Experts advice on degree choice for robotics

[Lepe]

Hello Everyone,

I am in need of a small favor hopefully someone here can help me out i would greatly appreciate it.

I am trying to get into the field of robotics. I have done a lot of research on what degree i should choose to follow in order to get into robotics and all the research leads me to 3 different degree choices: Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering. The advice i want is I want to know which degree would help me the most get into the robotics field. I have asked many people and i haven't found a solid answer. Some say ME, some say EE, some say CS.

Do any people who have been in the Robotics Industry or experts in robotics know what degree most companies look for? Or do they look more specifically if you have the certain overall skills of the three disciplines mentioned above rather than a specific degree?

Thank you.

P.s. First time on this site and looks like a great community, can't wait to be a part of it.

[waltr]

I will say that most companies will have a team for robot development that consist of people from all three fields. (except change Electrical engineering to Electronic engineering)
Which field do you have the most interest in?

This question comes up of this forum from time to time. Did you search and read what suggestions have been posted before?

[Gertlex]

The two examples I know of folks working at "real" robotics companies both speak to the necessity of networking and and what you do outside of class.  Both built robots of various sorts periodically through high school and college.  They both studied what they're working on (one electrical, one mechanical), though.  And they both have a passion for that specific part of robotics, though they both dable in all 3 fields as needed.

As waltr said, search the forum for past threads like this.

[jkerns]

Which do you prefer to do?

I would recommend you try to pick up as much control system theory and computer science as you can even if you pick up an electrical / mechanical engineering degree.

A fourth option is robotics engineering - there are some schools starting to offer undergraduate degrees that combine the mechanical / electrical / computer science.

[Lepe]

yeah well right now i am currently a 2nd year mechanical engineer student, and i have looked around the website, i know the admin of the site is also a mechanical engineer graduate. From the previous post on the forum most of them look to be like i said scattered between EE, ME, and CS, and there is a lot of talk about studying robotics in the graduate level more than the undergraduate level. From the replies it seems like all three are vitally necessary. Thanks guys

[Th232]

A fourth option is robotics engineering - there are some schools starting to offer undergraduate degrees that combine the mechanical / electrical / computer science.

This may also be called mechatronics engineering depending on where you're from, and can be a good option.

Be aware though, that different degrees can be geared more in one direction than another.  My mechatronics degree was rather heavily weighted towards control and light on the electronics side, all the power electronics knowledge I have has been self-taught.

[jkerns]

A fourth option is robotics engineering - there are some schools starting to offer undergraduate degrees that combine the mechanical / electrical / computer science.

This may also be called mechatronics engineering depending on where you're from, and can be a good option.

Be aware though, that different degrees can be geared more in one direction than another.  My mechatronics degree was rather heavily weighted towards control and light on the electronics side, all the power electronics knowledge I have has been self-taught.

That's a perennial problem - there are only so many credit hours, and so many things to learn.

I think you will find that over the years, a lot of what you do will be based on what you have learned after graduation. And, no matter what kind of degree you start with, your skills and interests can drive your career in ways that you never thought of when you were an undergraduate.

[Admin]

See: http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_faq.shtml#best_robot_college

My degree is in mechanical engineering, but I took as many classes I could in programming, electronics, robotics, and even psychology (for artificial intelligence).

[Lepe]

Thanks all for the advice, much appreciated. Still no definitive answer in what major is most requested in the robotics industry but that only means that there is no definitive answer. All 3 majors( cs, ee, me) are essential for robotics and im going to stick to ME and take as many possible class for controls, software and electronics.

excited to start my robotics career, thanks guys

[waltr]

Sounds like a plan.
Good luck and have fun.