Keynote:
The Dreams of Engineers: What’s next?
, Ph.D., Dean of SMU Engineering School Engineers have shaped and reshaped our world. However, some of our greatest dreams about future technologies bring giggles when we look back on them today. Yet, given all of the advances of past decades, we have never been more confident of our abilities to provide solutions to society’s great challenges. What’s next on the horizon? What problems do we need to be addressing today for the real benefit of our vast and diverse global community?
Micromechatronics - A vital technology for industrialized nations in the new century
, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State University
Mechatronics, which blends mechanical and electrical technologies in producing smart consumer products and engineering systems involving both mechanical and electrical functions, has been a dominating industrial technology for the past three decades. The multidisciplinary nature of mechatronics will be illustrated by available successful high value-added products such as data storage by hard disk drives, inkjet printer heads and humanoid robots.
The strong drive for industrial products to be smart, multi-functional, robusting and low cost in recent years, as typified by the rapid ongoing upgrading of mobile telecommunication equipment requires drastic reduction in sizes of functional device components so that more of these components can be packaged into limited space available for the products. Micromechatronics with components in micrometer and nanometer scales has thus become a vital technology for industrialized nations in the new century.
There are generally two approaches to miniaturization of device components; the top-down approach using microsystems technology (MST) and the bottom-up approach using nanotechnology (NT). This presentation will describe the fundamental differences between MST and NT, feature differences between micromechatronics and traditional mechatronics, and major paradigm shifts in design, manufacture, assembly and packaging. Issues relating to human resource requirements and education for micromechatronics will be addressed based on author’s own experience. Future trend, as well as required R&D in miniaturization of mechatronics systems will be offered towards the conclusion of the presentation.
Panel:
Mechatronic Engineering Program at CSU - Chico
, Program Director, Mechatronic Engineering/Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronic Engineering, CSU - Chico
, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CSU - Chico
, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronic Engineering, CSU - Chico
Over the years industry and government have sought engineers who can successfully integrate the design of mechanical and computer electronics with software control to produce intelligent systems. In response to such needs, the Departments of Mechanical Engineering/Manufacturing Technology and Electrical/Computer Engineering at the California State University, Chico created an undergraduate Mechatronic Engineering Program with a sound foundation in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences to integrate mechanical, computer electronics, and software into applications. Examples of such applications include a four-legged walking machine, a sign language robotic hand, and GPS and vision-guided Intelligent Ground Vehicles. Our graduates have been well accepted by industry in various positions and with competitive salaries.
Servo Network Trends in Mechatronic Systems
, Ph.D., Director of Development, Yaskawa This talk will review the motion control components of a mechatronic system with emphasis on current industry trends in servo network integration. Having spent many hours writing customer drivers for robotics projects as a graduate student, Ed Nicolson looked forward to the day when integrating components of a robotic system would be simple and proposed a Unix device drive approach to this (SIOMS: Standard IO for Mechatronic Systems). The goal is still there, but the realization is a long time coming. Starting with a general overview of the components and communication mechanisms in mechatronic systems, this talk will review various industrial realizations of systems using different types of control architectures ranging from PC-based to embedded systems. Special emphasis will be made on the role of digital servo networks in the interoperability of these systems.
Design and Testing of Autonomous Automobiles and Helicopters
, Ph.D. Candidate, Hybrid Systems Lab, Stanford Racing Team Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
This talk will present insight into the design and testing for three autonomous vehicle projects. First is Stanley, a computer-controlled VW Touareg. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, a 132-mile autonomous offroad race with no human intervention. Stanley won first place, completing the race with four other finishers. Next is Junior, a computer-controlled VW Passatt. It competed in the DARPA Urban Challenge, a 56-mile autonomous race on an urban road network - in traffic with no human intervention. Junior won second place, completing the race with five other vehicles. Finally is STARMAC, the Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control. This set of six quadrotor helicopters was developed to research multi-agent control problems such as collision avoidance, cooperative search and rescue and control in unknown environments. The speaker will explain highlights of the hardware, control and algorithms used for the three projects and share some of the excitement of this field of research.
Hands-on Workshops:
Understanding Product Lifecycle Management and the Emergence of Mechatronics
, Global Director for Hi-Tech R&D Industry Solutions, Dassault Systèmes There’s no doubt that market pressures, such as global competition and shrinking windows of opportunity, are forcing companies to take a more systemic approach to product development. As a result, companies are now starting to explore ways to implement the seamless convergence of mechanical, electronics and software engineering with a focus on meeting or exceeding product requirements the first time. More broadly this is being defined as the emergence of Mechatronics and a new opportunity for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technology.
Overall the message is clear: electronics manufacturers are feeling the pressure to bring increasingly complex products to market on shorter time tables. In a recent survey 44% of electronic companies interviewed acknowledge the need to improve product development efficiency, while 38% also identified reducing time to market as being critical to future success.
In this hands-on session, you will learn how Dassault Systemes products can simplify collaboration, visibility and control of engineering data while seamlessly allowing engineers to work in native CAD tool environments to streamline the design process. Learn how you can use Mechatronics and PLM solutions to help drive innovation, growth, and profitability in almost every sector of the enterprise.
Digital Prototyping for Mechatronics
, Technical Marketing Manager for AutoCAD Electrical and AutoCAD Mechanical, Autodesk This hands-on workshop will allow the audience to navigate through a 3D industrial equipment assembly and simulate the multidisciplinary workflow common to Mechanical and Electrical designers working together on an electromechanical device. Using the bi-directional communication between Autodesk Inventor Professional and AutoCAD Electrical, users will realize the value of maintaining a digital workflow.
New Alpha Mechatronics Toolkit
, Product Specialist, SolidWorks Corporation
, Product Manager for Industrial-Embedded Design, National Instruments MCAD-ECAD Integration
, Senior Technology Application Engineer, PTC
, Senior Generalist Application Engineer, PTC
, Business Development Director, PTC
How many times has your product reached the prototype, testing or assembly stage and not worked exactly right - the PCB didn't fit the enclosure, the wrong software version was loaded, or manufacturing failed to match the design data?
Organizations of all sizes are striving for faster electromechanical design and collaboration. Given the smaller, more sophisticated mechanical form factors and greater functionality demanded by customers, it is becoming more evident that there is a need for tighter collaboration between mechanical and electrical design teams. Through discussion and guided demonstrations, PTC application engineers will provide the attendees of this session with best practice guidelines on how to address the following challenges:
MCAD-ECAD integration. Everyone – regardless of their engineeringspecialty – must be informed immediately when designs are changed ina way that impacts them. Additionally, users must be able toautomatically compare any two versions of a design to determine exactlywhat is different.
Verification. Change identification tools are critical when it comes to ensuring designs are ‘right the first time’. But when it comes to the bigger picture of making sure that ECAD-MCAD designs are in synch, or even the electrical constraints are addressed in the final design, a more comprehensive solution is required.
Eliminating software silos. Integrating software into product development is challenging becausesoftware development often occurs in isolation from hardware engineering. As a result, tying software development into the broader product development process has proven to be difficult.
Panel
, Chief Editor, Design News
, Editor, EDN/Test & Measurement World
, Senior Editor, Control Engineering
, Ph.D Dean of SMU Engineering School
Top editors from Control Engineering, Test & Measurement World, EDN and Design News as well as SMU Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak will sum up the day’s events to answer questions about where mechatronics is heading and what it means to you.
.svg?width=850&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale "Mechatronics Expo 2008: Session Outline")
