You're a Robotics professional. How do you keep your work-life balance in check?

When working in a vertical with hardware play, most important thing is to set quantifiable realistic goals, taking in account the technology failure and mechanical breakdowns.

To maintain work-life balance as a Robotics professional: Prioritize Tasks: Focus on what's urgent and important, and learn to say no to less critical tasks. Set Boundaries: Establish clear work hours and ensure you disconnect after. Schedule Downtime: Make time for hobbies, exercise, and relaxation to recharge. Stay Organized: Keep a well-structured calendar for both work and personal life. Seek Support: Delegate tasks when possible and collaborate with colleagues to share the load. Health First: Never compromise on sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. Reflect Regularly: Assess your balance frequently and adjust as needed. Remember, achieving balance is a continuous process, requiring regular adjustment and self-awareness.

After working with robots at Fanuc Luxembourg in the the most tensed long term environmental ofy life I can say that I didn't kept my work-life balance in check! The ridiculous demands for perfection and esthetics got me super stressed and messed up my relationship! I felt like I was in a minefield every single day! I regret for not leaving earlier! The company was and still is hiring and firing people on an incredible speed! I hope this issue will be addressed more and the companies will replace the current managers with some people that actually have a heart!I can say much more but I think you have an idea! No wonder that people in Japan jump from windows! If we don't put some boundaries and controls in place it will happen here too!

Learning to manage your time and how utilize it to be more productive and keep moving it forward is the key in my opinion. Developing, planning and implementing a robot project would take lots of time and set some realistic goals and also work the life balance will be important as well. But keep focus and time tracking would be the most important task in my opinion.

Set boundaries: Establish specific times for work and personal activities. Respect these boundaries and avoid mixing the two whenever possible.

Taking a break is extremely important. We could live in the imagination that we could handle that stress and constant work without even a short break. But that's not true. We all have limits. Even when we jump into "work mode" or "it has to be done mode," the stress connected with work accumulates. And the human body knows best where these limits are, and unfortunately for us, we can't control it without taking breaks. This is my story. My lesson about taking breaks and communicating with my own needs. It was a hard lesson, but now I can say that I know myself even better. However, if I could do it all over again, I would like to avoid these unpleasant effects on my body and not push the situation to the maximum. :)

It's a Passionate Field . . It 's very easy to get lost in it ! ! And so are the side effects . . when we look back and see, many thing will have been gone by then . . It can be done only the hard way - RESPECT THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK AND PEOPLE . SET UN-INTERRUPTED BOUNDARIES WHEN WORKING . . WHEN WITH PEOPLE " . We have a limited time and so we have to put our best in that time !!! An unfulfilled life is the biggest regret . . . . .

If you're truly passionate about robotics and do it as a hobby and for work, you need to forget work-life balance and think about work-life integration. You need to make sure that your hobby projects are still fun and don't feel like work, ideally completely different to whatever your job entails. Otherwise there's no real difference than work and you never get a chance to relax and you will burn out. Ask me how I know... If you can find a way to recognise when you're getting the same kind of stressed as you would at work and break the cycle. Change out what you work on in your free time or try something completely different for a while.

Disconnect: Make time to disconnect from work, especially outside of business hours. Turn off work emails and notifications so you can truly enjoy your free time.

Practice self-care: Set aside time for activities that promote your physical and mental well-being, such as exercise, hobbies, meditation, or simply relaxing. This helps recharge your energy and maintain emotional balance.