CIE-412: Mechatronics

Topic 1: Introduction
Instructor: Dr. Nizar Mohammed
Email: nalyazidi@kfupm.edu.sa
 Outline
• What is Mechatronics?
• Historical Development
• Elements of Mechatronics
• Mechatronics Design Process
• Applications of Mechatronics
• Robots as examples of Mechatronic
Systems
• Past projects from Mechatronics course
• Other examples of Mechatronics
 What is Mechatronics?
• The Mechatronics field consists of the
synergistic integration of distinct traditional
engineering fields for system level design
processes. These fields are
• 1. Mechanical engineering where the word
“mecha” is taken from,
• 2. Electrical or electronics engineering,
where “tronics” is taken from,
• 3. Computers
• 4. Control systems
 Disciplinary Foundations of Mechatronics
The field of mechatronics is not
simply the sum of these three
major areas, but can be defined
as the intersection of these areas
when taken in the context of
systems design.

• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical/Electronic Engineering
• Control Engineering
• Computer Engineering

Source: Wikipedia
 What is Mechatronics?
• A mechatronic system is a computer-controlled mechanical
system. Quite often, it is an embedded computer, not a
general-purpose one, used for control decisions.
• Virtually every modern electro-mechanical system has an
embedded computer controller.
• Therefore, computer hardware and software issues (in
terms of their application to the control of
electromechanical systems) are part of the field of
mechatronics.
• Had it not been for the widespread availability of low-cost
microcontrollers for the mass market, the field of
mechatronics as we know it today would not exist.
The Historical Development of Mechatronic
Systems
 Classifications of mechatronic
products
In the late 1970s, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry
(JSPMI) classified mechatronics products into four categories
• Class I: mainly mechanical products with included electronics for
increased functionality. Examples are numerical controlled NC
machines and velocity control drives in processing machines;
• Class II: traditionally mechanical systems with a considerably
modernized structure which includes electronics. The user interface is
not changed. Examples are modern sewing machines and automated
production systems.
• Class III: systems that keep the functionality of traditional mechanical
systems but their components are replaced with electronics. The
example given is a digital watch;
• Class IV: products designed with mechanical and electronic systems
through synergistic integration. Examples are photocopiers, intelligent
washing machines and dryers, automated cooking appliances, and
automated ovens.
 Evolution of Mechatronics as a
Contemporary Design Paradigm

• Technological advances in design, manufacturing, and

operation of engineered products/devices/processes can be
traced through:
– Industrial revolution
– Semiconductor revolution
– Information revolution

http://engineering.nyu.edu/gk12/amps-cbri/pdf/Intro%20to%20Mechatronics.pdf
 1. Industrial Revolution

• Allowed design of products and processes for energy

conversion and transmission thus allowing the use of energy to
do useful work.
• Engineering designs of this era were largely mechanical
– e.g., operations of motion transmission, sensing, actuation, and
computation were performed using mechanical components such as
cams, gears, levers, and linkages).

• Purely mechanical systems suffer from

– Power amplification inability.
– Energy losses due to tolerances, inertia, and friction.
Evolution of Mechatronics
Modern Mechatronic System
Control of Mechanical Systems
 Examples of Predominantly Mechanical
Designs

Float Valve
Bi-metallic Strip

Watt’s Governor
Cam Operated
Switch
Thermostat
 2. Semiconductor Revolution
• Led to the creation of integrated circuit (IC) technology.
• Effective, miniaturized, power electronics could amplify and
deliver the needed amount of power to actuators.
• Signal conditioning electronics could filter and encode
sensory data in analog/digital format.
• Hard-wired, on-board, discrete analog/digital ICs provided
rudimentary computational and decision-making circuits for
control of mechanical devices.

An Integrated Circuit An A2D Converter An Operational Amplifier

 3. Information Revolution
• Development of VLSI technology led to the introduction of microprocessors,
microcomputers, and microcontrollers.
• Now computing hardware is ubiquitous, cheap, and small.
• As computing hardware can be effortlessly interfaced with real-world
electromechanical systems, it is now routinely embedded in engineered
products/processes for decision-making.
– Microcontrollers are replacing precision mechanical components, e.g., precision-
machined camshafts that in many applications function as a timing devices.
– Programmability of microcontrollers is providing a versatile and flexible
alternative to hard-wired analog/digital computational hardware.
– Integrated computer-electrical-mechanical devices are now capable of
converting, transmitting, and processing both the physical energy and the virtual
energy (information).
• Result: Highly efficient products and processes are now being developed
by judicious selection and integration of sensors, actuators, signal
conditioning, power electronics, decision and control algorithms, and
computer hardware and software.
 Elements of Mechatronics —Mechanical

• Mechanical elements refer to

– mechanical structure, mechanism, thermo-fluid, and hydraulic aspects of
a mechatronics system.

