Teaching

MAE 211 Mechatronics

Mechatronics design refers to the design of systems using a combination of mechanical engineering, electronic and electrical engineering, control theory, sensor and actuator technology, and computer science. It is the way the world works in the 21st century. We now have electric motors that are smaller than the period at the end of this sentence (Really!!). Microprocessors run everything from your MP3 player to the airbags in your car to your Mr. Coffee. To prepare you for designing the newest and coolest stuff, we have created this course, which looks at some basic design problems that mechanical engineers face every day, and shows you how to solve them using modern, mechatronic methods. In this class you will design gear trains and power transmission systems, and will couple them to optical encoders and a microcontroller for position and speed control. You will learn about a variety of sensors useful in robotics, manufacturing, the automotive, aerospace industries, and medicine among others. You will learn how to connect sensors and actuators to a microcontroller and how to write control programs to make good things happen. This will be one of the coolest courses you ever take.

Download syllabus (2012 Spring)