Podcast Link : Mechatronics Engineer Podcast

Medical Research and Diagnostics labs have to process millions of tests in record time. Smart Automation allows scientists to focus on analysing results, developing treatments, and creating medicines faster.

Mr Sobin, our next pathbreaker, Mechatronics Engineer at HTZ ltd (London), researches and develops liquid handling robots for laboratories across diverse industries including clinical diagnostics, biotech and pharmaceuticals that can handle samples repeatedly with extreme precision, consistency, and reliability.

Sobin talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about the fascinating field of mechatronics/robotics and their significance in adding a layer of safety by taking over the repetitive, high-risk tasks, so human exposure can be minimised.

For students, don’t just follow the herd. Ask questions, break the rules of “it has always been like this”, and don’t worry too much about what people think or how they react.

Sobin, can you share your background with our young readers?

I grew up where the Eastern and Western Ghats meet; at the tri-state border shared by Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka; in the place UNESCO designated as India’s first biosphere reserve. I could keep stacking up titles like this when I talk about The Nilgiris, the beautiful hill station in Tamil Nadu, where my home is.

Now, if you’ve only visited The Nilgiris as a tourist, you’d probably remember the tea estates, cool weather, and picture-perfect hills. But for us kids growing up there, it sometimes felt more like a jungle storybook, but only with real tigers, elephants, and bears instead of the ones on TV. While most kids my age got ready for school listening to cartoons in the background, I usually heard news like: “A bear chased someone,” “A tiger attacked a tea estate worker,” or “An elephant broke a wall.” When other children worried about homework, we were waiting to hear whether the District Collector would announce a holiday.

I come from a family whose livelihood is mainly based on agriculture. We have a tea plantation along with other spices, and my father runs a spice business. My mom works tirelessly managing everything at home, making sure life runs smoothly for all of us. My brother works in business development, and has been associated with famous companies like L’Oréal, Wipro, and Reckitt. Growing up in my family, I learned the value of hard work and perseverance and that I could always follow my own path, even if it meant experimenting with a million different hobbies at once!

I was studious, I can’t lie about that. But honestly, what excited me most were the arts and sports days. I had this strange confidence of jumping into any event, even if I had never tried it before. Singing? Sure. Dancing? Why not? Poem recitation, news reading, sprinting, long jump, table tennis… you name it, I was up for it. And I soundly remember teaching myself roller skating, all alone, because no one else around me knew how. Did I fall? Of course, I can’t remember how many times I landed on my hands and bum. 

One of my favourite memories from school was our science experience days. I loved experimenting and seeing things work (or you know sometimes they don’t work). I remember this one experiment with model windmills, overlooking a miniature city with roads and houses. I used a battery to power these windmills. To my delight, it spun at rocket speed! When one of our teachers, who was also a jury member, asked, “So… does the windmill actually charge the battery?” I panicked for a moment and nervously blurted out “Yes, I actually ran the windmill at home, and it already charged the battery!” Looking back, I know the teacher probably knew I was stretching the truth because the battery itself was not a chargeable one. I instantly realised my blunder but instead of confronting me, the teacher smiled and moved on. Now, this memory always makes me laugh, but it also taught me the importance to face questions and challenges with courage and integrity.

What did you do for graduation/post-graduation?

Back in school, I used to crack this joke I’d heard somewhere: ‘If a stone is thrown, it ends up hitting a crow… or an engineer!’ We’d laugh about how engineers are supposedly always jobless. Funny enough, I ended up choosing engineering for my bachelor’s anyway!

I pursued a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics, Robotics and Automation Engineering from Anna University. Why Mechatronics, you ask? Honestly, it was because I was fascinated by everything; mechanical, electrical, electronics, computers; and couldn’t pick just one. I wanted to learn a bit of everything, so I didn’t have to give up on any field. In other words, I was what you might call a “confused multi-enthusiast,” trying to keep all my options open and my curiosity fully charged!

