<p>This is mostly regarding mechatronics and robotics.
I am a sophomore ME major in Cal Poly California. I want to study mechatronics and further my study in graduate school to develop artificial limbs for humans and animals and such. Sounds decades away from coming to reality, but that is my initial goal anyway. </p>
<p>ME is a broad field of engineering so it should be safe to assume that i won’t be unemployed right out of my undergraduate school, but many current events in our industry worries me much about what the future holds for mechanical engineers in general. Is this something I should be worried about as an ME major? Should I change my major to Bio/Business that have much brighter outlook?</p>
<p>Much debate in this forum focuses on the evaluation of the quality of certain institution compared to others and the job outlook, and I recieved much valuable information on what we hope to do as engineers in the future. I understand outsourcing is the biggest scare right now but my economic classes showed me that it sort of works both way, so i am not too worried about that. What i believe will ultimately decide what types of jobs and salaries I can get once out of school depends on the competitiveness of my knowledge and my ability, true. But one more determinant is probably how my employing company stack up in the global competition. This is what i’m worried about. </p>
<p>Current situation with American auto industry raised much skepticism in me about the competitiveness of this country’s engineering abilities(?). It seems apparent that the build quality and technological features in our automotives are far inferior to Japanese and European competitors. American cars are sold quite well in other parts of the world so it’s not that the cars are not designed well, but just that here on the home turf, there are companies who make much better products. So I am asking myself a simple question. Could it be that our engineers just doesn’t measure up to the competition? If that’s the case, then our dominance in the tech market will inevitably shrink, laying off jobs, outsourcing jobs, shrinking the consumer R&D departments across the country. But wait, hasn’t that already happened?</p>
<p>We’ve known since the ‘soundabout’(walkman) that japanese make better electronics than we do, and most of the high tech stuff coming out these days seems to be from Asian countries. They have better gadgets than we do, most of the cell phones we use now are the older versions of what Japanese and Korean companies sell now.
In robotics, while Honda designed a sixth version of AIBO and Korea, China have similar prototypes of robots, here in America it seems much research is emphasized on the software side, like AI and interactive movements. And i personally don’t see our stuff much impressive. The most impressive prototype i’ve seen so far is probably the ‘Big Dog’ made for military use, made by defense contractors. it’s a four legged hill climbing 4 foot robot that can carry like 80 pounds on its back. </p>
<p>I decided to major in ME in hopes of participating in groundbreaking R&D work that can reshape the lives of humanity(like, who doesn’t, right?). Or just work for company that make practical use products and pay me good. But now I am afraid that most engineering work will be done somewhere else where there are better research enviornment, and i might end up doing something else than pure engineering. Not necessarily bad, but unpredictability is always alarming. </p>
<p>summary in three sentences</p>
<p>I want to become a Mechanical Engineer w/ mechatronics emphasis
American Engineering seems to stink in mechatronics sector.
Should I change my major to something like CE and work for the government for job security sake?</p>