Ayah Bdeir said, "I think it's really really important to make your own track and not be compartmentalized into disciplines. The most interesting things happen at the intersection of disciplines and that's something that should be embraced and not shunned." Her words would be meaningless without the actions she has taken to back them up.
Bdeir is an engineer and artist. She created and runs the company littleBits, which produces electronic building blocks that allow everyone—from children to adults—to create electronic devices, large and small. Bdeir lives and works at the exciting intersection of electronics engineering, design and artistry. The best jobs of the future, including mechatronics, will be found not in traditional disciplines, but at the intersections of those disciplines.
What is Mechatronics?
The time was 1969. Mechanical engineers sat in one room. Electronics engineers sat in another. And of course, programmers were in another. The wall between them was soundproof, opaque, and idea-proof. Then Japanese engineer Tetsura Mora realized that his company, Yaskawa Electric Corporation, could benefit from combining electronics and mechanical engineering for producing mechanical equipment with electronic components. Mechatronics was born.
Mechatronics futurist Kevin Craig identifies the overlapping fields of mechatronics:
- mechanical systems
- electronic systems
- control systems
- computers
Have a peek into our crystal ball. We see two disciplines intersecting, offering fascinating innovations in future jobs. We see electro-mechanics, digital control systems and robotics. Where all four disciplines intersect, you get mechatronics.
A skilled engineer who has a thorough background in mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, computers and systems engineering can move easily between disciplines. The future appears bright for those trained to cross the traditional disciplines.
Mechatronics Means Flexibility
With a solid background that spans the four traditional disciplines, a newly minted mechatronics engineering technologist can find interesting work in many fields. Craig identified eight industries:
- aerospace
- automotive
- consumer products
- defense systems
- materials processing
- manufacturing
- medical
- xerography
Get out that crystal ball again—could Craig foresee Bdeir’s littleBits? Could you? Where does Bdeir’s innovation fit? Her electronic puzzle pieces are educational products, but also a platform for testing electronic inventions for real-world use. They are a toolbox for design and creativity. The great flexibility of mechatronics multiplies, so that one innovation feeds another.
Follow the Path of “Disruptive Innovation”
You remember the kid in grade school who seemed to thrive on breaking up the class? Whether it was to crack a joke, play a prank, or argue, that kid disrupted the predicted flow of class, throwing your teachers off their game. That sort of disruption is useless, because it offers nothing better as a substitute for the regular routine, and that kid was not you, right? But disruptive innovation—a term coined by Clayton Christensen back in the 1990s—breaks up the routine of an industry and then points toward a new, better future. Mechatronics exists in an exciting atmosphere of disruptive innovation, where one idea leads to another, where tweaking one device yields ten new ones.
Mechatronics Jobs of the Future
We do not need a crystal ball to predict future jobs for engineering technologists schooled in multiple disciplines. Future possible careers that take full advantage of engineering combining electronics, computers, mechanics, and control systems:
- Micro Grid Engineering—Designing, constructing, programming and repairing parts of the national electric grid as it is broken up into segments that take advantage of multiple energy sources
- Three-D Printing—Future devices, vehicles and even whole houses will be cast from 3D printers, designed, constructed and programmed by mechatronics engineers
- Driverless Technology—From designing the vehicles to creating control systems and safety interlocks, mechatronics experts will lead the convoy of robotic cars and trucks
- Swarmbots—Someone must design, build and control tiny drones and robots that, working in perfect harmony, perform repetitive tasks on a miniature scale, such as weeding fields without chemicals, stripping rust and paint from oil tankers, or harvesting carrots
A better gauge than our crystal ball of mechatronics engineering technologists’ possible career paths and earnings is the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, which show that electro-mechanical technicians enjoyed median annual pay of $51,820 in 2012, with the top 10 percent of earners making more than $76,590 annually, and the bottom 10 percent earning less than $33,360.
Supporting STEM initiatives at the FIRST Robotics Tournament. #futureisbright #ECPI pic.twitter.com/MeiZBB37
— Nina (@ninadane) March 16, 2012
Why Earn a Degree in Mechatronics?
Getting a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering Technology with a concentration in Mechatronics from ECPI University may be the best first step you can take toward your tomorrow. Toss the crystal ball and devote as little as 2.5 years to a solid education for an exciting, financially rewarding possible career path. Contact ECPI University today to learn how you can design and build your way to a better future. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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