Software-related jobs

As you know, a robot consists of hardware (the body of the robot, the thing you can touch on a robot) and software. The software is the control system for the hardware. The software can be related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) or something much lower-level, like the robot controller (which is a low-level software that decides how to send current to the robot’s actuators to literally make it move).

Working with robotics software has the following benefits:

• Innovation: Robotics is a rapidly evolving field, providing numerous opportunities to work on cutting-edge technology.
• Diversity: You can apply your skills in various domains, from healthcare and agriculture to manufacturing and space exploration.
• Impact: Robotic technology is transforming industries and making a positive impact on society.

This step will outline some software related jobs to help you understand how a software-related job looks like in robotics. Again, these jobs and responsibilities will differ from company to company and industry to industry (we will discuss different robotics industries later in the course).

By the end of this step, you should be able to answer the following question: Can I imagine myself enjoying working in robotics in a software-related job? Is software and robotics something that excites me?

Robotics software engineer

A robotics software engineer will help design, develop, test and maintain the software that controls robots. This is a broad role and the specifics will be outlined by the company for the specific job.

There are multiple aspects of a robot that you may be hired to work on. You may write code for sensor integration and information processing. You may work on building the software architecture and the software integration of different sub-systems, employ Cloud Computing technologies to implement functionalities and anything else related to the software development required by the company.

The bottom-line is that you will work on specific software problems, employ existing methods to solve them, and you will be responsible for writing quality, robust and efficient code.

The skills you need to develop for such jobs, include: proficiency in programming languages such as C++ and Python (or other programming language relevant to the job), and knowledge of robotics middleware like ROS (Robot Operating System). We will talk about such technical skills later in the course.

Machine learning engineer/computer vision engineer

These professionals focus on creating algorithms and models that allow robots to understand and interpret data from sensors and cameras. This is crucial for tasks like object recognition and navigation. Their job is more specific than a robotics software engineer, and they share many expertise with software engineers, but nowadays, they are also knowledgeable of machine learning methods and tools.

The skills you need, on top of the ones of a software engineer, include expertise in machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision.

Control systems engineer

Control systems engineers are responsible for designing algorithms that control a robot’s behaviour and movements. They ensure robots operate safely, efficiently and as accurate as physically possible. To help you understand what such a role entails, imagine that you have a computer which sends to the robot a signal of how to move. For simplicity, this signal could be ‘move north at a speed of 10cm per second for a duration of 5 seconds’. Of course, this is a high-level command that humans understand, but means nothing for a motor of a robot. A control systems engineer will create control algorithms that will adhere to these high-level commands and literally get the robot to move by actuating the motors/actuators of the robot according to that command. Such jobs require a very good understanding of control theory.

You will need a strong grasp of control theory, dynamics, and algorithms. Proficiency in maths and physics. Proficiency with efficient  programming languages like C and C++.

Many more…

Of course, there are many more software-related roles for robotics, and here we just outlined some of them. Robotics is a dynamic and rapidly evolving field, and as such, it continuously presents new and exciting roles, each contributing to the growth and innovation within the industry.

Optional: research the demand for software-related robotics jobs

There are multiple job opportunities out there. It is highly recommended that you do some quick research on the following platforms to find relevant job opportunities for this role:

• LinkedIn Jobs
• Google Jobs
• Glassdoor

For each job listing, look at the must and good-to-have skills and, if available, the salary ranges. Do they pay well? If you find the role interesting, curate a list of the overlapping skills and rank them based on what you feel you lack most. Well done, you have a list of relevant skills to develop!

In the next step you will explore hardware-related jobs.