Futuristic role

Gauri Chhabra

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Picture this — by 2025, all menial and repetitive jobs will be performed by robots. The robotic arms will perform surgery, dispose roadside bombs, vacuum the floors, fit in the assembly line production of automobiles. They would help in jobs like sea exploration, nuclear science, servicing of transmission electric signals, designing of bio-medical equipment. These robots will be involved in various aspects of our life, and would be involved in various industries and factories.

No, this is not a dream. With the way we are advancing in computer technology and related research technologies, robotics jobs would take over most of the jobs that humans perform today. The industry would achieve critical mass and change the world. This would bring about a spurt in the demand for Robotics Engineers.

What is robotics engineering?

Robotics engineering is the engineering science and technology of robots, their design, manufacture, application and structural disposition and the use of computer for their processing and manipulation. Robotics is related to electronics, mechanics, and software. Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots.

Robotics engineers usually design robots and develop new applications for them to make them functional in a broad range of industries.

A qualified robotics engineer can apply his mastery in varied fields such as nano-technology, surgery, modern warfare and space-exploration. In the present world robots are replacing humans in industries where conditions are hazardous, tedious and manipulative, in space ships, atomic plants, mines and deep-sea vessels.

Getting in

For admission to a bachelor’s degree, you must have passed the Plus II examination with science subjects such as physics, biology, maths and chemistry. For IITs, It is mandatory to qualify in the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE). The duration for this course is four years.

Students who have graduated in electrical, computer, instrumentation or mechanical engineering, and have an interest in robotics and artificial intelligence, can take this up as a subject.

There are various specialisations in Robotics. Specialising in design and control in robotics is close to mechanical engineering. If you want to specialise in control and hardware design of robots, a BTech. in Electrical or Electronics or Electronics and Communication Engineering is the best-suited qualification.

Master’s degree programmes in robotics are designed to provide a thorough grounding in the science and technology of robotic design and programming. Degree candidates study artificial intelligence, computer dynamics and machine learning while working with robotic prototypes and intelligent machines.

Nearly all master’s degree programmes in robotics feature a graduate thesis or research project as a graduation requirement.

The eligibility criteria for pursuing a master’s degree are a BE/BTech in the equivalent branches of engineering. The duration for this course is two years.

For better or for worse?

In the near future, we would see that robots will increasingly encroach on the jobs that humans used to do. We would see robots replacing checkout staff and folding clothes at retail outlets. Recently, McKinsey also came out with a report that robotics and 3-D printers will affect 640 million manufacturing jobs — approximately 24 per cent of the global workforce. The efficiency from new technologies will be a mixed blessing, saving $1.2 trillion in the manufacturing sector and $3 trillion in the medical, retail, logistics and personal service sectors by 2025.

Is it a matter of concern? Well, yes and no. The jobs that would be displaced would be repetitive in nature. There would be a plethora of jobs in manufacturing, testing and research of robots and also in the sectors involving creativity and innovativeness of the human mind. This innovation would create new industries. Besides, there will be job opportunities in minding, maintaining or improving the bots.

Robotic systems will free us to do more innovative things and have more free time. On that note, the career advice would be gravitate towards Robotics!

Institute watch

• IITs in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur
• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
• National Institute of Technology,M.Tech in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• University of Hyderabad
• DAV University - Bachelor of Technology in Robotics and Automation Engineering (Lateral Entry)
• Jadavpur University, Kolkata
• Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
• Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthinilayam, Tamil Nadu — M.Tech
• PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) Mechanical (Robotics as an elective subject)
• Bachelor of Engineering in Robotics Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology in Robotics
• Bachelor of Engineering in Advanced Robotics
• Bachelor of Engineering in Robotics & Automation Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology in Mechatronics Engineering
• Master of Engineering in Automation and Robotics
• Master of Engineering in Robotics Engineering
• Master of Technology in Robotics Engineering
• Master of Technology in Automation & Robotics

Career options

Robotics opens a wide range of career opportunities in the following fields:

Research: The most linear progression after a degree in Robotics is in the area of research. You may get a job offer in the IITs for extensive research in artificial intelligence.

Indian Institute of Chemical Biology offers openings for research fellowships in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Organisations like BHEL, BARC, ISRO and DRDO besides other companies like Tata and Jindals recruit robotic engineers for their Research department. Companies like Intel recruit robotics and artificial intelligence specialists for microchip manufacturing.

Robot manufacturing: Robotics engineers who work for robot manufacturers are sometimes called robotics test engineers or automation system engineers. These engineers apply the robotic system to a particular use on a manufacturing assembly line. They also create an integrated environment between people and machinery.

Robotics engineers can advance to management positions and become robotics managers or directors of automation.

Some robotics engineers advance by moving into robot sales or by starting their own robotics consulting firms.

A degree in Robotics can also get you jobs in microchip manufacturing. Companies like Intel recruit robotics and artificial intelligence specialists for microchip manufacturing.

Robotics technicians: Robotics technicians often work under the supervision of robotics engineers, building systems, troubleshooting extant systems and components and maintaining system documentation. They may assist in system design or construction, including the incorporation of peripheral systems, such as the design of the platform to which a robotic arm moves a completed auto part. They also assist in the installation of robotic systems by connecting the wiring and installing the actuators — whether hydraulic rams or electronic servo-motors — that make the robot function.

Operators: Many of the jobs in robotics go to operators, who may be electromechanical technicians, such as the pilot-technicians who operate remotely operated vehicles or the robot submarines used for undersea repairs and exploration. They operate the shipboard launch-and-recovery systems for robotic, undersea work or exploration or fly the robot and operate its manipulators, the tools attached to the robotic arm that grasp objects. They also understand how to repair the manipulator systems and can assist the robotic engineer in the design of new equipment to make the robot more responsive to their mission

Gaming: Today’s gaming industry is possibly providing the most enjoyable variation of the kind of intelligence provided by robotics. Games like X-Box, PCs, and PlayStation, etc. are putting this extensively to use.

Investigation: Intelligence agencies and police departments throughout India are highly dependent on artificial intelligence. Robots are particularly used to detect bombs and explosive and even defuse them.

Banking: Today, banks have gone full circle. The primary opportunity for robots in the banking industry in the near future will be to extend the creative problem-solving capabilities and productivity of human beings and deliver superior business results. Through these technologies, the banks can attain new levels of process efficiency, such as improved operational cost, speed, accuracy and throughput volume. Artificial Intelligence is also being heavily used in organising operations and managing properties and in investing in stocks.

— The writer is a Punjab-based career consultant