Virtual On line
June 22, 2020
June 22, 2020
June 26, 2021
Mechanical Engineering Technical Session: Mechatronics & Simulation
Mechanical Engineering
12
10.18260/1-2--35520
https://peer.asee.org/35520
406
Karnveer Gill received his B.S. degree from San Francisco State University in Electrical Engineering. In his time at San Francisco, he worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant in Mechatronics as well as a research assistant in the Control for Automation and Rehabilitation Robotics Lab. He currently works in the marine robotics industry as a Junior Robotics Engineer at Greensea Systems Inc. His current research interests include ROV's and EOD robotics.
Dr. David Quintero received B.S. degree from Texas A&M University, a M.S. degree from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas all in mechanical engineering. He is now an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at San Francisco State University. He teaches courses in control systems and mechatronics. His current research interests include design of hybrid actuators for wearable robots, rehabilitation engineering, biomechanics, assistive robotics, and biomechatronic systems.
Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary engineering field that involves knowledge across mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. In general, undergraduate engineering programs teach mechatronics as individual topic labs that then request students in developing a full system-level mechatronics semester project utilizing skills of design, manufacturing, and electronics. This lab format may not provide effectively the necessary learning skills to perform system-level integration and debugging for multidisciplinary problems that are typically encountered in a mechatronics project. This paper shares the development of an introductory laboratory curriculum that teaches mechanical engineering students to gain fluency in electronics and software with system-level demonstration to be a valuable employer of mechatronics. When we talk about systems, we use the NASA Systems Engineering handbook definition as “a construct or collection of different elements that together produce results not obtainable by the elements alone.” This is the mindset we want students to carry throughout the mechatronics curriculum. To focus on the practical applications of mechatronics, we developed a lab curriculum that cultivates system-level thinking around the build and integration of a hypothetical NASA Mars rover project. Overall, the course aims to teach students analog/digital sensing technologies, actuation hardware, Proportional-Integral-Derivative control, and microcontroller software implementation from a system-level teaching approach ensuring cross-functional debugging skills for each lab. This approach can be advantageous towards students completing their semester project in the design and development of their own mechatronic system.
Gill, K., & Morales, N., & Quintero, D. (2020, June), WIP: A Systems-level Approach for an Introductory Mechatronics Laboratory Course for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35520
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