Mechatronics Engineers

‘Mechatronics’ was a term coined by an engineer called Tetsuro Mori in 1969. Initially, it was considered to be a combination of Mechanics and Electronics. Today, Mechatronics is a vast field that deals with the integration of mechanics and mechanical engineering with electronics, computer technology and Information Technology. It is used in a variety of products today such as Computers, Photocopiers, Robots etc. Mechatronics can be considered as a ‘design philosophy’ in which all the components (electrical, mechanical etc.) are considered to be together and a part of a single entity from the design stage itself. Mechatronics is based on a principle in which all components of a product are manufactured together, rather than different components being manufactured by different people and then assembled to make one single product. Mechatronics Engineers are practitioners of Mechatronics. They have multi – disciplinary knowledge. They unite the principles of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computing to create a smaller, reliable and cheaper product.

Mechatronics is one of the fastest developing disciplines in the world. It is being used in a vast variety of products that range from cars to toy cars.

What do Mechatronics Engineers do?

Mechatronics Engineers research, design, implement and maintain ‘intelligent’ products and processes. They use computing and software to program devices and products to perform certain duties on their own.  A lot of Mechatronics Engineers work in the field of Robotics.

Mechatronics Engineer design engineering systems. They brainstorm and come up with new ideas for products that can benefit the society. Mechatronics Engineers go on to implement their ideas and theories and test them. This is an essential task, as without implementing and testing ideas, one can never know whether they are feasible or not. They have to anticipate whether manufacturing the product will be feasible or not. They also have to anticipate the cost that it’ll take to manufacture the product and whether it will go over budget or not. If the engineer thinks that it might go over budget, he has to find ways to make the cost of manufacturing the product cheaper.

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Once they build a design and anticipate its cost, Mechatronics Engineers have to send proposals and reports to clients and authorities. This requires exceptional communication skills as they have to understand what the client wants and make changes to their product if the client is not satisfied.

Mechatronics Engineers build prototypes of their products. These prototypes are manufactured by the engineer himself and are used for testing, demonstrating etc. These prototypes form the basis of what the actual product is going to be like.

Making technical drawings and drafts is a very essential task that a Mechatronics Engineer performs. These technical drawings explain every single detail about the product that can be of great help to the people who’re manufacturing as well as to the users. These drawings are like a two – dimensional form of the product. This is an extremely important task in Mechatronics Engineering as it a single product contains components from different disciplines.

Mechatronics Engineers are also required to supervise the manufacturing process of the product. They conduct tests on samples and make sure that the manufacture product is exactly as per the technical drawings. They have to make sure that the there is no fundamental defect in the manufacturing of the product.

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How to become a Mechatronics Engineer?

Mechatronics Engineering is often considered to be a philosophy, a fundamental way of looking at things. It looks at a product as a whole and not at different individual components. Mechatronics Engineers research, evaluate and design products that include concepts like automation, intelligent systems and smart devices.

The road to becoming a Mechatronics Engineer starts off in school itself. You should concentrate on subjects like Math, Physics, Chemistry and Computers. You would have to take Science after your 10th and give equal attention to all subjects.

Once you complete your schooling, you would have to give engineering entrance exams of different colleges in order to get admission in one. Most colleges have their private exams and some general exams like JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced) are given importance in a lot of institutions.

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Mechatronics Engineers take up Electrical, electronics, instrumentation, computers or Mechanical Engineering at their Bachelor level. After your graduation, you can choose to study further or take up a job. If you pass out from a good college, you will manage to get a good job easily. But pursuing a Master’s program can be helpful if you want to specialize. You can also do a PhD after your Master’s if your interest lies in the field of research.

If you want to become a Mechatronics Engineer, you should work as an intern in as many places as possible during your school and college years. You should preferably gain experience in different fields like Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Programming. This will help you gain knowledge in a variety of disciplines which is necessary for Mechatronics Engineering.

To become a Mechatronics Engineer, learning drafting is absolutely important. Computer based drafting software like Auto CAD are extensively used in this field and a strong base in such software can take you a long way in this profession.

If you want to become a Mechatronics Engineer, it is advisable that you conduct your own experiments and study as much as possible about devices and products. Research on the internet, open up spoilt devices and try to study their engineering models. Develop an inquisitive nature and use it to learn as much as you can about the various applications of Mechatronics around you.

Institutions:

Mechatronics Engineering is an upcoming discipline in engineering; hence there aren’t as many colleges for Mechatronics as there are for other engineering courses. Still, colleges like the Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka and the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna offer courses in Mechatronics Engineering. The Manipal Institute offers a B.Tech in Mechatronics Engineering upon graduation whereas IIT Patna provides a Master’s degree (M.Tech) in Mechatronics Engineering.

What are the skills required to become a Mechatronics Engineer?

Mechatronics Engineers are very skilled engineers that have multi – disciplinary knowledge. They are creative and innovative to be able to use that knowledge to come up with new technologies and products. As they often need to work in teams, it is important for Mechatronics Engineers to have great communication skills. They need to have the ability to adjust with others and work as a team. They need to have an analytical brain and should possess the ability to think scientifically. Mechatronics Engineers also need to have good decision making skills and the ability to solve problems and come up with solutions. They also need to possess an eye for detail without losing a track of the bigger picture. Most importantly, Mechatronics Engineers should have the genuine desire to learn more and more about designing and using their knowledge to come up with new products and technologies that can benefit society.

Is this the right career for me?

Mechatronics Engineers have normal regular jobs and often work in laboratories. They have to constantly research and come up with new ways of doing things. They constantly have to adhere to deadlines and deal with unreasonable clients.

So if you’re genuinely interested in the field of designing and technology, and if you  are excited by the prospect of continuous learning throughout your life, then this might just be the perfect career for you.

Fields related to Mechatronics Engineering:

Robotics is a branch of engineering that deals with the research, design, construction and maintenance of robots. Robots can be defined as virtual or mechanical agents that are normally electro – mechanical machines. They are guided by electronic circuitry and computer programs. The objective behind robotics as a field is to come up with machines that perform the duties of a human in dangerous situations at manufacturing and experimental levels. It is an upcoming field and is extremely popular in the manufacturing industry. To get into this field, you can pursue Robotics at your Bachelor’s and Master’s level at Institutes like IIT.


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