Sunday, March 3, 2013

Mechatronics in MGIT, Hyderabad. A student's review and confessions.

Hey everyone.
I'm a final year B.Tech Mechanical (Mechatronics) student of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad.
I want to share my opinion on the course and the college.

Firstly, the college.

I always liked my college. Good Infrastructure, nice campus, and pretty well qualified staff.
Not the best in the state, but in the first dozen of good colleges for sure. I've always loved my college.

It's a bit fun filled campus though! like most other good colleges.

Nothing like a dress code, strict timings, etc.
But, that all ends when it comes to attendance.
Anyone with less that 65% attendance would be detained, without excuse. Money wont do any good in MGIT. 


Ragging. I liked it. I got ragged a bit. They are all prized memories with my seniors now! would never regret that. Well, that was in '09. Things have changed anyway. Its a fresher friendly campus now. I don't think its anyway close to what it was 4 yrs ago.

Other facilities are all good.

Secondly, the Course.
Mechatronics is one the three courses that MGIT offered from its inception in 1997. 

MGIT claims to be the first Indian college to offer it at B.Tech level.
MGIT is the only college affiliated to JNTUH to offer this degree.
Only 60 graduate from this discipline annually. Top the class, you'll get a univ gold medal!

Dept. of Mechanical Engg, MGIT, offers two courses in Mechatronics, apart from regular mechanical. they are "B. Tech in Mechanical (Mechatronics)" and "M. Tech Mechatronics".

IMHO, in terms of degrees and doctorates, Dept of Mechanical Engg has the most qualified staff of all the other dept's. A total of 7 Ph.D's and all other with masters dergee. more info here.

Other facilities are also pretty good. That shouldn't be your concern.

Now, My experiences.

What I thought when I joined. *Robotics*. I thought I would build awesome robots by the end of my bachelors. I would have knowledge in both Mechanical and Electronics. etc. etc.

Well, Frankly, they are all still dreams.
None can master both the disciplines of Mechanical and Electronics in four years. Its not sufficient. And, they both are completely different all together. 


The course work consists of mostly Mechanical, handful of Electronic,one metallurgy, another handful of mathematics and management subjects.
 

What we learn in comparison to a regular Mechanical student.? 

We learn all the regular mechanical subject at brief. We study a subject for one semesters, while a regular mechanical student studies it for two semesters. Frankly, we are not as knowledgeable as a regular mechanical student in that discipline.

What do we learn in Electronics.?


We have four electronic subjects and three labs. of electronics. We are just taught the basics of electronics.
Basic of electronic devices, 555 IC's, 8051 m/c's, 8085 m/p's etc.
Age old syllabus. same as of that of B.Tech ECE.  

(Dept of Mechanical dosn't have any prof. with electronic background. Electronic subjects are taught by prof's from Dept of ECE.)

If you just consider by course work, we don't have detailed knowledge of either disciples. 

Which industry do we fit in ?There is no proper mechatronic industry in India as on date, apart from a couple of companies.
We are not always eligible for a mechanical job. we are not eligible for most PSU's.
We are neither eligible for a Electronic job.


But, How many of the employees in present day MNC's are from the discipline they studied? 

Placements?

We do get placed. On par with any other non-circuiting branch students. Into IT, Mechanical and other fields. decent placement record. 

Who should take up the Course ?

 A techno geek who is interested in robotics and is willing to learn more apart from course work (course work will not take u anywhere), books, library etc. Who is sure that he would peruse further studies in the same discipline, (u can always switch though. my seniors are perusing MS. Automobile Engg). Who can spend some more money to buy other robotics or electronic kits. (I have! I love them! Never a waste of money). 
This course is for someone who want to take the road not taken. Risk a bit, Learn the hard way, and then fight for Survival. 

But, of the 60 students graduating annually, not everyone is knowledgeable in the two disciplines(I myself, am not very knowledgeable in Mechanical.). Some never learnt any part of electronics. apart from the basic knowledge required to pass the exams. 


If you want to take the course by choice, Robotics has always fascinated you, You want to learn electronics the hard way, Take up this course! 
I am a Mechatronics Engg. and I'm Proud.!
Its only your own hardwork that pays you and add's up in your resume. 

But, more likely are the chances of ending up in between two disciplines, rather than both. all the best!  :P

Update (June '16) : Comments have been disabled as I wasn't able to reply back effectively. You can reach me on mantenarajiv <at> gmail <dot> com if you have any questions.

Hello Electronic World!

Hello World. !

My first post about my very first electronic project.
A line follower.
I also started at the same place where thousands have started learning and experimenting about robotics.



Code was written in C; AVR studio IDE; AVR Atmega8 development board was the brain; 5 IR LED's were the eyes. 


 Lost the code. Couldnt share that, sorry!
I worked on line followers for a while almost two years ago. This was my best.

More of my project coming up soon,