• Mechanical elements may include static/dynamic

characteristics.
• A mechanical element interacts with its environment
purposefully.
• Mechanical elements require physical power to produce motion,
force, heat, etc.
 Machine Components: Basic Elements
Gear, rack, pinion, etc.

Chain and sprocket

Cam and Follower

Lever

Springs

Wheel/Axle
Linkage
 Rotary to Rotary
motion
conversion –
change speed Rotary to rotary motion conversion mechanisms:
and torque timing belt and toothed pulley

Rotary to translational motion conversion

mechanism: lead-screw or ball-screw
with linear guide bearings

Rotary to translational motion conversion

mechanism: rack and pinion
mechanism.
 Elements of Mechatronics—Electromechanical
• Electromechanical elements refer to:
– Sensors
• A variety of physical variables can be measured using sensors, e.g., light
using photo-resistor, level and displacement using potentiometer, direction/tilt
using magnetic sensor, sound using microphone, stress and pressure using
strain gauge, touch using micro-switch, temperature using thermistor, and
humidity using conductivity sensor
– Actuators and Outputs
• DC servomotor, stepper motor, relay, solenoid, speaker, light emitting diode
(LED), shape memory alloy, electromagnet, and pump apply commanded
action on the physical process

Flexiforce Sensor DC Motor Pneumatic Cylinder

 Elements of Mechatronics—Electrical/Electronic
• Electrical elements refer to:
– Electrical components (e.g., resistor (R), capacitor (C), inductor (L),
transformer, etc.), circuits, and analog signals

• Electronic elements refer to:

– analog/digital electronics, transistors, thyristors, opto-isolators,
operational amplifiers, power electronics, and signal conditioning

• The electrical/electronic elements are used to interface electro-

mechanical sensors and actuators to the control
interface/computing hardware elements
 Elements of Mechatronics—Control
Interface/Computing Hardware
• Control interface/computing hardware elements refer to:
– Analog-to-digital (A2D) converter, digital-to-analog (D2A) converter,
digital input/output (I/O), counters, timers, microprocessor,
microcontroller, data acquisition and control (DAC) board, and digital
signal processing (DSP) board
• Control interface hardware allows analog/digital interfacing
– communication of sensor signal to the control computer and
communication of control signal from the control computer to the actuator
• Control computing hardware implements a control algorithm, which
uses sensor measurements, to compute control actions to be applied
by the actuator.
 Elements of Mechatronics—
Computer/Information System
• Computer elements refer to hardware/software utilized to perform:
– computer-aided dynamic system analysis, optimization, design, and
simulation
– virtual instrumentation
– rapid control prototyping
– hardware-in-the-loop simulation
– PC-based data acquisition and control
 Elements of Mechatronics

• Typical knowledge-base for optimal design and operation of

mechatronic systems comprises of:
– Dynamic system modeling and analysis
– Decision and control theory
– Sensors and signal conditioning
– Actuators and power electronics
– Data acquisition
• A2D, D2A, digital I/O, counters, timers, etc.
– Hardware interfacing
– Rapid control prototyping
– Embedded computing

Combine: theory, simulation, hardware, and software

Key Elements of Mechatronics
Key elements of Mechatronics
 Mechatronics Applications
• Smart consumer products: home security, camera,
microwave oven, toaster, dish washer, laundry washer-dryer,
climate control units, etc.

• Medical: implant-devices, assisted surgery, haptic, etc.

• Defense: unmanned air, ground, and underwater vehicles,

smart munitions, jet engines, etc.

• Manufacturing: robotics, machines, processes, etc.

• Automotive: climate control, antilock brake, active suspension,

cruise control, air bags, engine management, safety, etc.

