Mechanical vs. Software Engineering.

[Gene F]

First let me say I am an Engineer, my degree is in computer science and I am now working as a project leader in a product development group. In that role it is my responsibility to coordinate the efforts if mechanical, electrical, firmware (software that is embedded in a device) and software (PC based). The biggest changes that I have seen in the 20 some odd years since graduation has been in the computer based tools used by all of these disciplines. These tools could not be developed without a group of people getting involved in software and another engineering discipline. As time moves forward I believe the software industry will continue to develop specialties along the lines of other engineering disciplines to the point that the boundaries will begin to disappear. Just like reading and writing allow us to communicate across time, software is a means of taking difficult engineering concepts and making them easy for the average person to use. An example from FIRST is the use of Autodesk Inventor. Most teams use this tool extensively to develop their robot. Being able to completely design and build (through constraints) the robot in the virtual world greatly speeds the process. This moving of engineering knowledge into software application also frees the mechanical engineers to advance their discipline by focusing on the unknown. The development of simulation tools allows us to take complex engineering tasks and simplify them to the point that they are accessible to the masses. In conclusion I believe all engineering disciplines to be very important! Software is an enabling technology that is allowing all engineering to advance. My vote is for software.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I'm a MechE, so I'll throw in my 2 cents as well. As mentioned above, software is an enabling tool that lets Mechs do more with less. So it's important in that regard. However, mechanical engineering isn't completely computer modelling of parts. That's really one of the last steps in the process. A lot is about creative thinking and solving problems. A lot of new tech is going to depend on miniturization, and that's highly dependent on mechanical engineering and creativity. Look into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and you'll see an awful lot of exciting stuff there. Things like microscopic motors and pumps and all sorts of stuff. When you get that small, the equations lots of things change and that takes a sharp MechE to rework things before software can do anything with it.

Software packages have their limitations. FEA packages aren't 100% accurate and can be blatantly wrong if you're not careful. You need enough engineering knowledge to make sure your result is in the ballpark.

Both of your examples are controls systems, which do depend on software to process feedback and control the system. No amount of software engineering will help you understand the dynamics of the system and what it actually has to do to control the system, however. Tweaking the constants and functions that generate the control signals is pure mechanical. The software is there simply to translate the MechE's work into reality.

In the end, I don't think you can say any technical discipline is better or more important than another in an absolute sense. They're all highly interrelated and interdependent and you can't advance in one without advances in others.

[Conor Ryan]

Just remember, Software Engineering wouldn't exsist if the Mechanical and Electrical engineers hadn't developed the hardware to make the software possible.

[scitobor 617]

From experience, trying to program a robot that is mechanically not up to par (ie. Underpowered articulating arm) to be controllable is impossible. However, not doing a good job programming a perfectly engineered robot is equally distressing. For both the fields of computerfscience and mechanical engineering to flourish, atleast in regards to a FIRST team, one must do quality mechanical design and programming. My point being that without one the other is nothing.