Also called: Industrial Automation Engineer, Manufacturing Automation Engineer
Replaces slow or dangerous manual work with robots, sensors and automated machines.
Workers lift heavy boxes onto pallets all day. You design a robot cell that does it instead, plan the safety fences and sensors, and train the workers to run and fix it.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in mechanical, electrical or manufacturing engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Robotics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Manufacturing Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Not tracked separately by BLS; robotics hiring is growing quickly.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps plan and program automated lines; installing, tuning and fixing them on factory floors keeps demand high.
Classes: Physics, Computer science, Shop or electronics CTE, Algebra II.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.