After graduating with a BSEE degree from Purdue University in 1951, Robert J. Swain worked on guidance and control systems for military aircraft at General Motors' AC Electronics Division in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He began as a project engineer and later served as assistant to the senior product engineer.

In 1956, Swain became sales and contract manager for the Systems Division of Conrac Corporation, a producer of aircraft instruments and control systems. After two years with the Pasadena-based company, he was hired by United Electrodynamics, a company which conducted research studies and produced instruments to monitor underground nuclear testing. Swain advanced from general manager of the United GeoMeasurements Division to vice president and general manager of United Earth Sciences. Swain remained with the company when it was acquired by Teledyne Inc. in 1964 and was promoted to president of Teledyne Earth Sciences and concurrently president of Teledyne Geonuclear.

In October 1969, Swain left Teledyne and founded Kinemetrics, a company that began by producing seismological and earthquake engineering instrumentation systems. Now twenty-four years later, the company's four divisions, each a separately incorporated operating unit, produce more than 100 products and export more than half of their annual sales volume to 80 countries around the world. Having served as chairman and president of Kinemetrics, Swain today holds the position of director of OYO Geospace Corporation, an international corporation which acquired Kinemetrics in 1991.

Swain currently serves as chairman of the Coalition of Professional and Scientific Associations in support of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. He also has served on the boards of directors of several corporations, and on the boards of such organizations as the United Way in the San Gabriel Valley region and the YMCA in Pasadena, California, and as an elder and trustee of the Arcadia Presbyterian Church.