

Ask Hacker News: What's the best path into the robotics industry? - ForTheRobots

I’ve spent my entire life fascinated by robots and the technology behind them -- I've been working IT since I was old enough to hold a cable crimper, 17 years,  but I’m ready to leave that all behind and do whatever it takes to get into the robotics industry: going back to school, taking an apprenticeship, gladiatorial combat, whatever it takes.<p>The question is, for those of you who work in robotics, what's the best path into the industry for a late bloomer?<p>Any advice or experiences you can share would be incredibly helpful -- thanks in advance.
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noonespecial
The thing about robotics is that, as a field, its so monumentally huge that
there's not really going to be a specific "industry" like, say software
engineering.

There will be so many sub disciplines that take lifetimes to master, and meta-
disciplines that specialize in getting them together, it will be mind-blowing.

Right now, when I look at robotics, I usually see mechanical engineers making
neat chassis that are useless because they can't build a simple H-Bridge with
transistors, EE's making cool circuits that are then bodged onto cardboard so
flimsy it doesn't work, and everyone failing for want of decent software.

Robotics needs welders, material scientists, psychologists, chemists,
mechanical engineers, EE's, botanists, etc etc.. It takes a village to raise a
robot.

Don't be an expert in robots. Be an expert in something who happens to have a
passion for robots, and then go find a tribe. This is kind of why the Media
Lab at MIT has kicked butt at robotics for so long.

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ForTheRobots
This is tremendously helpful!

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ChuckMcM
I've been doing robotics work as a passion/hobby for a bit more than 20 years.
The coolest thing about robots is that they combine three things, mechanics,
electronics, and software. All three are essential for autonomous robotics,
mechanics and electronics are critical for teleoperated equipment (and
battlebots :-). If you wanted to get a degree in something useful I'd shoot
for something called 'Mechatronics' which is as close as they come to a
robotics degree.

There are four primary robotics markets ranked in order of 'most money' to
'least money' -

The military. This includes UAVs and things that kill you as well as things
that disarm explosives. Generally these guys want Phds.

Manufacturing. This includes pick and place machines, work cells, automated
line handling, and industrial automation.

Toys & Entertainment. These are quadcopters, programmable tanks, animatronics
(robotically animated characters) and educational things like Lego Mindstorms.
I tend to put combat robots here (its really an entertainment biz) as well.

Research & Personal Robotics - this would be robots which do things for
people, Willow Garage's PR2 for example, the Neato or Roomba vacuums, robotic
guard dogs etc.

Different industries have different requirements on education, most really
appreciate electrical engineers and computer scientists.

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mihok
Just get into it. The hardest part about getting into 'robotics' is experience
and just doing it. And to solve that you either go to school for a field that
deals with it, or you just self teach yourself. Checkout robotparts.com,
sparkfun.com, buy yourself some arduino's or netduino if C# is your forte,
google some robotics videos and tutorials. literally just dive in and get your
hands dirty. People have been doing some pretty awesome stuff just in their
garage.

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orangethirty
You better start building one right away. I started by building a simple boe-
bot copy (search for boe-bot). Then I moved on to bigger things. The issue is
robotics, as others have mentioned, is the sheer size of it. Hack with robots
to find what it is you like. Then just hack away some more. Some of the
roboticists I know dont have a robotics degree. One is even a doctor.

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djb_hackernews
Get involved with the FIRST robotics program. Great way to help the community,
get some contacts, and learn a hell of a lot about building robots.

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tocomment
Do you have any robotics experience?

I think the problem is that there isn't much of a robotics industry yet.

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ForTheRobots
Maybe 'robotics industry' was the wrong terminology, but there are certainly
people developing modern robotics -- researching it, developing it. No prior
experience in robotics, some minor making, soldering, 3d design, but nothing
robotics specific.

I'm basically starting from scratch here.

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tocomment
Maybe a graduate PHD program in robotics at MIT or CM. And make lots of
contacts.

