Mechatronics

Mechatronics is a design process that includes a combination of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control engineering and computer engineering. Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering, that is to say, it rejects splitting engineering into separate disciplines. Originally, mechatronics just included the combination of mechanics and electronics, hence the word is a combination of mechanics and electronics; however, as technical systems have become more and more complex the word has been "updated" during recent years to include more technical areas.

French standard NF E 01-010 gives the following definition: “approach aiming at the synergistic integration of mechanics, electronics, control theory, and computer science within product design and manufacturing, in order to improve and/or optimize its functionality".

Description

Aerial Euler diagram from RPI's website describes the various fields that make up Mechatronics

A mechatronics engineer unites the principles of mechanics, electronics, and computing to generate a simpler, more economical and reliable system. The term "mechatronics" was coined by Tetsuro Mori, the senior engineer of the Japanese company Yaskawa in 1969. An industrial robot is a prime example of a mechatronics system; it includes aspects of electronics, mechanics, and computing to do its day-to-day jobs.

Engineering cybernetics deals with the question of control engineering of mechatronic systems. It is used to control or regulate such a system (see control theory). Through collaboration, the mechatronic modules perform the production goals and inherit flexible and agile manufacturing properties in the production scheme. Modern production equipment consists of mechatronic modules that are integrated according to a control architecture. The most known architectures involve hierarchy, polyarchy, heterarchy, and hybrid. The methods for achieving a technical effect are described by control algorithms, which might or might not utilize formal methods in their design. Hybrid systems important to mechatronics include production systems, synergy drives, planetary exploration rovers, automotive subsystems such as anti-lock braking systems and spin-assist, and every-day equipment such as autofocus cameras, video, hard disks, and CD players.

Course structure

Mechatronic students take courses from across the various fields listed below:

• Mechanical engineering and materials science subjects
• Electronic engineering subjects
• Computer engineering subjects
• Computer science subjects
• Systems and control engineering subjects
• Optomechanics (optical engineering) subjects
• Robotics subjects

Application

• Machine vision
• Automation and robotics
• Servo-mechanics
• Sensing and control systems
• Automotive engineering, automotive equipment in the design of subsystems such as anti-lock braking systems
• Computer-machine controls, such as computer driven machines like IE CNC milling machines
• Expert systems
• Industrial goods
• Consumer products
• Mechatronics systems
• Medical mechatronics,medical imaging systems
• Structural dynamic systems
• Transportation and vehicular systems
• Mechatronics as the new language of the automobile
• Diagnostic, reliability, and control system techniques
• Computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems
• Computer-aided design
• Engineering and manufacturing systems
• Packaging
• Microcontrollers / PLCs
• Mobile apps

Physical implementations

For some mechatronic systems, the main issue is no longer how to implement a control system, but how to implement actuators. Within the mechatronic field, mainly two technologies are used to produce movement: piezo-electric actuators and motors, or electromagnetic actuators and motors. Well known examples of piezo-electric based mechatronics systems are camera autofocus or anti-shake functions.

Some mechatronic systems have restrictive energy source requirements and have traditionally uses batteries. But a new trend, energy harvesting, allows transforming mechanical energy from shock and vibration or thermal energy into electrical energy.

Variant of the field

An emerging variant of this field is biomechatronics, whose purpose is to integrate mechanical parts with a human being, usually in the form of removable gadgets such as an exoskeleton. Such an entity is often identified in science fiction as a cyborg. This is the "real-life" version of cyberware.

See also

• Cybernetics
• Control Theory
• Electromechanics
• Mechatronics Journals
• List of engineering topics
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering Technology
• Robotics
• Stereochemistry - A very advanced form of Elemental Engineering
• Supramolecular Engineering
• Systems Engineering

Further reading

• Robert Munnig Schmidt, Georg Schitter and Jan van Eijk, High Performance Mechatronics. IOS Press, 2011.
• Bishop, Robert H., Mechatronics: an introduction. CRC Press, 2006.
• De Silva, Clarence W., Mechatronics: an integrated approach. CRC Press, 2005
• Onwubolu, Godfrey C., Mechatronics: principles and applications. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005.
• Rankers, Adrian M., Machine Dynamics in Mechatronic Systems. University Twente, 1997

References

Books

• Bradley, Dawson et al., Mechatronics, Electronics in products and processes, Chapman and Hall Verlag, London, 1991.
• Karnopp, Dean C., Donald L. Margolis, Ronald C. Rosenberg, System Dynamics: Modeling and Simulation of Mechatronic Systems, 4th Edition, Wiley, 2006. ISBN 0-471-70965-4 Bestselling system dynamics book using bond graph approach.
• Cetinkunt, Sabri, Mechatronics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2007 ISBN 978047147981
• James J. Nutaro (2010). Building software for simulation: theory and algorithms, with applications in C++. Wiley. 

Journals

• IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
• Mechatronics Journal - Elsevier

Websites

• List of publications concerning examples of mechatronic applications and realisation

Standards

• NF E 01-010 2008 - AFNOR (French standard NF E 01-010)
• XP E 01-013 2009 – AFNOR (French standard NF E 01-013)

Citations