Empower the machines

Updated on: Monday, April 05, 2010

In the ever-connected world where branches of learning join to form New Age specialised areas like nanotechnology and biotechnology, robotics and mechatronics engineering are other spaces that are growing fast on the sidelines.

As experts envisage, almost every sector engaged in manufacturing soon to get automated, empowers robotics and mechatronics to operate all the machines around us. A multi-disciplinary field encompassing the domains of mechanical, electrical, electronic and computer engineering, these sciences would also help humankind venture into a terrain where it physically cannot! “Interestingly, with so much demand, robotics is faced by a weak supply with only a handful of engineers having this specialisation available as of today,” says Sudhanshu Sharma, MD, Techtronics India Ltd. A supplier of quality machine tools, machines and equipment, Techtronics has an education arm that provides children with the knowledge of robotics. “Techtronics helps various schools in setting up and running robotics activity clubs and teacher training programmes. We have also developed the Techtronics Advanced Learning Module (TALM), which acts as an interface between the school curriculum and LEGO’s activity-based learning and robotic products,” he adds.

If you are keen to cash in on the opportunities created by this New Age career, you need to love science and maths. Or, as Professor Nalinaksh S Vyas, Head, Mechatronics, IIT Kanpur says, ‘your favourite subjects should be algorithms, sensors and control systems’. “In mechatronics, one needs to make mechanical components talk to their electronic counterparts and vice versa. To make such a connection, an engineer needs to be mentally agile, analytical, curious about how the machine world works and be a problem solver, creative thinker and innovator,” he says.

You could well ask who or which industries hire robotics and mechatronics engineers? The answer: the spread is rapidly expanding and already covers manufacturing, space and sea exploration, transportation, health and medical technology, nanotechnology, military technology, commerce and even safety (such as in nuclear science), says Vyas. And you could probably guess the opportunities you would get if you were in the profession. “If one talks about robotics alone, Indian companies are establishing a niche for themselves in the field of industrial robots. The Pune-based PARI reportedly supplies products to global companies such as Caterpillar, Hitachi, Bosch and Tata Motors. Others companies include Grid Bots, Hi Tech Robotic Systemz, Rhythmsoft Robotics & Automation and J Robotics Technologies,” says career counsellor Amrit Sujan of Career Smart.
So far, robotics/mechatronics engineering is generally not offered as an undergraduate degree in India, but can be taken either as a separate degree or specialisation in a traditional Masters programme in the fields of mechanical, electrical, electronic and computer engineering. In fact, even this specialisation is not necessary, as many companies prefer graduates from traditional engineering streams with a passion for the subject, observe career specialists. “The path one needs to take is an undergraduate degree in the said engineering subjects, with a specialisation in robotics or artificial intelligence at the postgraduate level,” says Sujan.

In India, Masters programmes offering modules in robotics/artificial intelligence are offered at the premier Centre for Mechatronics at IIT Kanpur, and at other IITs. Other institutes include BITS Pilani, University of Hyderabad, Jadavpur University Kolkata, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Tamil Nadu and PSG College of Technology Coimbatore.

Empower the machines

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