[Answer] How Should Automation Students Choose a Direction, and What Are Some Study Suggestions?

[Answer] How Should Automation Students Choose a Direction, and What Are Some Study Suggestions?

I took a look at the course content, and the curriculum differs somewhat from school to school. It is also possible that some programs have been updated over time to keep pace with current developments. Personally, I tend to recommend process control, which is also the direction I studied myself, although many of my courses were quite different from the ones listed in this table.

Let me explain why. The simplest way to divide the field is into process control and motion control, mainly because there are indeed major differences in their control methods and underlying theory. A typical example of motion control is the modern CNC machine tool, where the requirements for motion control are extremely demanding. In recent years, the rise of industrial robotics has also made this specialization popular again. Motion control places much higher demands on mathematics, especially linear algebra. In China, the core technologies in this area are still relatively limited domestically—you can get a sense of that by looking at the situation of the "Big Four" industrial robot companies. Moreover, its typical applications are mainly industrial, and I would not especially recommend that women work in factories—not out of gender bias, but simply because the division of labor is different.

Typical applications of process control are also found in places like chemical plants and steel mills, where managing and optimizing control processes is especially important. However, in this course list, the emphasis is clearly more on the industrial Internet of Things, which is itself a promising and worthwhile emerging industry. For that reason, I would be more inclined to recommend it.

Still, to return to the main point: at the undergraduate level, the differences between these directions are actually not that great. In most cases, you will not yet reach the stage of deep practical application in either one. This distinction becomes much more important only if you are planning to pursue further study.