Automation & Robotics: Learn a Tech-Savvy Skill to Secure a Job for Life

By Arkansas Next on Thursday, September 15, 2022

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The Job: Robotics Technician

Also known as: Electro-mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists

In a nutshell: Build, install, test or maintain robotic equipment or related automated production systems

Similar jobs: Automation Technician, Electrical & Instrumentation Technician (E&I Technician), Instrument Specialist, Process Control Technician, Programmable Logic Controllers Technician

WHAT DOES A ROBOTICS TECHNICIAN DO?
  • Operate automated, robotic and electro-mechanical equipment to make products
  • Understand equipment manuals, blueprints, schematics and diagrams to assemble and repair equipment
  • Evaluate new technologies
  • Install electronic systems and upgrade existing systems
  • Use measuring instruments to test assemblies and robotic equipment
  • Document test results and analysis

Education needed: Associate degree

Sonny Moua, an automation technician at ABB in Fort Smith.


Job Outlook

4% projected job growth in Arkansas by 2026

198 U.S. "robot" density" — the number of robots per 10,000 workers, according to robotics.org.

2.7 Million — the estimated number of robots at work worldwide in 2019, with more than three-quarters of them in manufacturing, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

In demand — According to the Association for Advancing Automation, the post-pandemic global worker shortage has caused more companies to invest in robotics and automation than ever before, which means the demand for skilled workers trained to run and repair these new machines has risen too.

True or False: Robots are stealing our jobs.

  • FALSE! The World Economic Forum reported that automation created 58 million more jobs than it replaced over the last five years.

High-end earners (top 10%) make
$98,070

Median pay in the U.S.
$60,360 Annual
$29.02 Hourly


START YOUR TRAINING

  • ArcBest
  • Arkansas State University-Beebe
  • Arkansas State University-Mountain Home
  • Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus
  • Business and Industry Training
  • Camden Manufacturing Apprenticeship Program, Lockheed Martin and SAU Tech Partnership
  • Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, Camden Operations
  • NorthWest Arkansas Community College
  • Northwest Technical Institute
  • Simmons Foods
  • Southern Arkansas University Tech
  • Tyson Foods Inc.
  • University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville
  • University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton
  • University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College

READY TO HIRE YOU

  • ArcBest
  • Business and Industry Training
  • Camden Manufacturing Apprenticeship Program, Lockheed Martin and SAU Tech Partnership
  • Central Moloney Inc.
  • Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, Camden Operations
  • McKee Foods Corporation
  • Pace Industries
  • Riceland
  • Simmons Foods
  • Tyson Foods Inc.

Sources: bls.gov
*When employment projections were not available for Arkansas, U.S. projections were used


BOOMING ARKANSAS INDUSTRIES