application in a factory. I cannot think
of a better way to introduce students
to a prospective technical profession
than starting out their higher
education by building robots. MIT has
always used this approach and has
produced world-class students who
go on to bigger and better things.
Figure 4 is a diagram from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s website
that does a great job of describing the
various fields that make up mechatronics.
Rensselaer’s definition of mechatronics
is “The synergistic combination of
mechanical engineering, electronics,
control systems, and computers, all
integrated through the design process.”
Like MIT, RPI is one of this country’s
premier engineering schools and has
some top-notch courses of study.
One interesting project that RPI
students designed and developed was
a two-wheel human/object transporter
that you can see in Figure 5. Modeled
after and with the permission of
Segway, the transporter was built by
the three engineering students pictured
in Figure 6 — Teresa Bemardi, Laura
Corman, and Matthew Rosmann.
Similar designs have been built by
many robot experimenters using
accelerometers and inverted
pendulum designs and show how
something that is not necessarily
robotic can easily be used as a robotic
platform. Similar to MIT, RPI also
offers LEGO robotics classes during
the summer, but these are intended
for kids ages 11 to 14. They also
sponsor the FIRST competitions by
offering two four-year $24,000
scholarships to RPI.
specifically in robotics. Many schools
have to cover the broader field of
study in order to prepare their
students for entry into manufacturing,
research, electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering, and industrial
engineering, as well as robotics. Let’s
face it, robotics itself is still not as
large of a field of engineering as we
would like it to be and schools want
to cover as many potential technology
employers as possible with their
courses of study.
I talked with one professor of
robotics/mechatronics several years
ago about his focus on mechatronics
rather than robotics. He basically told
me that his school’s administration felt
that robotics classes seemed to stress
mobile robots and were similar to
what was found in many high schools
— nothing to prepare students for the
real world of modern manufacturing. I
politely disagreed with him on this point,
but he certainly knew of my bias. I told
him that a head start in high school
using the many robot kits available on
the market not only provides a fun
learning experience to keep the student interested, but allows the student to explore applications in many
other areas. The student can also
focus on potential industrial applications that are in no way a toy mobile
robot. If an engineering student
becomes so enthused with electro-mechanical systems by building many
microcontroller controlled robots that
eventually lead to a thorough knowledge of mechanics, electrical control
systems, and computer programming
— well, he or she is that much further
ahead compared to a student with no
previous knowledge at all. In
looking at different engineering
schools, one link from Google
may list a particular school’s
department as Robotics and
Mechatronics — with the
reference to robotics listed first.
As I mentioned before, everyone
knows about robots and the term
robotics is just as popular, so
students may lean towards a
course of study in these fields
because of the order of listing.
Another school may use
Mechatronics and Robotics as
FIGURE 4. Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Diagram of Mechatronics.
the course of study because it leans a
bit towards industrial and manufacturing applications. However, this might
not always be the case as a school
may have started toward industrial
engineering at first. A prospective
student should refer to the school’s
course of study, research the school’s
background, and possibly visit a few
schools in person before selecting a
final one to attend.
Mechatronics —
Self Study
A search for mechatronics at
Amazon.com yielded over 2,600
results. Mechatronics for the Evil Genius
and Robotics, Mechatronics and
Artificial Intelligence: Experimental
Circuit Blocks for Designers, both by
Newton C. Braga are two books that I
have found very useful. Another
excellent approach to understanding
and programming mechatronics on a
personal level are LEGO Mindstorms
NXT robot kits. These are powered by
Selecting a School
for Mechatronics
and Robotics
FIGURE 5. Early
proof-of-concept of
transporter at RPI.
FIGURE 6.
Student-built
transporter at RPI.
I’ve talked a bit about what
mechatronics is and what schools
offer which courses of study in the
field. You may be wondering how can
these disciplines help you in your
experimental robot projects or in
choosing a course of study that leads
to work within the field of robotics.
As you might have noticed, not all
technical schools offer courses
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