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Asked by anon-74699 on 8 Jun 2020.
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Rob Husband answered on 8 Jun 2020:
I did a fair bit of robotics during my electronic engineering degree. Electronic engineers in this instance are responsible for building the various electronic components or circuit boards that are used on the robot. The will make sure that every component is connected correctly and doesn’t cause any short circuits, this is all done after designing and simulating the circuits. In the case where a micro controller is used (basically a CPU), then we perform simulations with the virtual design and the physical robot using code normally using the C programming language or another language called assembler. Electronic engineers can also be involved with the design and building of software that would be used to send commands to a robot or receive data from it.
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Juan Carlos Fallas-Chinchilla answered on 8 Jun 2020:
I’ve seen lots of great projects where electrical – electronic engineers team up with mechanical engineers to work in robotics. As Rob mentioned, electronic engineers can be responsible for programming and building essential components. Mechanical engineers can be involved in that as well at certain extend, also focusing in the application of the robot (manufacturing, welding, painting), dynamics, etc.
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Henry Lancashire answered on 8 Jun 2020:
Many types of engineers study robotics, creating advanced robots requires skills from lots of different fields. This may be one person with a variety of skills working on a small project, or lots of people working together. Here are a few examples of the fields involved:
Mechanical engineers design the structure and movement of robots, and the mechanical parts which make these movements possible. These designs can be inspired from animals and nature so mechanical engineers may work with experts in biomechanics (the movement of the body).
Electronic engineers design the systems which control how robots move, as Rob has described.
Computer scientists write the computer code which commands the movement of the robot. This might include experts in computer vision, which uses cameras to allow the robot to “see” its environment and to act appropriately. Computer scientists might also create code which allows the robot to “learn” how to move by trial and error.
Materials scientists work to help make robots which move in new ways, using “soft robotics” with flexible materials instead of rigid structures. Materials scientists also work to make robots which can work in dangerous environments, for example protecting the robots from salt water and high pressures in the deep oceans. Or even to make sure the robot is not going to cause harm, for example for robots used in the body which need to made of safe, non-toxic materials which can be sterilised easily between surgeries.
Robotics experts might also work with social scientists, to understand how people interact with robots, and how to make humanoid robots more “real”.
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Katie Sparks answered on 9 Jun 2020:
All sorts of people work with robotics.
Robotics uses 3 main engineering disciplines: electronics, software and mechanical.
That said, you could be working in a small team and you all do bits of everything on the project, or you could be working on a large project like the Mars Rovers, where there are hundreds of people and all sorts of engineers (e.g. materials, structures, thermal).
Robots are used in all sorts of situations, if it does something that is either too boring to ask a human to do all the time/ makes it more consistent if a robot does it (painting a car?) or it’s dangerous to send a human, it’s a robot – they may not look human though! -
Asha Panchal answered on 10 Jun 2020:
Hi AdityaA,
Whilst most people would think that it would apply to mechanical, biomedical, electronic etc. industries, you’ll see that they are becoming more widely used across the industry. I’m a civil engineer, and although I didn’t study robotics, I’m seeing more of that technology on sites because people are trying to develop safer ways of carrying out tasks. I’m sure the industry is moving towards AI so robotics skills will be highly sought after in the coming years. -
Rachel Edwards answered on 10 Jun 2020:
Hello! Robots are used in lots of areas. I work in non-destructive testing, which is where we look for any problems on things like long lengths of pipes that might carry oil or gas, or on railway tracks, or large storage tanks. We’re using robots to crawl over the structures and carry the equipment we need to do the testing. This means I get to play with some crawler robots that my colleagues in another university have been working on, which is fun!
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anon answered on 14 Jun 2020:
Many specialities of engineers touch on robotics, it plays a key role in a production line and speeding up a busy and often technical process. If you wanted to see more firsthand robotics in use, I would recommend you go on an ‘Amazon Fulfilment Centre Tour’.
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