Degree for the robotics industry?

[NERDsoldier]

I am torn between programming and electrical engineering.

What would be more relevant to robotics if I am trying to find a job in this field in years to come?

[newInRobotics]

I'd suggest going for electrical engineering, as in my opinion it is easier to learn to program microcontroller at home than to actually build well designed circuit around it  Plus, from what I've seen so far, programming courses will most likely have nothing to do with programming for embedded systems, hence only remotely useful when it comes to interacting with robot hardware. Moreover, the trend seems to be, at least in UK, in terms of robotics and control systems, is that a good programmer earns less than a good electrical engineer.

[NERDsoldier]

Crap I suck at maths.

But then again both are going to need it.
But also, if a robot is using advanced software wouldn't it be a good idea to learn to make it?

[NERDsoldier]

Alright I know that this has been beaten like a dead horse but here is the MESSED UP stipulation thanks to my current career:


It has to be online.
ASU has a good one that I have seen so far.

[jkerns]

Companies that build robots employ electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, computer engineers, computer science graduates, and more.  Some schools are now offering degrees in robotic engineering too.

They are all relevant degrees - the question becomes - what interests you the most? What kind of robotics do you want to do? Industrial, autonomous vehicles, household, medical, or???

Pick the degree that best matches  your skill set.

BTW - lots of people have a "dislike" for math - but you can't really get away from it if you want to design things for the real world. Sir Issac Newton didn't invent calculus just to make life miserable for engineering students - he (and others) invented it because it was needed to describe his laws of motion and gravity.

[jwatte]

Crap I suck at maths.

Time to study up, then. Applied math (the kind anyone pre-PhD uses) is simply the application of well-defined rules to well-defined problems. If you can't do math, then you can't do any kind of engineering (be it electrical, software, mechanical, bio, or whatever.)

The good news is that, with practice, you can likely get good at it, and you should. If you practice hard, and still can't get good at it, then you may be missing the necessary aptitude for any kind of engineering, and should probably choose something else to do with your life, but for most people, the "dislike of math" is really just a "dislike of putting in the required effort to get good at it," which is easily fixed :-)