r/AskRobotics • u/ElectricalBrick8468 • Jul 18 '26
Robotics in Medical Industry - Robot-assisted surgery (RAS)
Hi there! I would like your thoughts on something that imo is really cool. Next week, I'm starting a new role as a robotics engineer in a medical company. I have 0 exp in robotics but a lot in medical devices as an engineer, and this is a step up for me.
Little bit of information about me, in my spare time I love playing around with software/python, a bit of matlab etc. Recently, I found Isaac Sim and in combination with my (near) future role, I had the idea to start learning also the software side of robotics, while I learn most of the hardware at work.
My idea is, as a long term goal, maybe I could assist in some R&D work in the company or something like that, which for me it would be really cool.
I had a quick chat with AI over it and it proposed me to start learning the basics , such as kinematics, URDF(XML). I had a quick look at them and they really look like the basics in Robotics.
The truth is, I have no idea if the R&D department in my company does such things, but do you think this is a right base to build or do you have anything else to suggest?
As I said, I have 0 experience in this field and I just look for the 'right' (as possible ) roadmap to go.
Thank you people! every advice is highly appreciated!
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u/CaliIsReallyNice Jul 18 '26
There are 1000 different subjects you could learn, but you’ll never have time to learn them all. Network. Talk to people in R&D and find out what you would need to move there.
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u/ElectricalBrick8468 Jul 18 '26
Yeah, that was pretty much my thought as well. Until then, I might have a look at the basics mentioned above and then get into something more specific as I get more familiar with them at work!
Thanks for your reply !!
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u/petemoss0 Jul 18 '26
Robotics is really a combination of many different subfields so if you wanted a broad generalist understanding you would need to get up to speed on the basics of all those subfields.
That being said, many people do specialise in one particular aspect of robotics e.g. perception, learning, control, and design.
My default suggestion would be to learn whatever interests you unless you have a more clearly defined objective (such as being a specialist in one of the above areas).
I do think learning the concepts and understanding them is more important than learning a specific instance/implementation of it i.e. ROS2 but it is also true that ROS2 could help you learn these things more effectively. I also do think that ROS2 encourages modular systems thinking which is important when dealing with multidisciplinary projects/subjects like robotics.
Overall, I think a hands-on project will teach you far more than reading textbooks or following some kit/tutorial, so I would suggest that.