So, as mentioned
in the previous article (dated Feb 17, 2013), let’s go over some of the varieties of
Mechanical Engineering. I mentioned a few branches which you can explore (like
MEMS, Energy Harvesting, Computational Mechanics etc). All the fields I mentioned are very
interdisciplinary. This means that you will see a confluence of many other disciplines
along with mechanical engineering.
As an example, consider Mechatronics and Robotics. The
applications of this branch spans from, say, spot welding robots in the auto
industry, through the Da Vinci robot performing automated surgeries, through the
Curiosity Mars rover that is exploring mars all by itself.
Here are some interesting links of such applications:
- Spot Welding in Auto Industry
- DaVinci Robot doing surgery
- How a doctor Operates the Da Vinci
- Curiosity Mars Rover (I actually experienced the landing of the rover live at NASA labs in California. It was amazing! )
To design these systems you need decent knowledge various
aspects of mechanical engineering like solid modeling, stress analysis, right tolerance
and dimensional analysis, actual manufacturing of the robot, material science to select
right materials that would sustain external pressures, temperatures etc etc..
list is endless. But this is not sufficient. You need heavy electronics to make
the robot do what you designed it for. Any mechatronic system will have sensors
to sense the environment and actuators to do the action..which are nothing but
electrical signals read by some electronic PCBs. In addition to electronics,
you need computer science. You will need to add intelligence to the robot to do
the task which it is designed for and for that you need good grasp on
programming languages (embedded C, C++, python etc) that will talk to the
electronic micro controllers inside the bot.
Ok Okay… well..you as a single entity need not be an expert
in all these.. I mean..if you are.. Great! ..but if not.. That’s fine too.. usually
there are teams of people doing such specialized tasks. But you as a Mechanical
engineer..should be at least aware of all these (so that people don’t fool you
around! :)).
Same is the case with other fields like say Bio Mechanics or
medical instrumentation. What do you think is the basis of all the surgical
tools? .. Mechanical Engineering! A good mechanical engineer will be able to
design, model and manufacture various surgical tools for different surgeries.
Some innovators invent tools which can be used in multiple ways. If you look at
Intuitive Surgicals’ website you will realize how many Mechanical Engineers
they want. Here are some of the professors at UM
which are in Mechanical department and involved in Biomechanics and Bio systems
engineering. ..and there are many such universities too.. I will leave that to
you to do a research if you are really interested in this area.
So..my point is..being a mechanical engineer.. you need not
constrain yourself to manufacturing or securing a job on an assembly line doing
some QA crap! (that sucks L)..
or switch to MBA! You can explore many things without shifting fields.. keep one thing in mind.. Mechanical engineering, now, is not just constrained
to itself. Wherever you go, you will have to interact with people from
electronics, people from computer science and people specializing in the
application specific areas (like doctors if you are into medical instrumentation
or physicists if you are in a team designing Mars rovers at NASA!)
So..make sure you develop that skill set too!
(In few articles I will try to go over some electronics/
electrical engineering and some tools that will help you in building an
all-round personality around your respective discipline! Some of my other friends specialized in these disciples will also share there experience with you guys!)
C u soon!
--Tejas
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