Using mechatronics to teach mechanical design and technical communication

It is commonly accepted that hands-on experiences increase both learning and enjoyment during coursework. Mechatronics projects provide both interesting and relevant hands-on experiences for a wide range of topics including design processes, basic mechatronics concepts, technical communication, and working in a group environment. ME2110: Creative Decisions and Design at Georgia Tech integrates mechatronics and technical communication into a sophomore level mechanical design class. This paper describes the course in detail, highlighting the course goals and layout, tools provided to the students, industry involvement, and the main challenges of administering such a course.     

Can agile methods enhance mechatronics design education?

This paper presents a study of the integration of agile methods into mechatronics design education, as performed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The chosen method, Scrum, and the context of the studied capstone course are presented.With the integration of Scrum into the capstone projects, an educational favorable alternative is identified, to previously used design methodologies such as more traditional stage-gate methods as the Waterfall or method or the V-model. This is due to the emphasis on early prototyping, quick feedback and incremental development. It still might not be the favorable method for use in large scale industrial development projects where formal procedures might still be preferred, but the pedagogical advantages in mechatronics education are valuable. Incremental development and rapid prototyping for example gives many opportunities for students to reflect and improve. The Scrum focus on self-organizing teams also provides a platform to practice project organization, by empowering students to take responsibility for the product development process.Among the results of this study, it is shown that it is possible and favorable to integrate Scrum in a mechatronics capstone course and that this can enhance student preparation for a future career as mechatronics designers or product developers. It is also shown that this prepares the students with a larger flexibility to handle the increased complexity in mechatronics product development and thereby enabling the project teams to deliver results faster, more reliable and with higher quality.     

A proposed approach to mechatronics design education: Integrating design methodology,simulation with projects

Mechatronics engineering graduates are expected to design mechatronics products with higher performance and lower costs. The success of a mechatronics engineering program is directly related to the structural design methodology, modeling and simulation, and the practical implementation of fully integrated physical systems. In this paper a mechatronics design education-oriented V-model was proposed to fulfill these requirements. The main idea behind our proposed approach aims to integrate various stages such as design, simulation and physical implementations in development of mechatronics product or system. Students are asked to first follow the structural design methodology to do the conceptual and further detail design for an open-ended problem, then to do appropriate simulation to verify the feasibility of the design, and at last to integrate all components and subsystems into a complete physical product or system. The V-model-related courses and structures were explained in detail, and project implementation experiences were described and discussed with the help of example student projects.     

Curriculum,equipment and student project outcomes for mechatronics education in the core mechanical engineering program at Kettering University

Following an NSF grant in 1997 to develop undergraduate mechatronics laboratories and courses, two senior-level elective courses were introduced in the mechanical engineering curriculum at Kettering University. The student popularity of the subject, and relevance to graduating mechanical engineers soon made it clear that mechatronics education belonged to the core curriculum at Kettering. To integrate mechatronics into the mechanical engineering core, two existing sophomore-level courses were redesigned to include significant educational experiences in mechatronics design and prototype fabrication. Introduction to Design (ME-203) previously featured a 6-week student project in which teams of students would design and build an electromechanical device to accomplish functionality defined in design constraints provided by the professor. However, these devices were not mechatronic in nature. In the revised course, the objective is to evolve these designs to utilize embedded microcontrollers, sensors and actuators and achieve much more sophisticated functionality. To accommodate the anticipated increase in time required to complete such projects, the existing sophomore course Instrumentation (ME-204) was revised to incorporate learning objectives from the senior-level mechatronics elective courses. Further, 6 weeks of laboratory time from Instrumentation could then be dedicated to the aforementioned mechatronic projects. As such, both ME-203 and ME-204 have been integrated to form an eight-credit “Introduction to Mechatronics Design” course. This paper details the scope of this course, the specialized equipment developed for it and student project outcomes.     

