that of a human being, mechanical engineers deal with the body of the robot, electrical engineers deal with the nervous system of the robot, and computer science engineers deal with the brain of the robot. The subject you choose depends on what your area of interest is. Nevertheless, it is very important to weigh the prospects of both mechanical and electrical engineering before choosing any one of them while pursuing your Btech.
Btech in Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering teaches you the principles of motion, force, structure, and design of a machine. The core subjects of mechanical engineering such as material science, engineering service, and design and automation are a part of the key subjects in robotics engineering as well. Mechanical engineers are in charge of the physical structure and design of the robot. Mechanical engineering helps in the formulation of motion with regard to the force and fiction of the robot.
Btech in Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering helps in understanding the programming, control system, and power electronics of the robot. Electrical engineering deals with the power generation, transmission motor, and control system of the robot. The core subjects of electrical engineering such as electromagnetism, control system, circuit analysis, instrumentation, thermodynamics, and microprocessor, all help in understanding the intrinsic functioning of a robot.
Robotic is truly an interdisciplinary subject of engineering and there is no specific road map that you can follow in order to pursue robotic engineering in your Mtech. A degree in electrical engineering or mechanical engineering, both has equal weightage and importance in the field of robotics. Both will be equally beneficial in your journey towards becoming a robotics engineer.
GATE (General Aptitude Test in Engineering) is the entry-level examination that you have to qualify in order to pursue Mtech in robotics. There might also be other eligibility criteria specific to any individual college.
The advancement of robotics can be seen in many sectors. In the recent times of the pandemic, the Karnataka government’s decision to deploy drones to deliver vaccines to remote areas or Patania 2, an underwater mining robot that was used for exploration on the pacific ocean bed are just a few examples of evolution and the increasing importance of robotic engineering in all the sectors. Therefore robotics, being an integrative subject, both mechanical and electrical engineering is equally important on your path to becoming a robotic engineer. The decision lies upon what is your area of interest and in what ways you would like to contribute to the field of robotics.
