Experiences with mechatronics education at the University of Twente

This paper describes the experiences with a number of variants of mechatronic programmes offered by the University of Twente since 1989. Mechatronics education took place in a two-year mechatronic designer programme, in specialisations in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and in an international MSc programme. In the new European BSc/MSc structure the University of Twente will offer an MSc mechatronics where the course language will be English. There have been large mechatronic projects, where 4 PhD and some 50 MSc students did their thesis work as well as two-week mechatronic projects in the BSc curricula of EE and ME. The latter show that mechatronics is not only a topic of interest for students who want to specialise in this direction, but that mechatronic projects also offer a challenge for electrical and mechanical engineering students in general

Concurrent Design of Embedded Control Software

Embedded software design for mechatronic systems is becoming an increasingly time-consuming and error-prone task. In order to cope with the heterogeneity and complexity, a systematic model-driven design approach is needed, where several parts of the system can be designed concurrently. There is however a trade-off between concurrency efficiency and integration efficiency. In this paper, we present a case study on the development of the embedded control software for a real-world mechatronic system in order to evaluate how we can integrate concurrent and largely independent designed embedded system software parts in an efficient way. The case study was executed using our embedded control system design methodology which employs a concurrent systematic model-based design approach that ensures a concurrent design process, while it still allows a fast integration phase by using automatic code synthesis. The result was a predictable concurrently designed embedded software realization with a short integration time

Virtual Prototyping through Co-simulation of a Cartesian Plotter

This paper shows a model-based design trajectory for the development of real-time embedded control software using virtual prototyping. As a test case, a Cartesian plotter is designed. Functional correctness of the plotter software has been ensured by means of co-simulation using a virtual prototype before deploying it on target. Except for the interface implementation, the software that is used in the co-simulation is identical to the software that is compiled to run on the target computing platform. Virtual prototyping is especially important if the real target can damage itself if it is operated outside its safe operation zone or when prototypes are not yet available for testing. The co-simulation of the software against a virtual prototype resulted in a first-time-right deployment on the real target

A MRAS-based Learning Feed-forward Controller

Inspired by learning feed–forward control structures, this paper considers the adaptation of the parameters of a model–reference based learning feed–forward controller that realizes an inverse model of the process. The actual process response is determined by a setpoint generator. For linear systems it can be proved that the controlled system is asymptotically stable in the sense of Liapunov. Compared with more standard model reference configurations this system has a superior performance. It is fast, robust and relatively insensitive for noisy measurements. Simulations with an arbitrary second–order process and with a model of a typical fourth–ordermechatronics process demonstrate this

Five-Axis Machine Tool Condition Monitoring Using dSPACE Real-Time System

This paper presents the design, development and SIMULINK implementation of the lumped parameter model of C-axis drive from GEISS five-axis CNC machine tool. The simulated results compare well with the experimental data measured from the actual machine. Also the paper describes the steps for data acquisition using ControlDesk and hardware-in-the-loop implementation of the drive models in dSPACE real-time system. The main components of the HIL system are: the drive model simulation and input – output (I/O) modules for receiving the real controller outputs. The paper explains how the experimental data obtained from the data acquisition process using dSPACE real-time system can be used for the development of machine tool diagnosis and prognosis systems that facilitate the improvement of maintenance activities

Mechatronic design of the Twente humanoid head

This paper describes the mechatronic design of the Twente humanoid head, which has been realized in the purpose of having a research platform for human-machine interaction. The design features a fast, four degree of freedom neck, with long range of motion, and a vision system with three degrees of freedom, mimicking the eyes. To achieve fast target tracking, two degrees of freedom in the neck are combined in a differential drive, resulting in a low moving mass and the possibility to use powerful actuators. The performance of the neck has been optimized by minimizing backlash in the mechanisms, and using gravity compensation. The vision system is based on a saliency algorithm that uses the camera images to determine where the humanoid head should look at, i.e. the focus of attention computed according to biological studies. The motion control algorithm receives, as input, the output of the vision algorithm and controls the humanoid head to focus on and follow the target point. The control architecture exploits the redundancy of the system to show human-like motions while looking at a target. The head has a translucent plastic cover, onto which an internal LED system projects the mouth and the eyebrows, realizing human-like facial expressions

Innovation and failure in mechatronics design education

Innovative engineering design always has associated with it the risk of failure, and it is the role of the design engineer to mitigate the possibilities of failure in the final system. Education should however provide a safe space for students to both innovate and to learn about and from failures. However, pressures on course designers and students can result in their adopting a conservative, and risk averse, approach to problem solving. The paper therefore considers the nature of both innovation and failure, and looks at how these might be effectively combined within mechatronics design education