When I first went for bachelors, I brought along the same school mindset for high marks. I expected to ace everything, but the first semester exams had other plans. My marks weren’t exactly great, or at least not what I expected, and I was devastated. I even thought about applying for a re-evaluation. Yep, that desperate!

But soon, I realised that practical exposure mattered far more than just chasing marks. That’s when I started experimenting with everything I learned… and everything I didn’t learn from books! I ended up creating a planner-note for rest of the all four years, carefully tracking every project, paper presented, workshop, symposium, volunteering; basically, everything I could think of. At first, I wondered if it would help at all, but I updated the note consistently throughout every semester until graduation.

I saved up money to buy electronics for experimenting, and spent endless hours on campus, and gathered a group of friends who shared my interests. We taught each other and kept experimenting together. Whenever I went home, every morning, the first thing for my mom would be to check which power switchboard I had been experimenting with the night before or in the worst case, whether there was power at home at all because I might have tripped the circuit breaker. I even built little wheeled, voice-controlled robots that zoom around the house. I gave them my nickname, “Chottu”, that was also the activation word for their voice commands.  Seeing my experiments, for my family it was a mix of pride and happiness. They were glad I was actually becoming an engineer and not wasting money. At least, I hope they were! 

I, along with others in the team, built a solar car and demonstrated it at Asia’s biggest solar car championship. We designed and fabricated the entire car ourselves and transported it all the way to Andhra Pradesh. The inspections went smoothly, until in one of the technical rounds: full throttle followed by sudden braking. Let’s just say our brakes were on a hunger strike; the car kept rolling even after braking! At the time, it was nerve-wracking, but now it’s one of the funniest memories. And to top it off, I also got to present the business plan for our car because apparently being an engineer also means wearing a suit and presenting your work to the world (to investors atleast) even when your car is doing its own thing!”

Later, after a year and a half after my graduation, I was offered a place in a prestigious dual-degree master’s programme on International Mechatronics with the first year in Russia and the second in Germany. Its comprehensive and methodically structured curriculum, and the opportunity to study at two historic and highly regarded technical universities, each with a long tradition in engineering and applied sciences made it especially appealing to me.  With COVID on its world tour, the course commenced online while I remained in India.  During those days, my Russian professors would deliver online lectures (in English, of course). But I would secretly wait for the class to finish, not because I didn’t enjoy the lectures, but because I wanted my big moment to say the only Russian phrase I knew: ‘Do svidaniya!’ (Goodbye!). That was my proud contribution to cross-cultural exchange. I had even started learning German at the time, so my brain was full of phrases like ‘Guten Tag!’, ‘Wie geht’s?’ However, life had other plans. With the pandemic’s travel restrictions showing no end, I could not move to Russia and so I had to make one of the hardest decisions: to discontinue that program, even though continuing it would have brought significant financial and academic benefits. Why? Because, by continuing online, I did not want to lose any time in gaining hands-on experience and collaborating closely with peers and professors, and understanding practical applications in depth. I wanted to be in a learning environment where I could actively apply concepts, experiment, and build skills, not just passively attend online lectures. Later, due to relaxed travel restrictions to the UK, I moved to England for my Master of Science in Mechatronics and Intelligent Machines. 

Studying abroad in England was a very different experience. Back in India, I was used to the full 9-5 classes, one after the other. In the UK, we had just a few hours of classes a few days a week. It felt almost like a holiday package! But my very Indian mindset kept saying, ‘This can’t be right… shouldn’t I be suffering more?’ Still, that’s how the system mostly works abroad. Learning didn’t just stop with books but countless courseworks, projects and research got me close to real-world problem solving. 

And the most wonderful moment of all? My parents flew to the UK for my graduation. Watching them there, proud and smiling, cheering my name made all the long nights and panic over deadlines completely worth it.

How did you get your First break?

My real break came in my 2nd year of bachelor’s. Thanks to all that networking, a startup founder invited me to assist him during a training session because he thought my local language skills would help students. Ironically, I didn’t use the local language at all but continued in English. But then something unexpected happened: he got stuck debugging, handed me the stage, and asked me to deliver a topic. I took the chance, explained the topic, and trained students hands-on to connect modules and make their embedded systems projects work. 