• Network-centric, distributed systems: distributed robotics,

tele-robotics, intelligent highways, etc.
 Sample Mechatronic Systems
• It should have very precis devices.
• It should be very accurate.
 Mechatronic Design Process

http://engineering.nyu.edu/gk12/amps-cbri/pdf/Intro%20to%20Mechatronics.pdf
Robots as an example of Mechatronic System
• Difference between Robots and Non-robots
• Classification of Robots
– Class 1: Manual Handling Device: a device with multiple degrees of
freedom, actuated by an operator
– Class 2: Fixed Sequence Robot: a device that performs the successive
stages of a task according to a predetermined, unchanging method,
which is hard to modify
– Class 3: Variable Sequence Robot: same as in class 2, but easy to
modify
– Class 4: Playback Robot: a human operator performs the task
manually by leading the robot, which records the motions for later
playback; the robot repeats the same motions according to the recorded
information
– Class 5: Numerical Control Robot: the operator supplies the robot with a
movement program rather than teaching it the task manually
– Class 6: Intelligent Robot: a robot with the means to understand its
environment and the ability to successfully complete a task despite
changes in the surrounding conditions under which it is to be performed
• The Robotics Institute of America (RIA) only considers classes 3–6 of the
above as robots.
Example: A robotic-car using an
embedded computer
Example: Radar technology for semi-
autonomous vehicles
 Robotics: Various Designs
Classifications of Robots:
- Mobile Robots
- Robot Manipulators

Robocup SSL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaFfWd6ZHGA

 Robotic Manipulators
• Let us consider an electric servo
motor-driven robotic manipulator with
three axes.
• The robot would have a predefined
mechanical structure, for example
Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical,
SCARA type robot.
• Each of the three electric servo
motors (i.e., brush-type DC motor with
integrally mounted position sensor
such as an encoder or stepper motor
with position sensor) drives one of the
axes. There is a separate power
amplifier for each motor which
controls the current (hence torque) of
the motor.
 SCARA Robot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKD20BTkXhk
Example
 Robotic Manipulators
Three major robotic manipulator mechanisms: Cartesian (PPP), cylindrical (PRP),
spherical (PRR) coordinate axes.
 Robotic Manipulators
Gantry, SCARA, and parallel-linkage drive robotic manipulators
Robotic Manipulators
 Forward and Inverse Kinematics

• Forward Kinematics
– It involves determining
the end-effector
position and
orientation (x, y, 𝜃)
given the joint angles
(𝜃1 , 𝜃2 )
• Inverse Kinematics
– It involves determining
the joint angles (𝜃1 , 𝜃2 )
given the end effector
position and
orientation (x, y, 𝜃)
 Project Examples

From Past Mechatronics Course

 1. Parallel Parking Car
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqs85RMTXPg
1. Parallel Parking Car
 2. Snack Cooker
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8CvdZ0Vbhc
2. Snack Cooker
3. Building a Wheeled Robot
 4. Object Sorting Using a Robotic Arm
and Image Processing
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Drm7w_Oa3A
Tetrix Kits
5. Rubrik Cure Solver
 6. Moving Object Tracking System
• Two-axis motion using 2 motors
• Laser Tracker
• Moving object
• Camera & Image processing
Diagram
7. Moving platform stabilizer
8. Automatic Bottle Capping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qP-WTOVrN7Y
9. Smart Irrigation using Solar Energy
Smart Irrigation using Solar Energy:
User Interface
 Other Examples of
Mechatronic Systems
 Temperature Control in a Room

• A furnace or room temperature control system and its

components using analog op-amp as the controller.
• Notice that a fan driven by an electric motor is used to
force the air circulation from the heater to the room.
• A timer is used to delay the turn ON and turn OFF time
of the fan motor by a specified amount of time after the
heater is turned ON or OFF.
• A microcontroller-based digital controller can replace the
op-amp and timer components.
Temperature Control in a Room
CNC Machine
 Home
Automation
• Using a computer:
– Turn on the lights at
preset times
– Adjust brightness
– Turn on the heat at
preset times or
temperatures
– Serve as a security
system
http://ume.gatech.edu/mechatronics_course/Mechatronics_Systems.ppt
 Mechatronics Systems
Computers

