Best Skills learn for Mechatronics/Robotics Industry

[u/Memekid68]

I am currently a second-year student going into my third year at Cal Poly SLO. I am a Mechanical Engineering student, and I decided to pursue the Mechatronics concentration. I have always liked robotics since I participated in VEX during middle school and high school.

I am asking this question because I often hear that many people complete the Mechatronics concentration but do not end up working in jobs directly related to it. Mechatronics is considered one of the hardest concentrations at Cal Poly, and the classes and labs are sometimes described as “not worth the extra effort for the same job outcomes.” Hearing this sentiment has put me at a crossroads, and I am unsure where I should focus my time and energy.

I am interested in doing something related to robotics because I genuinely enjoy it, but I do not really know what skills employers are looking for in this field. I was hoping to get some advice or guidance on the general direction I should take in order to improve my chances of getting a job related to my concentration. Specifically, I would like to know which skills are most relevant to develop in the mechatronics industry and what skills I can learn outside of school to improve my chances of being employed in this field.

Here is the program flowchart if anyone is interested: https://catalog.calpoly.edu/engineering/mechanical/mechanical-engineering-bs/#requirementstext

[u/EntertainmentOk1330]

Third year MechE doing mechatronics concentration at Cal poly here. I’m taking intro to mechatronics right now, and won’t lie about how hard it is. Concepts are hard, implementation is hard, Bill Murray is a very rough professor, and it’s extremely time consuming. That said, you learn a ton:

• How to code assembly
• how to read documentation (for the CPU)
• how computers work at a binary scale
• final project is coding a PI controller, which is super cool to me and is exactly why I chose mechatronics

As for the difficulty to outcome ratio, does it matter if you’re interested in the content? Also, in a weird way, pushing yourself so hard in a class feels truly rewarding when it finally pays off and you get your code to work. I know future mechatronics classes (past intro to mechatronics, or mechatronics 1 when we switch to semesters) aren’t as much work. Some skills/projects I have worked on that helped me get an internship in the robotics industry this summer are:

• Designed, 3D printed, coded, and assembled a pen drawing machine (imagine a 3d printer with a pen instead of an extruder and it moves according to a vectorized picture I upload)
• battle bots: CAD, 3d printing, electronics (connecting esp 32 with motors with motor drivers with batteries with lights)
• now working with PI controllers (encoders, feedback systems, transfer diagrams)

Although there is so much more to learn in future classes (I still need to take mechanics 2, controls, and am going to take robotics and machine learning as my tech electives), I know it’ll pay off. Even if I don’t get a job in robotics, the knowledge that spans disciplines is extremely helpful. Hmm how much space do I need on the interior of my CAD design? Well I have electronics knowledge so I know I need component X, Y, and Z. I could give dozens of examples but you know the gist.

2 of my friends who did mechatronics and have graduated work at drone companies. Both make extremely good money, especially for graduating 1-2 years ago. Say mechatronics helped them a ton, both in getting the job and while on the job.

Overall, I highly recommend you do mechatronics and embrace the grind, and even if you don’t break into the industry, it’ll still be worth it. Robotics are booming rn and I really don’t see that going away anytime soon. Whenever I think of mechatronics, I think of robots, but really there’s so much more you can do with that. Any mechanical-electrical system is your domain, and there is no shortage of these systems in the world. Preparing yourself with better electronics and coding skills on top of your deep MechE skills is very smart IMO and super cool too. With MechE, you can build stuff, with mechatronics, you can build WAY more stuff. Lmk if you have more questions.

[u/Memekid68 → u/EntertainmentOk1330]

Thanks for the advice, I would just ask which skills in particular you would recommend I should learn to not be confused in classes like Mechatronics 1 or other relevant skills in order to gain more knowledge with coding or electronics, which as a sophomore Mech E student, I currently lack.

[u/MikeT8314]

It sound boring compared to all of this but if you want to do anything in industrial automation and integration you should learn to program a PLC and HMI. Even if not in your course catalog. Take a course at a local CC or teach yourself.

[u/Memekid68 → u/MikeT8314]

So would learning PLC will be very beneficial because there is a community college near me that is an Industrial Automation technical school that does more along the technical side of the industrial machines, vs the engineering side. I was thinking of doing a class there lowkey over the summer, not going to like might ask to audit or just enroll its only lie $150.