That session turned out to be a turning point. The founder was impressed and later, he referred me as a resource person to Adobe as they were setting up their Creative Technology Academy at a university. They booked my flight and arranged everything, which felt incredibly special to me. After all, it was my first real taste of the ‘glamorous’ life of a traveling professional.  Now, when I showed up, the team had doubts, because I was the youngest in the room. But once they attended my training sessions on Internet of Things and Machine Learning, they were more than convinced, and when they saw the feedback from attendees, they seemed even more excited than they usually were with others. At first, I was a bit nervous when they came to monitor my sessions, but I didn’t let it show; instead, I put on a double dose of confidence, which, looking back, I think really helped. That’s how my freelancing career as a Technical Consultant really took off, and I continued collaborating with them on multiple projects.

Soon, thanks to referrals and online networking on platforms like LinkedIn, I was travelling across India to different companies and universities, to IITs, NITs, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (Asia’s first space university set up by the ISRO) engaging in projects that ranged from Microsoft certification to interactive applied training, like Internet of Things, additive manufacturing and neural networks to name a few. Along the way, I also collaborated with several of these organizations on multiple projects, contributing to design, development, and building proof-of-concept solutions to validate innovative ideas before full-scale implementation.

Every time I travelled for a project, it opened new doors, whether it was learning something unexpected, meeting people with fresh ideas, or building connections I never imagined. Little by little, it showed me a world far bigger than classrooms and campus corridors. I still carry vivid memories of the emotional life stories I came across during those journeys. I am sure those who have travelled will know exactly what I mean.

This would not have been completely possible without the supportive people around me, especially my professors who supported me by giving me ‘on-duty’ attendance (because, honestly, I was barely in class!). And since I was earning well, I didn’t need to burden my family with my living or fees. In fact, I was already filing taxes while I should have been busy filing my lab records like everyone else. That’s when I thought that I might just be on the right track.

What drove you to choose such an offbeat, unconventional and cool career in Mechatronics?

Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve always been curious about multiple fields, and Mechatronics lets me explore all of them. One of the coolest things about this stream is its versatility. Depending on the industry and company, the roles can be very much different. You might be designing robots or even automating a production line. In Mechatronics, you have diverse domains to keep yourself updated with and so it never leaves you bored.

How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted?

Well, I didn’t exactly have a step-by-step masterplan. What I did have was the curiosity and the courage to show up wherever there was learning (or free coupons!).  I tried my best to network with people, connect with companies, and meet professionals. During my bachelor’s, I would go to other universities and colleges for their events; sometimes for participating, sometimes as their event ambassador promoting their programs. By the time I finished my degree, while some of my friends struggled to collect at least even one certificate for campus placements, I had two huge file folders stuffed with certificates.

However, here’s the funny part: Honestly, except for my friends, family, and maybe the dust on the folders, no one has looked at them. No company or university ever asked to see them! What really mattered were the skills (both technical and soft skills) I picked up from all those experiences. That’s what truly shaped my career, not the paper proof.

By the final year of my bachelor’s, one thing was very clear: hardly any core companies come for campus recruitment. So, like many others, I attended an interview with an IT company. But honestly, I wasn’t there to get placed but I just wanted to test my potential and see how I did in interviews. I can’t lie, I did it well and got the offer letter!

Now, here is the catch: I knew very well that once you start your career in IT, it’s a bit like getting on a wonderful express train, it’ll take you places, but not always back to your core field. Since I was determined to stay in Mechatronics, I decided not to board that train. Instead, I politely declined the offer. At the same time, I was already freelancing and gaining great experience in my field.

After completing my master’s in 2023, I joined a large wood-based panel board production company in Scotland as an Automation Development Engineer. In this role, I worked on implementing artificial intelligence systems to detect unusual patterns or anomalies in the machinery and production lines. By identifying potential issues early, these systems help the plant perform predictive maintenance, to identify problems before they became serious and thereby reducing downtime, and improving efficiency across such a massive facility.

