Can an aeronautical engineer specialize in Robotics or AI ?

[Mdac_95]

Hello, first of all, sorry for my bad English.. I'm taking English courses to improve it :)

I have a big question that nobody can answer yet..

I'm studying aeronautical engineering in Argentina, I love it, and I have very high grades, my university have a connection with the ISAE in Toulouse, so I could finish my studies there, that is a very good opportunity because in my country there isn't any company that produces aircraft's, almost all the aeronautical engineers go to France and only a few stay here and work for Renault, Toyota or Volkswagen.

But I want, to work with drones, specially in the area of programming algorithms that control the planes , I`ve studied python, and when I finished the course, realize that I want to do that for the rest of my life, the problem is that I love airplanes too, so I think that the best way of combine both is working with UAVS, I want to know if engineers that program those type of aircraft's are only Systems Engineers or can an aeronautical engineer study Robotics, or Artificial Intelligence for working in that? I don't know, a master or a PhD..
Because I think that a System Engineer can't programm an algorithm for an UAV without the knowledge of fluids mechanics, aerodynamics, etc,etc..

I can't do only one thing, I have to program algorithms FOR controlling airplanes, AI algorithms, its very interesting for me and I really want to work in that, all my life I love programming and planes too, (electronic too but i think is impossible to study everything)
and in Argentina, like I said there isn`t any aeronautical engineer, professor, or student that could answer to me, because here nobody work with that technology, or know about it.Thanks, and sorry for my bad English, I have a lot to improve yet.

 

[tygerdawg]

You can build on the content of the Aerospace Engineering degree to get what you want. I suggest you take formal classes in Control Theory. And then pursue advanced classes in Control Theory.

Perhaps you also need some training & experience in computer control applications, real-time programming (especially using advanced computer languages such as C/C++/C#), and electronics & electronics interfacing. But you can get this through informal methods, there are many free resources available on the internet.

Is a Master's / Ph.D. required? Not necessarily. That decision depends on what you want to do with your career.