Robotics technician
Build, wire, program and fix robots and automated machines on the shop floor or in the lab.
What it is day to day
- Install, wire and test robots, conveyors and automated cells, following drawings and safety procedures.
- Troubleshoot: a sensor not reading, a motor not moving or a robot stopping halfway, found with a meter and the machine's own diagnostics.
- Teach and adjust robot motions and run basic programs, often on an industrial controller.
- Do preventive maintenance: check cables, belts, sensors and safety circuits before they fail.
- Write up what you found and fixed, and work with engineers on improvements.
The courses, in order
Each course builds on the one before. Every lesson runs in your browser, free, with nothing to install.
- Step 1
Electronics basics
A breadboard and a few parts, with one Uno blink at the start and no processor after it. What current, voltage, time and logic really do.
- Step 2
Embedded on the Arduino Uno
One board, twenty pins and a C++ sketch. From a lamp you switch to a game you can play.
- Step 3
Interactive devices on the Uno
Read people and sensors without blocking, control an output, then finish with two playable builds.
- Step 4
Sensors and measurement
Intermediate: thermistors and RTDs, strain gauges in a Wheatstone bridge, light and IR, current on a shunt and an INA219, ADC resolution and noise, and calibration, finished with a power instrument you check against Ohm's law.
- Step 5
Motors and motion
DC motors on a driver, the H bridge inside it, servos, a stepper on an A4988, an encoder that measures what the motor did, and a 2WD robot car with ultrasonic eyes and line sensors.
- Step 6
Relays, contactors and motor control
Intermediate, the electrician's course: relay coils and flyback diodes, latching start/stop circuits, interlocks, three-way switching, timers and ladder logic, all at low voltage, finished with a start/stop station and an emergency stop you wire yourself.
- Step 7
Talk to chips: I2C, SPI and UART
The three buses every sensor, screen and radio speaks, on the Uno: serial between two boards, I2C scans and shared buses, SPI screens and an SD card, the logic analyzer, and a weather station that uses them all.
- Step 8
Power and batteries
Where the volts come from and how to keep them: Ohm's law on a real meter, cells in series and parallel, a regulator, a LiPo on a TP4056, a boost converter, a battery gauge, and a power bank you build yourself.
- Step 9
Control systems: PID
Feedback control on real physics: open and closed loops, P, I and D one at a time, tuning by the numbers, encoders, a balancing robot, and a motor that holds its speed whatever you throw at it.
- Step 10
Debug like an engineer
The multimeter, the oscilloscope, the logic probe and analyzer, Serial done right, and a method that finds any fault. Ends with a boss: three bugs in one circuit.
- Step 11
Read datasheets and schematics
The skill every hardware job asks for: schematic symbols, a first page, absolute maximum ratings, timing diagrams, register maps and pinouts, each checked on real parts. Ends with a sensor brought up from its datasheet alone.
- Step 12
Portfolio and interviews
Turn finished projects into a job search: choose and document portfolio pieces, share links that run, read job posts and answer technical questions out loud.
Your skills checklist
- Voltage, current, resistance and a multimeterElectronics basics
- A microcontroller reading inputs and driving outputsEmbedded on the Arduino Uno
- Sensors read without blocking, and state machinesInteractive devices on the Uno
- DC motors, servos, steppers and their driversMotors and motion
- Relays, contactors and safe motor controlRelays, contactors and motor control
- Batteries, regulators and power budgetsPower and batteries
- Feedback control and PID tuningControl systems: PID
- A method for finding faults with instrumentsDebug like an engineer
- Reading schematics and datasheetsRead datasheets and schematics
Projects to build and show
Open one, run it, change it, then share your version as a link that runs. The last course in this guide shows how to write each one up.
Balance bot
A PID loop you tune live, on a robot that falls over if you get it wrong.
Emergency stop on a motor
A latching stop that cuts power, the first safety circuit on any machine.
After Mokxi, in the real world
Mokxi teaches the skills; employers, schools and licensing boards set their own rules. These are the common routes, and they vary by place.
Training and education
- A common route is a one or two year certificate or associate degree in robotics, mechatronics, automation or electronics technology at a community college or technical school.
- Many employers train on their own equipment. Some apprenticeships exist in industrial maintenance and mechatronics; availability varies a lot by region.
- Military technical training in electronics or maintenance is another well-trodden route.
Certifications
- Robot makers offer their own training and certificates on their robots, often paid for by employers.
- Workplace safety training (for example an OSHA 10 or 30 hour card in the US) and lockout and tagout training are commonly asked for.
- Some people take an electronics technician certification or a PLC course to show broader skills. Requirements vary by employer and country.
Entry-level titles to search
- Robotics technician
- Automation technician
- Mechatronics technician
- Maintenance technician (robotics)
- Field service technician
- Electromechanical technician
Questions you may be asked
Short answers drawn from the courses. Say each one out loud, then check it on a circuit.
A motor will not run. Walk me through it.
Safety first: lock it out if you need to open anything. Then check in order: is power there, is the control signal there, is the driver or contactor switching, and is the motor itself open or shorted. Measure each instead of guessing.
What is the difference between a servo and a stepper?
A servo has its own feedback and goes to a commanded angle. A stepper moves a fixed step per pulse with no feedback unless you add an encoder, so it can lose steps if overloaded.
What does PID mean?
Proportional, integral, derivative: a controller that pushes harder the bigger the error, adds up error that lingers, and damps fast changes. Tuning sets how much of each.
Why does a relay coil need a diode across it?
When the coil switches off, its magnetic field collapses and creates a voltage spike. The diode gives that current a safe path so it does not damage the transistor or board driving it.
How do you measure current with a multimeter?
Put the meter in line with the circuit, on the amps setting with the leads in the right jacks. Never across a supply: that is a short through the meter.
What is a normally closed contact used for?
Stop buttons and safety switches use normally closed contacts so that a broken wire stops the machine, the same as pressing the button. It fails safe.
What is an encoder?
A sensor that reports how far and which way a shaft has turned, so a controller can know a position or speed.
A sensor reading jumps around. What could it be?
Electrical noise from motors, a loose connection, a missing ground or a missing filter. Check the wiring and grounding, look at it on a scope, then add filtering in hardware or code.
Why do robots have safety circuits separate from the program?
Software can crash or have bugs. A hardwired or safety-rated stop circuit removes power no matter what the program is doing.
Step 1 is Electronics basics
A breadboard and a few parts, with one Uno blink at the start and no processor after it. What current, voltage, time and logic really do.