What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you solve them?

Challenges came at every stage.

Back in school, the first challenge was picking a future path, even when every visitor to our home had their own ideas and dreams for me. I had to politely nod, smile, and figure out what truly interested me. During college, when the world of… let’s call it ‘distracting fun’ flowed by in all sorts, I had to take a cut-and-dried approach and say no to anything that didn’t benefit me. When it came to exams, I never memorized. I focused on understanding concepts practically and then explaining it in my own words which is way easier than memorising because you know memorising everything only works until you forget one tiny detail, and then you’re stuck with an ‘is’ or ‘was’… and suddenly the whole answer disappears!

Later, in my career, the biggest challenge, but also a favourite one, has been keeping up with rapidly changing technology. I prefer learning a niche field and staying updated rather than falling behind, because otherwise you’re basically like software that is outdated and obsolete.

This also reminds me of one engineering campus where I was invited as a resource person and delivered a training. The mobile and internet rules were so strict there, I doubt the students were even allowed to use them. If things haven’t changed, I can only sympathize with whoever is studying under such rules now. Trying to survive as engineers without access to technology, is just like lecturing a fish to learn how to fly!

And one of the other challenges in my career has been stepping into roles without proper formal training. You can’t always expect someone to show you exactly how things work. I solved it by breaking problems into smaller pieces, experimenting practically, reading up a lot, and asking questions whenever needed. Over time, this self-learning approach became my confidence. Now I feel ready to dive into any unfamiliar project, even if it feels like being handed a spaceship manual in a foreign language!

Can you tell us about your current work?

I currently work as a Mechatronics Engineer, researching and developing liquid handling robots. These robots are used anywhere samples need to be handled repeatedly with extreme precision, consistency, and reliability. So, we develop robots for laboratories across diverse industries including clinical diagnostics, biotech and pharmaceuticals to food safety testing and even jet engine oil testing

My role lets me engage with both the hardware and software sides of these robots, collaborating on designing, testing, and refining the systems. These robots are perfect examples of how mechanical design, electronics, control systems, and intelligent software all come together. The hardware ensures movements are accurate and repeatable, while the electronics and sensors provide feedback and error detection, while the software manages the process through precise control algorithms. 

Just think, the mechanical design ensures that pipettes or dispensing heads move with microlitre precision. Imagine being able to aspirate and dispense drops of liquid smaller than the tip of a needle, thousands of times a day, without error. The electronics such as motors, drivers, and embedded circuits make sure those movements happen smoothly and at the right speed, while sensors monitor things like liquid levels, pressure, and even whether a pipette tip is attached correctly. The control systems do the decision-making, translating commands into coordinated actions. Finally, the software brings it all together; from running calibration routines to executing complex workflows. Without one of these layers, the system simply wouldn’t work. All of these wrapped up into one is the beauty of Mechatronics.

What’s a typical day like?

A typical day is never really typical. Some days, I’m working with code, either in languages familiar to most or the company’s own proprietary one. Other days, I’m experimenting directly with the robot, analysing components, or studying their performance characteristics. Sometimes, I might be working on documentation, because robots can be programmed, but humans need manuals to figure things out. And, there are days I’m out with the team commissioning a robot at a client’s site, making sure everything works smoothly in the real world. Every day brings something new, which is exactly how I like it.

How does your work help society?

When people hear about robots, the first image that pops into their mind is usually a humanoid robot walking around like in sci-fi movies, and of course, they imagine it stealing everyone’s jobs. 

Liquid handling robots, which may sound technical, but in simple words, these are machines that can handle laboratory tasks faster, more accurately, and far more consistently than a human could. Imagine a researcher needing to pipette thousands of tiny samples. Doing that by hand would take countless hours and one small slip could mean errors. A robot can finish the same work in a fraction of the time, without fatigue or mistakes.

