Mechatronics is emerging as one of the integrated new generation courses having enough career potential within the country and abroad. This is a combination of mechanical engineering, electrical & electronics, computer engineering, systems engineering and control engineering. It is also called Robotic science. Mechatronics has wide applications in Robotics, Nano technology, automation, aircraft engineering, biomedical systems and computer-aided design. Biomechatronics is a branch of Mechatronics having electronics, mechatronics and biology as the different fields of study. Taking in to account the emerging opportunities in the telecom sector, Nanotechnology and Mechatronics is emerging as the promising technological areas.
Even though mechatronics courses have got wide popularity in Canada, United States and UK, in India it is in the primary stage.
All industrial employers are trying to reduce the number of employees. Their objectives are to increase production, productivity and profitability. They prefer mechatronics engineers to reduce one-third work force of engineering staff. Number of institutions offering mechatronics course is comparatively less in India. There are only very few institutions offering BTech and MTech Mechatronics programmes.
Being the four-year graduate programme, engineering students can directly apply for postgraduate programmes in Mechatronics abroad. MS Mechatronics is the most established and successful specialist programme in UK, which will substantially enhance career prospects of students. It is of one-year duration under full-time programme. In United States MS Mechatronics course is of two-year duration.
Prospects
Any graduate from an electrical/electronic, mechanical, computer/software engineering or physical science discipline who will be looking to integrate his subject knowledge to develop an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving and engineering product development can join this programme.
The advanced programmes like MS, MTech and PhD programmes offered by different universities of United States, UK and Canada focus on enabling students to become proficient in communicating across a range of different disciplines. This ensures that student’s communication skills with people of other disciplines become an integral core competency. After completing the above courses, students will have been exposed to:
• Comprehensive coverage of a broad range of engineering disciplines
• An enhanced knowledge base with which to solve multidisciplinary mechatronics problems
• The skills required for applying a mechatronic approach to the solution of a technological problem.
Career options
After completing the post graduate programme in mechatronics, career opportunities include positions such as a systems engineer, application engineer, product development engineer or any engineering role that requires competence in understanding interdisciplinary issues with insights.
Successful completion of the programme should also provide you with a foundation for a senior project management role in product development in industrial sectors such as automation systems, automotive engineering, aerospace, shipping or hardware/software development.
Entry requirements
Applicants for Diploma/BTech course must have completed plus two Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics with minimum 50 percent marks
Applicants for postgraduate programmes in Mechatronics are required to have completed B Tech or the equivalent of a post graduate degree in a relevant discipline. Students without academic qualifications but with extensive industry experience will be considered on an individual basis.
For applicants for whom English is not their first language, an IELTS score of 6.0 or equivalent is necessary in Canada, UK and North American Universities. For other American universities, students must have completed TOEFL and GRE examinations with better score.
Mechatronics Courses within the country and Abroad
• Three-year diploma programmes at NTTF, Coimbatore, Dharwad, Thoothukkudy, Jamshedpur and Gopalpur (Orissa). www.nttfrg.com
• B.E, M.E Mechatronics at Kongu engineering college, Erode – www.kongu.ac.in
• Thyagarajar College of Engineering, Madhura – www.tce.edu
• Manipal Institute of Technology- www.manipal.edu
• Madras Institute of Technology- www.mitindia.edu
• Velloor Institute of Technology- www.vit.ac.in
• National University of Singapore. www.nus.edu.sg
• University of Glasgow, UK
• University of Plymouth, UK
• California State University, USA. www.em.csuchico.edu
• Texas State University, USA. www.Harlingen.tstc.edu
• North Carolina University, USA•
• Universities in Australia- Western Australia, New South Wales, Queens land, Victoria and South Australia.
