What is the scope & career opportunities after studying Robotics?

Robotics is inter-disciplinary engineering with ample opportunities to get placed in some of the best organisations in both India and abroad. From manufacturing units to experimental robotics for medical, military and automotive industries, the future of robotics engineering finds tremendous opportunities for its budding professionals.

Robotics Engineering is a field of engineering that deals with the design, building structure, and the applications of robots and computer and their manipulation and processing. Robotic science has a tremendous scope as a career option as robots play an important role in the industrial sector. They help in speeding up the process of manufacturing and finds tremendous application in the fields of nuclear science, exploration of the sea, designing of bio-medical equipment, etc. A robotics engineer takes care of all the aspects of creating a robot such as robot designing, maintenance, testing, and proper functioning, etc.

Skills required for Robotics Engineers

A robotic engineer uses all his knowledge to integrate robots and their modern technology for application in different sectors including manufacturing and quality control. Some of the skills sets that are required by these professionals are:

• Knowledge in the designing of robots
• Ability to assemble and disassemble robots
• Conduct research work in robotic science
• Testing robots
• Programming them to perform different tasks
• Robots repair services
• Inspection of components that are involved in robot production
• Determine any malfunctions in the robot
• Keeping written records and reports
• Train technicians
• Serve as a strong technical support
• Analyse the prototypes

Academic programs in Robotics Engineering

Robotic engineering courses are available in different modalities and students who wish to pursue the degree in India can opt for Mechatronics Engineering, B.Tech in Automation and Robotics, BE in Advanced Robotics, etc.

Postgraduate and doctorate courses include M.Tech in Robotics, M.Tech in Automation and Robotics, M.Tech in Intelligent Systems and Robotics, M.Tech in Mechatronics and PhD in Robotics.

At the masters and the doctoral levels, the candidates have to take up below-listed specialisation as their core subject:

• Micro-robotics
• Digital electronics and microprocessors
• Bio-cybernetics
• Automation
• Signal processing
• Robot manipulators
• Computer integrated manufacturing systems
• Robot motion planning
• Artificial intelligence
• Air traffic management systems
• Computational geometry

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria to apply for a B.Tech degree in Robotic Engineering is completing XIIth standard in science stream with subjects, inlcuding Physics, Chemistry and Maths. To apply for the post-graduation degree in Robotics, the student must have a Bachelor’s degree in any one of these streams of engineering, namely mechanical, electrical, electronics, instrumentation and control, electrical and electronics engineering, etc.

Some colleges and universities may conduct a common entrance test at both under-graduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG) levels before offering admission to the candidates. These entrance examinations are IIT JEE, SRMJEEE (PG), GATE, TANCET, BITSAT, etc.

Course Curriculum of Robotics Engineering

The Bachelors of Engineering in Robotics is a four-year program that encompasses eight semesters. Examinations are conducted twice a year in the semester pattern, students are also required to submit a project at the end of the course. Students are also given a set of electives to choose at the last two semesters as their specialisations. The Robotic engineering subject list is as follows:

Best Colleges to Study Robotic Engineering in India

Robotic engineering is a budding stream in the field of Engineering offered by only a handful of colleges at both UG and PG level. Some of the best robotic engineering colleges are:

• IIT Kanpur - Indian Institute of Technology (IITK) 
• Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Madras 
• IIT Bombay - Indian Institute of Technology (IITB) 
• IIT Kharagpur - Indian Institute of Technology (IITKGP) 
• Acharya Institute of Technology
• OU - Osmania University
• Anna University
• AIMT - Ambalika Institute of Management And Technology
• Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology
• Bharath University - Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (BIHER)
• PSG College of Technology - PSGCT 
• DAV University
• ADYPU - Ajeenkya DY Patil University

Career Prospects in Robotics Engineering

Robotics Engineering is considered a high-end professional career in India. There are tremendous job opportunities awaiting a candidate who has professional training in Robotics engineering. A Robotic engineer can be employed in manufacturing plants, laboratories, medical fields, mining, automation sector, life sciences, aerospace engineering, agricultural engineering, etc. There is a great demand for robotic engineers in the gaming industry and manufacturing units as well. If the candidate has good merit records, then they can find themselves in top profiles in research organizations such as ISRO and NASA.

Job Profiles for Robotic Engineers

The Robotic engineer can take up the following job profiles after completing their graduation. They can get placed as robotics test engineers, analysts, robot design engineers, Robotics system engineer, senior robotics specialist, robotics technicians, Robotics programmer, Aerospace robotics engineer, quality assurance technician, etc.

Placements and Top Recruiters

Robotics is a highly demanding field of engineering and is rewarding as well in terms of job prospects. A robotics engineer graduating from top-notch institutions can command a starting placement salary of Rs 12-15 LPA. The average median placement package for robotics engineer is Rs 5-6 LPA. The scope for robotic engineers are tremendous and they find extensive scope in space research, entertainment sector, banking sector, Medicine and healthcare, etc.

Some of the top recruiters of robotic engineers are,

Precision Automation Robotics India Limited

• TATA
• DRDO
• BARC
• DiFACTO Robotics and Automation
• BHEL
• NASA
• Tech Mahindra Ltd
• Kuka Robotics
• ISRO etc.

Robotics is an inter-disciplinary engineering discipline in India with ample opportunities to get placed in some of the best organizations in both India and Abroad. From manufacturing units to experimental robotics for medical, military and automotive industries, the future of robotics engineering finds tremendous opportunities for its budding professionals.