What is the difference between mechanical engineering and robotics?
Mechanical engineering is a broad field concerned with designing, manufacturing, and operating machines and structures, using areas such as mechanics, materials, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and manufacturing. Robotics uses mechanical engineering as one foundation and combines it with electrical and electronic engineering, control, programming, and sometimes AI, with a focus on robots and autonomous systems. The fields overlap, but robotics tends to specialize in these systems.
Key points
- Mechanical engineering broadly covers the design, manufacture, and performance of machines.
- Robotics combines mechanical engineering with electrical and electronic engineering, control, and software.
- Mechanical design remains important in robotics, so the two fields are not completely separate.
Things to check
- The names of departments and the balance of subjects vary by university, faculty, and program; check the official curriculum of the program you are considering.