Cars
Tools

Consumer Stealth Bomber

Electronics

High Speed Trains

MEMS
Micro to Macro
Applications
 Mechatronics Systems
-Manufacturing Applications-
Micro Factory
Micro Factory Drilling Unit
•Desktop sized Factory
•Build small parts with a small
factory
•Greatly reduces space, energy,
and materials
 Mechatronics Systems
-Manufacturing Applications-
CNC Bending
•Fully automated bending: load
sheet metal and the finished bent
parts come out
•Can bend complex shapes
 Mechatronics Systems
-Manufacturing Applications-

CNC Machining

Advantages
•Deliver the highest accuracies
•Can create very complex shapes
 Mechatronics Systems
-Transportation Applications-
Automobiles
Typical Applications
•Brake-By-Wire system
•Steer-By-Wire
•Integrated vehicle dynamics
•Camless engines
•Integrated starter alternator

OEM Driven
•Reliability
•Reduced weight
•Fuel economy
•Manufacturing flexibility
•Design freedom
•Advanced safety features
•Cost
 Mechatronics Systems
- Door System/Module-

“Smart” Mirror motor-

unit pin-header “Smart”
Doorlock
CAM Bus

“Smart” Window Lift-unit Switchboard with

CAN Bus Gateway
Mechatronics Systems
-Seat System/Module-

Seat Harness Architecture showing various

smart connector interconnections solutions
 Mechatronics Systems
-Transportation Applications-
High Speed Trains
•Train Position and Velocity
constantly monitored from
main command center.
•Error margin in scheduling no
more than 30 seconds
JR-Maglev
•Fastest trains use magnetic Top Speed: 574 km/h (357 mph)
levitation Country: Japan

Magnetic Levitation

Transrapid
Top Speed: 550 km/h (340 mph)
Country: German
 Mechatronics Systems
-Transportation Applications-

Systems Uses Segway

•Tilt and pressure sensors
•Microcontroller
•Motors
•Onboard power source

Advantages
•Simple and intuitive
personal
transportation device
 Mechatronics Systems
-Smart Robotics Application-
BigDog

System Can
•Carry 340 lb Advantages
•Run 4 mph •Robot with rough-terrain mobility that could
•Climb, run, and walk carry equipment to remote location.
•Move over rough terrain
 Mechatronics Systems
-Smart Robotics Aplications-

Vacuum Floors
•Robots can vacuum floors and
clean gutters so you don't have to.

Cleans Gutter
 Mechatronics Systems
-Space Exploration Application-
Phoenix Mars Lander's

System Can
•Collect specimens
•Has automated onboard
lab for testing specimens

Advantages
•Robot that can travel to other
planets and take measurements
automatically.
 Mechatronics Systems
-Medical Applications-

Prosthetics
•Arms, Legs, and other body parts
can be replaced with
electromechanical ones.
 Mechatronics Systems
-Medical Applications-
Pace Maker
•Used by patients with slow or
erratic heart rates. The pacemaker
will set a normal heart rate when it
sees an irregular heart rhythm.

Implantable Defibrillation
•Monitors the heart. If heart
fibrillates or stops completely it will
shock the heart at high voltage to
restore a normal heart rhythm.
 Mechatronics Systems
-Defense Applications-

•Advanced technology is making

our soldiers safer. Stealth Bomber
•Some planes can now be flown
remotely.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

 Mechatronics Systems
-Sanitation Applications-

System Uses
•Proximity sensors
•Control circuitry
•Electromechanical valves
•Independent power source

Advantages
•Reduces spread of germs by making
device hands free
•Reduces wasted water by automatically
turning off when not in use
 Mechatronics Systems
-Sanitation Applications-
Systems Uses
•Motion sensors Paper Towel Dispenser
•Control circuitry
•Electromechanical
actuators
•Independent power source

Soap Dispenser

Advantages
•Reduces spread of germs by making
device hands free
•Reduces wasted materials by
controlling how much is dispensed
 Mechatronics Systems
-Sports Applications-
Running Shoes

Advantages
•Automatically changes
cushioning in shoe for
different running styles and
conditions for improved
comfort
 Mechatronics Systems
-Smart Home Applications-

Solution Power Supply

Washing Machine
Rectifiers/Regulator

Pressure Sensor
MPX5006/MPX2010
Mechatronics Systems
-Smart Home Applications-

Smoke Detector System

Credits: Dr. Muhammed Faizan