Mechatronics education in Turkey

In this study, the present situation of mechatronics education in Turkey and its development process are investigated. Although the term “mechatronics” was introduced into Turkish agenda in 1993, the developments in this field were very slow. It was not until late 1990s that mechatronics education in Turkey entered into expansion phase. Today in Turkey, although it is a little bit late, there is mechatronics education from high school level to graduate level. Limited number of students due to lack of technical personnel and infrastructure, theoretically dominated curricula, insufficient coordination among state, industry and university in mechatronics education can all be stated amongst the main obstacles of mechatronics education in Turkey. Nevertheless, the demand for skilled personnel in mechatronics field is increasing in Turkish Industry, which is entering into globalization process in recent years. Thus, it can be expected that a new perspective and acceleration will take place in Turkish vocational and technical education system with the advance of mechatronics education classes in all high school, vocational training schools, graduate and postgraduate schools levels.     

Exploration and practice: A competition based project practice teaching mode

In recent years, known as multi-discipline, integration, product and system, mechatronics education has drawn worldwide attention. On the foundation of 7 years’ mechatronics education experience, and taking the characteristics of Chinese undergraduate students into consideration, Beihang University improved the previous teaching mode, and formed a competition based project practice teaching mode. After one year’s exploration and practice, this mode more easily stimulates the enthusiasm and initiative of students, enhances their hands-on ability, innovative thinking and teamwork spirit. The experiment achievements and feedbacks from students prove that this mode largely realized the goal of the course.     

Mechatronics – More questions than answers

Since the introduction of mechatronics as an integrated and integrating approach to the design, development and operation of complex systems, there have been significant developments in technology, and in particular in processing power, which have changed the nature of a wide range of products and systems from domestic appliances and consumer goods to manufacturing systems and vehicles. In addition, the development and implementation of strategies such as those associated with concurrent engineering and the introduction of intelligent tools to support the design of complex products and systems has also changed the way in which such systems are conceived, implemented and manufactured.The aim of the paper is not however to attempt to address or answer specific questions as to the nature of mechatronics and its current and future standing as an approach to engineering design and development, but to initiate, provoke and stimulate debate and discussion on a range of mechatronics related issues, without necessarily attempting to provide answers or suggest new methods or approaches, relating to the future potential of and directions for mechatronics. In this respect therefore, while containing an element of review, the paper is intended as a discussion document structured around the author’s personal experience and perspective of mechatronics issues.Inherent to this questioning of the ways in which mechatronics may develop are the various attempts that have taken place over the years to provide a definition of mechatronics, either in the form of text or logo and whether these efforts have of themselves been a source of confusion as to both content and direction within mechatronics? In which case, might it be preferable for mechatronics practitioners to operate within their own particular context than to attempt to conform to a specific and overarching definition?Finally, it must also be made clear that in writing this paper that complete agreement with the reader as to the particular questions raised and comments made is neither sought nor intended.     

Project based learning in mechatronics education in close collaboration with industrial: Methodologies,examples and experiences

The paper describes how the philosophy of project based learning (PBL) was integrated into the mechatronics capstone design course “Mechatronics Project Design and Management (MPDM)” at The Chinese–German School of Applied Sciences (Chinesisch–Deutsche Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, CDHAW) of Tongji University, Shanghai, China. The course teaching philosophy, implementation methodologies, examples and experiences were discussed.     

A design paradigm for mechatronic systems

Concepts of mechatronics are applicable in the design of complex and multi-domain dynamic systems. This paper presents an approach based on the mechatronic design quotient (MDQ) for systematic design of a mechatronic system. Traditional procedures of design are hierarchically separated into topological design and parametric design. Extending this concept, an MDQ may be “structured” into a multi-layered hierarchy. The approach and significance of the application of MDQ in mechatronic design are indicated using illustrative examples.     

