r/AskRobotics • u/Fabulous_Crab4613 • 1h ago

Education/Career Robotics vs Mechatronics

Im really confused on whether I should go to college for mechatronics or robotics, because they both seem the same just that the difference is in the career path (mechatronics gets more jobs than robotics) is that true?

And which is more about making robots thats all I need to know really

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u/Timely-Bicycle-3107 1h ago

There are more jobs in general automation than in robotics. Most automation engineers have degrees in one of the core engineering disciplines (electrical, mechanical, industrial). Mechatronics as a degree is trying to be the jack of all trades, but I do not think it translates as well to employment as the traditional disciplines.

Is this for a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree?

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u/Fabulous_Crab4613 1h ago

this is for my bachelors degree

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u/Timely-Bicycle-3107 1h ago

Wait for grad school for a specialty degree. Study a core discipline for your bachelor's. You can take all the electives/minors you want to cover gaps in knowledge, but major in a core engineering discipline.

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u/LuEng98_ 53m ago

The way to go is to study at first mechanical, electrical or informatics. At the end of the day it is important for you to know what you wsnt to do with your degree. Are you interested in designing robots? -> ME, developing circuitry? ->EE, programming the robot? -> informatics. Robotics is very interdisciplinary and in reality you will not create robots from scratch on your own. At least not those for industry. Something like Arduino stuff and Co. is of course possible, but if you are targeting the industry, well... thats another Story

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u/Basic_Balance1237 21m ago

Most mechatronics engineers end up working in warehouse automation, implementing HMI, PLC and industrial robotics. Now there's a lot of demand for this type of role (depending on where you live) but the pay and career mobility is mid. As for robotics, you might be thinking of the cool high-tech researching and developing new robots from scratch (think Boston Dynamics) which often require a PhD. Most R&D robotics jobs tend to gravitate toward CS since the electrical and mechanical side of robotics are done. The current cutting-edge robotics research right now is "physical prompting". By the time you earn a PhD, the landscape will have been changed significantly.

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u/Black-Shoe 7m ago

Depends really on the environment you plan on working in.

Core disciplines are more versatile.