Also called: AgTech Robotics Engineer, Autonomy Engineer (Ag)
Designs robots that pick fruit, pull weeds with lasers, or drive tractors with no one in the seat.
You write code for a robot that uses cameras and AI to tell a lettuce plant from a weed, then zap the weed. One day you're debugging in an office; the next you're in a dusty field in California watching your robot fail, figuring out why, and fixing it.
Startup salaries vary and often include stock.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 5 years after high school. Bachelor's in mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering or robotics; many have a master's.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Robotics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Agricultural Engineering.
Growing much faster than average. No BLS category; ag automation investment is growing quickly due to farm labor shortages.
Low risk for 10 years. AI coding tools speed software work; building and testing robots in muddy real fields is a growing hands-on field.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Computer science, Robotics club.
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.