Mechatronics & Robotics
Mechatronic systems from requirements to design review: motors and actuator sizing, drives, pneumatics and hydraulics, microcontroller interfacing and embedded programming, PLCs and industrial networks, robot forward and inverse kinematics, trajectories and servo control, payloads and grippers, and robot cell safety, following an impeller balancing cell at a pump manufacturer in Moncton.
MEC-460 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 19 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Mechanical Engineering
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Define a mechatronic system, write measurable requirements, and use the V-model, takt time and error budgets to check a concept for an automated cell.
- Select and size DC, brushless servo, stepper and induction motors using peak and RMS torque, speed, reflected inertia and the load-to-motor inertia ratio.
- Explain PWM drives, H-bridges, servo drives, regeneration and variable frequency drives, and identify the drive functions that affect safety and electrical noise.
- Size pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, read basic valve circuits, estimate air consumption and cost, and manage stored fluid energy.
- Interface sensors and actuators to a microcontroller through dividers, optocouplers, ADCs and serial buses, and filter and scale the readings.
- Structure embedded programs with interrupts and non-blocking state machines, debounce inputs, and check periodic tasks for schedulability.
- Explain the PLC scan, read and write ladder logic and structured text, document PLC-robot handshakes, and apply industrial network and security practice.
- Describe robot poses with frames and homogeneous transforms and compute forward kinematics from Denavit-Hartenberg parameters.
- Solve inverse kinematics for planar and SCARA arms, use the Jacobian to relate joint and tool velocities and forces, and recognize singularities.
- Plan trapezoidal and S-curve trajectories and explain cascaded servo loops, following error and the value of feedforward.
- Check robot payloads against gravity torques and wrist limits, and design friction and form-fit grippers with appropriate sensing and compliance.
- Apply risk assessment, safeguarding, safety distances, performance levels and robot safety standards, and lead a mechatronic design review including the business case.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 19 min total · final exam
- 1 Mechatronic systems and the design process 23 min · quiz
- 2 Electric motors and actuator sizing 23 min · quiz
- 3 Drives and power electronics for motion 21 min · quiz
- 4 Pneumatic and hydraulic actuators in automation 21 min · quiz
- 5 Microcontroller interfacing 22 min · quiz
- 6 Embedded programming and real-time systems 21 min · quiz
- 7 Programmable logic controllers and industrial networks 20 min · quiz
- 8 Robot kinematics: forward kinematics 20 min · quiz
- 9 Inverse kinematics and the Jacobian 21 min · quiz
- 10 Trajectory planning and motion control 21 min · quiz
- 11 Robot dynamics, payloads and end effectors 22 min · quiz
- 12 Robot cell safety and the design review 24 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Mechatronic systems from requirements to design review: motors and actuator sizing, drives, pneumatics and hydraulics, microcontroller interfacing and embedded programming, PLCs and industrial networks, robot forward and inverse kinematics, trajectories and servo control, payloads and grippers, and robot cell safety, following an impeller balancing cell at a pump manufacturer in Moncton.
Part of the Engineering stream, typically taken in year 4.