It’s not just about speed, though. In many cases, the samples being handled can be infectious, toxic, or otherwise risky for humans. Robots add a layer of safety by taking over the repetitive, high-risk tasks, so human exposure can be minimised.

This becomes critical in medical research and diagnostics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, labs worldwide had to process millions of tests in record time. Without automation, keeping up would have been nearly impossible, and robots allowed scientists to focus on analysing results, developing treatments, and creating vaccines faster. It is not just about building a cool machine, but about helping science move forward safely, quickly, and reliably.

A memorable project?

I’ve worked on so many projects that picking just one feels impossible, like trying to pick a single favourite memory from your life. But one that really stands out is a driverless vehicle I built. At first glance, it might seem like just a vehicle moving on its own, but what makes it truly challenging is teaching it to drive the way a human would. I had to consider how different sensors perceive the world; how a camera sees obstacles, how other sensors detect distance, how wheels respond to commands; and then figure out how all pieces of mechatronics in it (mechanical, electrical, electronics, control systems and programming) fit together.

The process was far from smooth. There were countless sleepless nights, and long days filled with trial and error. I would tweak an algorithm, run a test, and then, sometimes even nothing worked as intended. Each failure was frustrating, but it was also an opportunity to understand the problem deeper and try something new.

Finally, after journeying through all the errors, seeing the vehicle navigate on its own exactly the way I had envisioned was indescribable. The sense of accomplishment, seeing coding, electronics, mechanics, and control theory all come together to help a machine make decisions, adapt, and work on its own was one of the most satisfying moments.

What made it even more rewarding was when I further developed the project in my research, improving its abilities and exploring how similar ideas could be used in practical ways, like delivering packages. That turned out to be a project that received mention for its depth and potential impact. So, I believe even the smallest successes in mechatronics can lead to solutions that matter.

Advice to students

I generally don’t give advice to anyone because it is a risky business. But, still, if I were to give one piece of advice to students, it would be this: ask questions! Ask a lot of questions. Even the ones you think are silly. Ask “why”! Ask “why” again. And then ask “why” one more time.

When I was a student, I had doubts about absolutely everything. If there was a question in the universe, I probably had a follow-up question for it. My friends would sometimes mock me and laugh, usually just teasing. Peer pressure made it tough, honestly. But over time, some of them started asking questions too. That’s when I realized something: people mock you not because your questions are dumb, but because it’s the easiest and funniest thing to do. Once they see someone asking, it gives them courage to ask too. And when they see the impact, even more people get inspired.

Don’t just follow the herd. Think out of the box. Imagine if inventors had designed washing machines to wash clothes exactly the way we do by hand, they would just be scrubbing clothes in circles with a stick or banging them against washing stones. Instead, they asked “why”, experimented, and came up with entirely new motions and mechanisms. 

So, ask questions, break the rules of “it has always been like this”, and don’t worry too much about what people think or how they react. The next big idea might start just with your “why”.

Future plans

When people ask me about my future plans, I sometimes wish I had a dramatic answer ready. Maybe something like, “Oh yes, my humanoid robot is almost complete, just waiting for the final touch-up” because that’s what people usually imagine when I mention mechatronics or robotics. But the truth is much simpler: I want to keep growing in this field, learning new skills, and building things that actually create an impact. With machine intelligence evolving faster than making a cup of tea, mechatronics gives me endless opportunities. I just want to keep getting better at it, step by step, and see where it takes me.

And then, in a small corner of my heart, there’s this childhood dream that has never gone away: to someday run a school. Not the kind of school with outdated curriculums, endless tests, and lessons that leave you wondering why you are learning them at all. I imagine a place where students are not outsmarted by technology but are prepared for the world that’s rapidly changing. A school where kids are encouraged to ask silly questions like why the sky is blue or why machines move the way they do. Not because it’s in the syllabus, but because they genuinely want to know. A place where discovering is fun, not forced.

I really thank you for this chance to talk, because every time I speak about it, the dream feels more alive. And who knows! If not a full school, maybe I’ll at least turn an evening tuition class into a technology club. That sounds like a good start.