Robotics and mechatronics

Abstract

For the past few years the faculty of the Department of Engineering Technology at Cleveland State University has been developing special topics courses for the Electronics Engineering Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology programs to serve as technical elective courses suitable for small classes or even independent study.This paper describes one of these special topics courses that has been developed to study robotics and mechatronics.It features hands-on activities with a small mobile autonomous robot in the study of the technology, methods, and practices of robotics and mechatronics (the integration of mechanical, electrical, and computing elements).Weekly laboratory experiments involve building or modifying a robot with various sensors and programming the machine to perform assigned tasks.Regular reading and homework assignments are provided using WebCT and cover basic details on key topics such as kinematics, mechanisms, actuators, sensors, motors, electronic hardware, and controllers.The course provides opportunities for independent study and reduces the instructor contact time to about one hour per week for a 3-credit hour course.