July-August 2019

Building
the
Robots
By MICHAEL GALLANT
Want to create the
high-tech machines of
the future? A degree
in robotics engineering
might be a good fit
for you.
Courtesy Lake Superior State University
It’s easy to think of robots as fantastical
science fiction inventions; automatons that live
only in books, movies and the imagination. But
the reality is quite different.
From farms to factories, medical facilities to
mining operations, robots, large and small, are
increasingly playing an important role in lives
and industries around the world. Regardless of
whether these highly-complex machines are
harvesting crops, assembling products or
helping patients recover from surgery, they
would be nothing without the experts who
design them.
Robotics engineering—the art, craft and
science of creating and applying robots—is a
young but rapidly growing area of study in the
United States. An increasing number of
American institutions, including Widener
University in Pennsylvania and Lake Superior
State University (LSSU) in Michigan, are
offering dedicated majors in the field. And, for
the right student, earning a graduate or
undergraduate degree in robotics engineering
can be a remarkable experience.
Nick Lubeck is a freshman studying robotics
engineering at Widener University. He describes
the discipline as an alchemy of electrical and
mechanical engineering, with a focus toward
computer science. “Robotics engineering can be
applied to any industry that exists,” he says, “so
24 JULY/AUGUST 2019