Combining aspects and object-orientation in model-driven engineering for distributed industrial mechatronics systems

Recent advances in technology enable the creation of complex industrial systems comprising mechanical, electrical, and logical – software – components. It is clear that new project techniques are demanded to support the design of such systems. At design phase, it is extremely important to raise abstraction level in earlier stages of product development in order to deal with such a complexity in an efficient way. This paper discusses Model Driven Engineering (MDE) applied to design industrial mechatronics systems. An aspect-oriented MDE approach is presented by means of a real-world case study, comprising requirements engineering up to code generation. An assessment of two well-known high-level paradigms, namely Aspect- and Object-Oriented paradigms, is deeply presented. Their concepts are applied at every design step of an embedded and real-time mechatronics system, specifically for controlling a product assembler industrial cell. The handling of functional and non-functional requirements (at modeling level) using aspects and objects is further emphasized. Both designs are compared using a set of software engineering metrics, which were adapted to be applied at modeling level. Particularly, the achieved results show the suitability of each paradigm for the system specification in terms of reusability quality of model elements. Focused on the generated code for each case study, statistics depicted an improvement in number of lines using aspects.     

The role of bond graph modeling and simulation in mechatronics systems: An integrated software tool: CAMP-G, MATLAB–SIMULINK

One of the main and most challenging steps in the design and analysis of a mechatronics system is to generate a computer model. This paper explores the fundamental theory, the methodology and the process from conceptual ideas to practical realization. Using a multienergetic approach that allows the modeling of interdisciplinary models, it explores the theory and method to automate the process of the generation of the differential equations and how to automate the derivation of transfer functions. The approach is discussed for linear and non-linear systems. The generation of a computer model takes new dimensions when that model contains mixed energy domains such as electromechanical, electrohydraulic, thermo-fluid, and electronic control systems all together. These are typical of mechatronics applications. This paper explores the bond graph technique as a modeling tool to generate state space models or non-linear models together with software tools. CAMP-G (Computer Aided Modeling Program with Graphical input) has been developed in order to generate computer models automatically and have them integrated with MATLAB–SIMULINK as simulation tools. Several aspects of mechatronics systems design have been investigated in order to focus on which areas the bond graph modeling technique can help engineers in the process of creating mechatronics systems from scratch. Towards this end, the paper deals with computer-generated models of sensors, actuators, and multidisciplinary complex physical systems.     

Design of command shapers for residual vibration suppression in Duffing nonlinear systems

Residual vibrations generated from rest-to-rest maneuvers are crucial for applications in precision engineering, active structural control, space engineering, and other mechatronics applications. In certain applications, the structures to be controlled could be highly nonlinear yet lightly damped. Although the traditional input shaping techniques, which utilize destructive interference, work well for linear and weakly nonlinear systems, they show little effects on systems with strong nonlinearity. In this paper, a general input shaper design methodology for single-degree-of-freedom systems with Duffing nonlinearity is developed by an energy approach. Following this approach, two-step and three-step shapers, as well as their design procedures, are developed, which in the linear limit reduce to the traditional zero-vibration and zero-vibration-and-derivative shapers, respectively. The robustness of these nonlinear shapers is investigated numerically through case studies. The results show that the three-step shapers are sufficiently robust to resist certain level of parameter variations (from their designed values) without exciting significant residual vibrations. The two-step shapers, however, are less robust in comparison. Meanwhile, it is also found that the presence of damping effectively disturbs the energy flow and thus induces residual vibrations. For the less robust two-step shapers, an effective ‘online tuning’ scheme is also proposed here to further improve its performance in a damped nonlinear system. These shaping schemes, as well as their practical adjustment routing, could be applied to the particular structural or mechatronics systems with Duffing or other nonlinearities for vibration suppression to enhance the performance of mechatronics systems.     

Mechatronics curriculum development at Philadelphia University in Jordan

Mechatronics system engineering has gained global interest in the past decade from the educational and industrial sectors. Several universities in the middle east have introduced mechatronics engineering for undergraduate studies. One of those pioneers is Philadelphia University (PU) in Jordan. This paper presents the mechatronics curriculum developed at Philadelphia University with emphasis on regional needs. The paper also includes comparisons among local and global curricula. It is concluded that there is a rising demand of mechatronics engineering studies in the middle east. Local mechatronics programs must establish strong ties to the local industry and cooperate with global partner universities in order to overcome obstacles such as lack of funded research and design centers.     

