How do I become a roboticist?
Robotics is about to explode, if you’re interested, it’s a good time to get involved!
You might have heard that robotics is exploding. The growth over the last years has been noticeable. Robotics mailing lists are getting more and more busy, (robotics) PhD candidates are showing up everywhere, funding is flowing and exits are starting to be more and more common. Still, with all this in mind it’s quite hard to find good roboticists out there.
I happen to be one of those lucky guys who just got into robotics at the time it started growing at a fast rate — that is, when the Robot Operating System (ROS) showed up. While I keep learning stuff everyday, the lessons experienced these past years can definitely provide a few pointers for those intrepids that wish to jump into the field of robotics.
No right path
Many come asking for the right path to robotics. As far as I know, there’s none.
I’ve met amazing roboticists with a wide variety of technical backgrounds such as mechanical engineering, pure physics, electrical engineering, computer science (or engineering), chemistry… but I’ve also met amazing ones with non-technical backgrounds such as philosophy or history.
To me, there’s no right path to robotics. You just need to have the right toolset. Getting a full-time employment position in a robotics company and being acknowledged as so is not that straightforward. Over the last period of my career I’ve faced a lot of people claiming to have a core robotics background or a robotics training that should justify us hiring them. They were wrong, they just didn’t have the right skillset and that’s something that you can see within a week of work.
Here’s a summarized skillset that an average robotics engineer should have:
- Become a programmer. A fluent one. C, C++ and Python are probably essential.
- Get yourself comfortable with hardware. You should at least know what SPI, I2C and Ethernet are. Don’t panic if someone asks you to code a userspace (or a kernelspace) driver.
If you don’t have already, get yourself a SBC and explore what you can do with it. - Learn git or any other version control system that is used for software development. Be ready if someone asks for your Github account.
- Learn how to use the Robot Operating System (ROS)
- Get yourself an expert of robot simulation with Gazebo
- Build a robot
- Get some real experience outside of the lab
Let me cover some of the topics listed above for you:
Learn ROS
About 10 years ago, many labs around the world were working on different topics related to robotics. Publications enabled the field to grow at a stable rate but it wasn’t until the Robot Operating System (ROS) was launched (and started spreading) that the speed at which the field grew exploded.
ROS is a software framework for robot application development. The ultimate toolset for developing in robotics.
If ROS defined almost a decade in robotics, expect ROS 2.0 to define the following 10 years of what robotics is going to be about.
and … Gazebo
The OSRF is not just sponsoring ROS, it also sponsors Gazebo. For many, Gazebo is an unmatched physics simulator. It offers the ability to accurately and efficiently simulate populations of robots in complex indoor and outdoor environments.
In case you didn’t know, robot simulation is an essential tool in every roboticist’s toolbox. A well-designed simulator makes it possible to rapidly test algorithms, design robots, and perform regression testing using pseudo-real scenarios saving costs and reducing development time performing virtual tests.
“Have you ever built a robot?”
That’s one of the first questions I generally asked when interviewing.
If you’re thinking about jumping into the field, you should probably consider building a robot yourself. Doesn’t matter if it’s a simple differential wheeled robot or a more complex (from a physics perspective at least) flying one. Just built one!
If you need some inspiration on what to build, have a look at this kit.
Get yourself some corporate experience!
I’ve been in the in lab, in many actually. I know how the academical world of robotics works and hey, let me tell you something: “reality is different”. Publishing, reviewing, reporting and all that is fine. Some say it teaches you a lot. It definitely helps to acquire some skills but the corporate world needs something more than just “validating an hypothesis (just, generally) once”.
Corporate experience means “at least get an internship in a robotics company”.
There’re tons of opportunities out there. We at Erle Robotics are looking for talented candidates so if you happen to agree (or disagree) with anything written above, just reach us out at jobs@erlerobotics.com.
