What is Mechatronics?

Mechatronics is a made up name to describe any system that incorporates electrical, electronic and mechanical parts to the system.

The use of this 'word' is in any industry as far as I'm aware. As for your balance I'm not sure what you mean about balancing mechanics and electrical?

John.

"Mechatronics is a made up name ..."

Indeed. Did we really need this? I think I'll make up a name for something that doesn't need a name so that I can maybe make a name for myself by naming something that doesn't need naming"

"Computermechanictronics" Wow! It's the newest latest thing. Imagine, controlling electro-mechanical things with a computer! I've never heard of such a radical concept, in naming...

Just what we need, more BS.

I thought this was a mature intellectual type of site, (mature being the ability to give and take especially in jest) so I reckon your the one that proves the rule.

There are alot of "made up names" Hydraulics, Mechanical, Internet etc.

Mechatronics embraces the principles of mechanical and electronic engineering and more importantly how they are used in harmony together to enhance the control function of the system as a whole.

And just so you don't feel inclined to make an idiot of your self again, what is a computer, how about thinking of it as an "electronic device", so the "name" covers it all.

P.S. it's the 21st century! WoW

Oh my, I seem to have offended you and now you are perhaps being a bit immature by calling me an idiot? It seems to me that this site also supports a variety of views and I don't assume mine to be superior, perhaps you would benefit from a similar view. I can't say why this particular "made up word" strikes me as superfluous but that's my opinion. We'll see if it is still in use in a year or two. Sorry if you are of the opinion that I should keep my opinion to myself and that you would risk embarrassing yourself by appearing to be immature in taking issue with my opinion in such a derogatory fashion. Oh that's right, you are posting anonymously so you can say anything you want and call me an idiot, that's real mature. At least I have the guts to express myself without hiding my identity.[/p]

Not that I am incline to care what an anonymous guest poster says.

Mechatronics is essentially that which was called robotics, but is the branch which concentrates on design and control of every-day items (printers, scanners, assembly lines, ROVs......) rather than trying to create Terminator.

Mechatronics is in use since I was in high school which was 1993. So yea its been used for a few years.

It was introduced in my Robotic class. It incorporate pneumatic with PLC instead of simple pneumatic switches only. I learn ladder diagram and program Festo PLC.

Pineapple

The word mechatronics has actually been around since the 70s and has been in wide use in both industry and in the academic field for quite some time. It is only recently that it has become popularized in the public's eye leading me to believe that anyone who thinks it is a superfluous word or that it will just up and vanish has really no idea what they are talking about.

If it were actually an opinion you were sharing, then I'm sure the anonymous gentleman (or lady) would have been more than happy to designate it with a response in kind. However, since this is a forum for professional engineers and those that want to be such, a certain modicum of restraint must be used when stating opinions and they must be backed up by facts in order to prevent them being exactly what he or she said they were: BS.

It is true that some words come about as the result of wanting to claim ownership over their existence, but in this case there was a broad discipline which required a shorter word to describe itself. The full definition of mechatronics is the "design, creation, and development of computer-controlled electro-mechanical systems and the integration thereof". This drawn out and tedious phrase basically means that if a system is made up of electrical systems, programmable or logic based electronics, and mechanical systems then it can be considered a part of the mechatronics field.

As far as the sliding scale you are talking about, there would need to be a third point designated as "computers" or "control" and the triangle that is formed between the three would be where mechatronics resides.

I hope my input was of some help, and since rcapper seems to take offense to guest posters,

Brandon DeHart
Mechatronics Engineering
University of Waterloo, Canada

Thanks for your comment Brandon. Although I disagree with you self declared rules of "modicum of restraint must be used when stating opinions and they must be backed up by facts in order to prevent them being exactly what he or she said they were: BS.".

Opinions are just that, opinions. There is no requirement that they be "backed up by fact", it is a matter of perception and by expressing them we perchance learn when others disagree. If something is backed by fact, then it is a fact and not an opinion.

For example, I have the opinion that it sounds like you are in fact the first guest poster who is trying now to obey his own rule and avoid incrimination with regard to the first guest poster's inference that I am an idiot which would seem to lack a "modicum of restraint". Oh well, people get upset and then behave hypocritically sometimes.

I have worked in the field of embedded controls and also what is now being called "Mechatronics" since 1977 and I receive many trade magazines each week and I have only recently seen it used to the degree that it has been. I did find a book that was copyrighted 1991 so I don't doubt that it has apparently been around for some time. So I stand corrected but I still think it was covered by plenty of other terms and seems to be an artificially contrived sub-class of technologies but that is purely my opinion and I wouldn't hope to prevent someone else from having one that differs.

Also, in retrospect, I wish I had left out the "BS" reference since it clearly triggered an emotional sensitivity that was unnecessary. Usually my "modicum of restraint" is operating at a higher level but so far I don't think I have ever inferred that someone was an idiot.

Once again, I thank you for your challenge to my opinion as it does help me refine my thinking and better understand why I have the response I do to this word.