Mechatronics education at CDHAW of Tongji University: Laboratory guidelines,framework, implementations and improvements

Engineering education is facing unprecedented challenges and exciting opportunities, particularly in the mechatronics engineering education area. Due to the highly applied nature of mechatronics engineering, mechatronics students need a focused laboratory environment which is as close as possible to the real-world situation to apply and absorb mechatronics concepts, and to assist them in the development of “hands-on” skills. The Chinese–German School of Applied Sciences (Chinesisch-Deutsche Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, CDHAW) is an educational project of the Chinese Ministry of Education and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, implemented by the Tongji University and a consortium of German Universities of Applied Sciences. In a previous paper – mechatronics education at CDHAW of Tongji University: structure, orientation and curriculum, which was published in Journal Mechatronics 2008;18:172–7, the authors presented the orientation and curriculum design of mechatronics education at CDHAW. In this paper, we will discuss systematically the guidelines, framework, implementations and improvements of our mechatronics laboratory corresponding to our orientation and curriculum design.     

Teaching control system design through mechatronics: academic and industrial perspectives

The present approach to teaching control system design as a stand-alone course offered late in the undergraduate curriculum, with little discussion of hardware, implementation, or integration through design, is ineffective in preparing students for engineering practice. Control systems must be integrated into the design from the beginning and not be simply after-thought add-ons. Based on the authors' extensive experience teaching mechatronics to university students and professional engineers, an integrated mechatronic approach to teaching controls is proposed. This approach will seriously address the deficiencies in the present-day skills of working professionals, as observed by the authors in teaching professional engineering workshops. These deficiencies are a direct result of how we presently teach controls and related topics.     

A model for concept evaluation in design––an application to mechatronics design of robot grippers

In this paper, an approach for the modelling of the evaluation process in the conceptual design phase is presented. During the design process, the generated candidate solutions are evaluated. The evaluation is achieved by calculating a score that is based on specific criteria that are presented as elements of a vector. Weight factors are applied to highlight the importance of each criterion. The formulation of the evaluation score is based on t-norm and averaging operators with the assumption that the universe of discourse of criteria is [0,1]. A discussion of the meaning of these operators and a comparative study of them is presented. As an application, the mechatronics design of robot grippers for handling fabrics is analysed. The elements of the mechatronics index are presented in terms of flexibility, intelligence and complexity. This index is formulated using the variety of the t-norms and averaging operators to show the weaks and strengths of each of them.     

Mechatronics in the Netherlands

This article assesses the present situation of mechatronics in the Netherlands. After a short historical survey, it describes the postgraduate "mechatronic designer course", introduced in 1991. It deals with the principles of this course and how these principles have been implemented. Also, the activities of the Dutch government in cooperation with the industrial mechatronics community to enhance the awareness of mechatronics, especially directed toward small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is described.     

A mechatronics educational laboratory – Programmable logic controllers and material handling experiments

The integration of robotics, conveyors, sensors, and programmable logic controllers into manufacturing and material handling processes requires engineers with technical skills and expertise in these systems. The coordination of assembly operations and supervisory control demands familiarity with mechanical and electrical design, instrumentation, actuators, and computer programming for successful system development. This paper presents an educational mechatronics laboratory that encourages multi-disciplinary hands-on engineering discovery within team settings. Three focused progressive experiments are reviewed that allow students to program and operate a programmable logic controller, a traditional conveyor system, and a distributed servo-motor based conveyor. The students also program and implement two robotic arms for material handling applications. The equipment, learning objectives, and experimental methodology for each laboratory are discussed to offer insight. A collaborative design project case study is presented in which student teams create a smart material handling system. Overall, engineering graduates have generally been required to learn material handling and other multi-disciplinary concepts in the field, and therefore, a well-rounded engineering curriculum should incorporate mechatronics in both the classroom and laboratory.