Mechatronics = Mechanical engineer who knows some electronics?

[Femme_physics]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechatronics

According to the defintion, "Mechatronics is the combination of Mechanical engineering, Electronic engineering, Computer engineering, Software engineering, Control engineering, and Systems Design engineering in order to design, and manufacture useful products."

I'm studying in Israel.

As I look over at the course details mechatronics appear to be heavily focused on mechanical engineering, ranging anywhere from mechanics of materials, characteristics of materials... strength of materials, machining...all the way down to the tiny little details. I already studied a bunch of it, and the future looks to forebode more. I am a little upset my mechatronics studies are aimed so heavily towards materials strength, and so little about the synergy of the 5 trades the wiki article talks about.

False promises...what's new.

What's your view of this? Is mechatronics different in other places? (Not talking about 2nd degree students)...

 

[Kholdstare]

You can not have all of those engineering disciplines at the same place and expect to grab every detail of them. Evidently the subject will be a mess.

This engineering should not be existing in the first place. Its something interdisciplinary and needs one to learn five other engineering branches.

In industry we have Mechanical engineer, Electronics engineer, Computer engineer, Control engineer, and Systems Design engineer working together. Not just five Mechatronics engineers.

 

[Femme_physics]

In industry-- it's better, then, IMO.

 

[Kholdstare]

I see you want to make a brain-computer interface. Well, in my opinion it will require nanoelectronics. You may have to learn some QM things. But don't worry, its just a part of physics and can be easily learnt, as you already have interest in electronics.

My guess is you don't like mechanics that much. I think its better to leave mechanical and material aspect to others experts on those fields. After all significant progress is made in those fields and for a person with electronics background it may not be easy to learn a "working" knowledge of those things (or to recognize what may be the "working" knowledge in the first place.)

 

[Dr Bwts]

My first degree was in Mechatronics it was mostly geared towards control systems i.e. electronic systems controlling mechanical systems.

 

[Femme_physics]

You're right, Kholdstare-- it does require nanoelectronics, or neuroelectronics knowledge one might say. I like theoretical mechanics, physics stuff, purely for its elegance. But when push comes to shove electronics is more what I see myself working in. I will say this-- it is always good to broaden your horizons. Luckily I'm not studying for a first degree yet, so getting a broad mechatronical background before I start on a first degree isn't so bad. It helps me as a human to see the bigger picture, and be more informed about my decisions.

Thank you :)

 

[tygerdawg]

Here's another perpective on "mechatronics", from the "manufacturing automation engineering" point of view.

Dr Bwts' comment is very close to reality.

My experience was predominately motion control & automation predominately applied to assembly engineering tasks: robotics, and other types. It involved analysis of mechanics of objects (velocities, accelerations, inertias, torques, forces, etc.) and also application of the devices to apply those torques & forces, which is mainly the province of physics I suspect. Servo & stepper motor controllers, pneumatic elements, and so on. Then how to issue commands to start & stop those motions via a variety of programming methods in a variety of devices. So there's electrical engineering skills involved, and programming skills too. But then also it was necessary to properly size & select the mechanical elements to survive the loads and reduce deflections & vibrations, and that is a function of mechanical engineering (with a little bit of materials). How to make it affordable (business) and deploy everything to the shop floor (ergonomics, human factors, human relations). Quite a gumbo of skills.

Mechatronics is what you make of it. To me it is a salad-bowl mixture of mechanical, electrical, systems, materials, programming/CompSci, and business. Most folks can't do it all, and the typical corporate response is teams of people with bits & pieces of the different technologies forming the total package.