It occurs to me that we as humans have an innate compulsion to categorize. Indeed it is a means of great efficiency in all that we do. I believe my issue with regard to this particular categorization is that it lacks merit since it is not adequately distinct from "electronic" so as to significantly contribute to the information conveyed by it's use. Everything mechatronic is also electronic, at least in part. Very little that is electronic is devoid of any mechanical attribute. So when you tell me that something is mechatronic I do not know significantly more than I would have otherwise assumed if you had said electronic. Ok, it moves. So many of the electronic designs I have built were also mechatronic because they had something electromagnetic or some other means of motive force.

Granted I see the value as a descriptor of a course of study. I imagine there is a serious lack of mechanical engineering in some electronic curriculum and many designs suffer as a result.

So that would seem to be the essence of my opinion. It is categorically vague or indistinct. Sorry I don't have any fact to back that opinion other that the fact that that how I feel about the matter. Maybe the fact that I don't see the term used prolifically in the trade journals but I suppose that is also a matter of perception and debatable.

As a society we do have the tendency to categorize almost all aspects of our lives, more so when we are intimately familiar with a topic. In this familiarity with the topic I see mechatronics as a useful tool in order to share with others as simply as possible what kind of project may be going on. It also helps to show, as you said, that in a course of study you will be learning a broad range of mechanical, electrical, and software elements which must all be incorporated together instead of a subset thereof.

In addition to the electronics and the mechanical aspects of any project, in order to qualify as a 'mechatronics' project it must also have a control aspect. It is the controls that differentiate it from any other electrical or electro-mechanical (if there are moving parts) system.

Brandon

Hi Brandon,

"The full definition of mechatronics is the "design, creation, and development of computer-controlled electro-mechanical systems and the integration thereof"

Why not just call it "robotics" and be done with it? The definition above seems to describe the robotics field pretty well.

I do concede GM1964's point that mechatronics does include every day things like printers, scanners, etc., but even though it may be a stretch, one could consider a printer, or a scanner, attached to a computer a form of robot.

I think the Venn diagram below pretty well sums it up (still looks like robotics though).

Incidentally, "mechatronics" is a portmanteau of "mechanics" and "electronics". Just thought I'd throw portmanteau in, cause I like sayin' it.

-John

Nice diagram. It seems to put mechatronics squarely in the middle of the universe. I do notice though that if you subtract only one common item from the diagram, that being electronics, that the only thing you have left is "mechanical systems". So I will keep on telling people that I do electronic design and that that sometimes involves some mechanical engineering. Then I don't have to explain that mechatronics is electronic design that sometimes involves mechanical engineering.

Thanks John

I agree with rcapper, and where in that diagram is electrical engineering? or pneumatics etc...

A bit overly simplified methinks! Perhaps to overemphasis the importance of 'mechatronic' - if I was a cynic!

John.

Johnjohn:

The main reason that you cannot just call any mechatronic system "robotics" is that in order to qualify as a robot, the system must be able to sense something about the world around it and react in an intelligent way. In essence, a robot must contain some intelligence be it artificial, a state machine, or even just simple logic. An easy way to look at it would be that a mechatronic system is a robot that needs human input: a printer, a computer, a car, a plane, a cell phone, etc. This is not to say that robots aren't mechatronics systems as well, but that they are a subset of mechatronics.

rcapper:

If you subtracted the electronic section of the venn diagram you would still be left with mechatronics being a unison of control systems, computers, and mechanical systems. I think the biggest confusion surrounding this diagram is that people assume computers are electronics: they are not. Computers are an electrical system but in order to do useful work they require software (albeit low level software). Electronics are electrical systems that can do useful work without software (analog logic trees and basic motor drivers come to mind).

If a simplification were to be made, you would have to say that mechatronics is electronic design that usually involves mechanical engineering, computer engineering, and controls or automation engineering. Without any three of these overall bases the system is just one of the smaller unions shown outside of the central mechatronics section.

Electroman:

Of course the venn diagram must be simplified, if it were to include every single aspect that could possibly contribute to mechatronics they would need many more words and colours to convey the same information. ;)

Brandon

"The main reason that you cannot just call any mechatronic system "robotics" is that in order to qualify as a robot, the system must be able to sense something about the world around it and react in an intelligent way."

Is this a robot or a mecharoomba?

Karel Capek, coined the term "robot" for his 1920's play "Rossum's Universal Robots". A robot was an intelligent mechanical hominoid - now sadly called an android.

Then there was the pioneer of industrial robotics, who considered a robot as being defined in terms of a computer-controlled arm with at least six degrees of freedom.

That means that the term "robot" can more-or-less correctly be used to cover both a wide field and very specific areas.

As it happens, mechatronics covers an even wider field than the widest proper use of robot, as it also covers electronic-mechanical systems that are under real-time human control - this sort of function being extensively used in the entertainment industry (including films).

As mechatronics is quite audibly a portmanteau word, I don't actually like it - but it is both well established and the least-bad word for the meaning.