The impact of robotics can be felt in everyday life. From security robots monitoring homes when people are away to robotic cooking assistants making the food you want, performing hazardous jobs such as welding, to arming and disarming bombs, robots programming languages have been a part of daily life for several decades.
Though the above tasks may seem like some far-off futuristic fantasy, robotics holds tremendous potential for benefiting every domain of human life. So, that brings us to the question — what is robotics?
Robotics is the study of robots. Many aspects of this field involve artificial intelligence — robots equipped with senses of vision, touch, etc. Few robots are even capable of simple decision-making. In fact, today, there are certain robots that even resemble human beings — they are called androids.
Robotics education is becoming increasingly commonplace in schools and colleges across the world to nurture students’ interest in the field from an early age. That is to prepare students who will dive into a workforce governed by technology, in an era where robots are poised to become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Knowledge of robotics also promotes the development of higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills of an individual, making one a productive talent in a market dominated by STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jobs.
What should be your field of study for a career in robotics?
Robotics is a huge area that encompasses electronics, mechanics, software engineering, maths, physics, chemistry, psychology, biology, etc. If you are interested in robotics, at the school level, two subjects can get you started — mathematics and physics. While in mathematics, a good grasp of algebra and geometry is essential, physics provides basic knowledge of circuits, mechanics, and other key topics for robotics.
Post-school, you need to take up a course in a robotics-related subject. You can enroll for a course in computing and programming, or design and technology.
The field that you can work in robotics include:
- Robotics engineer: Installing, maintaining, and fixing faults with robots
- Product demonstrator: Presenting the robot and its features to people or a group
- Researcher: Developing new robot technology
Do you need to learn programming languages for robotics?
The answer to this question is both “yes” and “no” because it depends on what you want to do. Robotics has many domains — mechanics, electronics, sales and management, and software management. Let’s take a look at each one individually.
- Mechanics: If you are passionate about the mechanisms associated with robotics, you need to make inroads into this profession through mechanical engineering. For that, you don’t need to know a programming language. However, you need to be an expert in CAD software, such as Solidworks.
- Electronics: For this, a basic level of programming is required, because your work would entail designing PCB boards. So, to test your board, you may have to know basic coding.
- Sales and management: You don’t need to know any kind of programming for this.
- Software management: You need to know high-level programming for this. Each job will need different kinds of programming and coding. For example, if you want to get into artificial intelligence, you need to know programming languages such as Python and C++.
To put it in simple terms, there are various stages in the development of a robot — designing the robot, building the structure, powering the machine, and finally, giving life to it. You need to have programming skills only if you are part of the team that gives life to a robot, which, in other words, means controlling it.
Till then, the robot is just a toy. Every move that it makes or task that it performs is the result of programming. You need to provide instructions to the microprocessors used in the robot for performing certain tasks. Those instructions are in the form of programming.
If you want to study and understand robotics’ concepts, you don’t need to know to program.
What are the programming languages usually needed for robotics?
C & C++: These languages take the top slot in robotics, as they allow easy interaction with low-level hardware. C/C++ is needed to ensure the peak performance of a robot.
Python: It’s easy to use and requires less time, as compared to C/C++. Also, less coding work is required in Python. But it’s not viable for massive projects because of its inability to spot errors.
MATLAB: A high-performance language, this is used to analyze information and build a control system.
Pascal and Basic: They are used in multiple industrial robot languages. Though a bit outdated, they are still a good starting point for programming industrial robots.
Java: Being an interpretive language, Java doesn’t require to be compiled in machine code. The Java Virtual Machine is a secured programming language that provides great features to a robot to perform tasks like humans.
Scratch: This is a visual programming language, designed for budding roboticists. It’s mainly for those in the age groups of eight to 16, who are passionate about creating robots.
A platform such as Learningbix can be an excellent way for you to get started.
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