Robotics is a rapidly expanding field that offers many exciting opportunities for career growth for mechanical engineers. Companies are constantly making fascinating strides towards the development of AI and engineers are at the forefront of this historically-relevant development. Until recently, robotics had limited applications, largely confined to the automobile industry for material handling and for welding. However, this is changing with the new generation of robots that has vision capabilities and is more mobile which enables flexible automation. As science, mathematics and physics come together to write the next chapter in human society, let’s look at the top 5 companies for robotics engineers to work at if they want to get in on the action... 

NVIDIA

The technology giant based in California has more tricks up its sleeve than graphics processing units for the gaming market. Recently, NVIDIA has been focusing on designing and advancing its chip units for the mobile computing and automotive market. The company even announced a strategic partnership with Toyota, where the car manufacturer will use Nvidia's artificial intelligence technology to develop self-driving vehicle systems planned for the next few years.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) remains one of the most sought-after employers in the field of mechanical engineering, aeronautics, and robotics. And with planned upcoming missions to Mars and the Moon, this comes as no surprise. Being involved with NASA offers not just prestige but manifold opportunities to interact and even collaborate with top-notch scientists and engineers from the United States and other countries.

Google

Everybody’s using it, but not everybody is aware of the diverse interests of the tech giant that go beyond internet search algorithms and geography mapping. Arguably the largest computational technology company in the world, Google is always on the lookout for promising engineering students to add to its global team of brilliant minds. Known for its advanced computer hardware systems – the company doesn’t purchase ready-made systems but makes their own instead. This means it has a consistent need for a strong employee base of mechanical engineers.

Briantech

Specializing in the development of vision systems, or the eyes of a robot, this company recently developed 3D digital cameras that correlate pixel data of images with physical location and help to drive the movement of robots. The company’s trademark eVisionFactory software system determines the position of an object of interest and facilitates its manipulation by the robot. Braintech’s vision guidance systems are incorporated in ABB’s hardware, the TrueView robotic system, for sale in the automotive industry and are beginning to attract a lot of attention from companies in other sectors as well (military and defense, pharmaceuticals, etc.)

iRobot

A spin-off from MIT, iRobot manufactures consumer robots that are widely in demand. The popular Roomba wireless vacuum cleaner and Scooba for floor washing have been on the market for a while now. In addition to these, the tech brand also designs and produces military robots, like PackBot, which is used for reconnaissance such as detecting lurking dangers in urban warfare and for bomb disposal. Their products have a wide range of applications in the military market, unmanned ground vehicles for combating terrorism, are in advanced stages of development and are expected to be substantial contributors to its future growth. Recently, iRobot entered into a partnership with Boeing to accelerate the commercialization of its unmanned vehicle products, which presents new opportunities for engineers to collaborate and work on new projects across different sectors.

Diligent Robotics

Diligent Robotics is designing AI-enabled robots that are designed to work alongside people in every-day environments. For instance, left alone the company’s autonomous 'Moxi' robot is capable of performing logistical tasks in hospitals normally like preparing patient rooms and ordering supply rooms. Moxi is so aware it can navigate hospital hallways unassisted, and has been designed so it can mimic human-like head movements and has LED eyes! If developing highly sophisticated robots like Moxi are of interest, maybe Diligent Robots is the future employer for you!

At this point, it is clear that the mass deployment of robotics the industry is becoming very lucrative for robotics engineers.  As more software applications for robotics are rolled out to create a common platform, the workforce now has the programming tools to facilitate the development of new applications in a more structured, global context.