what to study to become a roboticist 

What bachelor, master?

  Robotics is an inter disciplinary branch ofengineering and science that includes mechanical engineering, electronicengineering, information engineering, computer science, control theory, psicology, and others. It is clearly impossible to specialize inevery field, so it's better if you start focusing on few of them from the very beginning, whilehaving just a general idea on what the others consist of. I'd say that we can group all the requiredcompetences in two main categories: -Hardware-Software Hardware concerns everything about the designand realization of a robot. Electronics and mechanics are fundamental. Robots all have some kind of mechanical construction,form or shape designed to achieve a particular task. They also have electrical components whichpower and control the machinery. Software is about all the robot can do. All robots contain some level of computerprogramming code. A program is how a robot decides when or howto do something. Robots that use artificial intelligence forexample, interact with their environment on their own and can determine reactions to objectsand problems they encounter using their preexisting programming. It'd be wiser if you decide from the beginningwhich one you wanna go for. If you are really interested in the hardware,I'd suggest you to first get a bachelor in electronics, mechanical engineering, mechatronicsor design engineering. The bachelor just gives you a general overviewon many subjects, so then you need a master of science to increase your knowledge in somespecific areas. The master of science is really important,a bachelor knowledge is not sufficient for you to become a good roboticist,and I don't even think it's enough for you to get a job. 

Getting a bachelor is like reading the introduction of a book. Pretty useless if you really wanna understand the book. With a master you can then get a robotics engineer job, where you provide technical support to the robotics teamor you can start being a researcher in robotics, experimenting more innovative and completely new things. We'll talk about the pros and cons of beingan engineer vs researcher in antoher video. To resume the perfect path for someone interestedin making robots would be to get one of the bachelor that I suggested. Then a master of science that specializes in some particular areas of electronics\mecha tronics\design. 

An example could be having a bachelor in electronics and then starting a master of science in embedded systems. What's important although, is that duringyour studies, you get some practical knowledge on robotics. Yeah it's not said that you're gonna get itfrom all your exams. Don't worry it's normal. The exams force you to acquire some importanttechnical background that is very unlikely you'd get on your own because it can get prettylame. Not pretty, REALLY lame. So be sure you start building basic electroniccircuits. You can start with things as simple as lightingup an LED. Then try more and more complex things by applyingthe theoretical concepts you acquire during your studies. Learn basic assembling. Learn to make some basic structures usingwood, acrylic, fiber, or plastic. Learn some 3D printing. Start printing your own components, firstreplicating from some already existing projects on-line and then experimenting new designon your own. Integrate with micro-controller: With knowledgeof the above concepts, you should try and test them on a basic micro-controller. The most popular choice among hobbyists andbeginners is to go with Arduino. Learn CAD. You may be interested to develop and designcomplex robots. Start learning 3D design software such asBlender or SolidWorks so that you can design your own robots. Ok, we can wrap up here on the hardware part. If you wanna focus on the software part instead,you should first get a bachelor in computer science or automation engineering. Then you can get a master in aritificial intelligenceand robotics or cognitive robotics or automation and robotics. Among the competences you should develop,there are strong programming skills in C++ and/or Python,confidence in using a Linux operating system. It is imperative that for someone lookingto get deeper into robotics should familiarize themselves with Linux. A lot of libraries, packages, and softwaredeveloped for robotics are distributed very easily and efficiently on Linux environments. Popular linux OS choice: UbuntuLearn some physics, linear algebra really important to control robots and probability,fundamental in machine learning. It is nice if you can play with Arduino and/orRaspberry Pi and you have a basic understanding of mechanics and electronics.   

This can help you interact with the robotsyou are programming, understand their potentials and limits, and eventually fix them when theybreak. Yeah they will break many times XDGet familiar with ROS: ROs stands for Robot Operating System and it's an excellent middle-ware. And it's full of tutorials online So you should have no problems. And you can also simulate robots you don’t even have! These are only suggestions, you can becomean expert also without following all of them. And it is not a problem if you change yourmind during your studies and switch to antoher area of interest. You can also come from a totally differentfield, completely different background and nothing is gonna stop you from becoming anexcellent roboticist anyways. 

Thanks for reading: What to Study to Become a Roboticist? , Sorry, my English is bad:)