Engr. S.O.

Owoeye

Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Federal University of

Agriculture, Abeokuta
Introduction
Mechatronics is the synergistic integration of
mechanical engineering, electronics and intelligent
computer control in design and manufacture of
products and processes
The word mechatronics is composed of “mech” from
Mechanics and “tronics” from electronic which was
coined by Ko Kikuchi.
Advantages of Mechatronics
Simplified mechanical design

Rapid machine setup

Rapid development trials

Adaptation possibilities

Optimized performance, productivity and reliability

Challenges
Increased power requirements

Real time calculations/mathematical model

Different expertise required

More complex safety issues

Increase in component failures

WHY MECHATRONICS?
To develop new solution to industrial problems.

To design and build completely new products by

integrating various technologies.

To build and test factory production lines combining

manufacturing and technologies to improve existing
processes.

To maintain and improve previous industrial and

manufacturing processes and design
Mechatronics Applications
 Smart consumer products: home security, camera, microwave oven,
toaster, dish washer, laundry washer-dryer, climate control units, etc.

 Medical: implant-devices, assisted surgery, haptic, etc.

 Defense: unmanned air, ground, and underwater vehicles, smart

munitions, jet engines, etc.

 Manufacturing: robotics, machines, processes, etc.

 Automotive: climate control, antilock brake, active suspension, cruise

control, air bags, engine management, safety, etc.

 Network-centric, distributed systems: distributed robotics, tele

robotics, intelligent highways, etc.
Evolution of Mechatronics
– Industrial revolution

– Semiconductor revolution

– Information revolution
Industrial Revolution
Allowed design of products and processes for energy
conversion and transmission thus allowing the use of energy
to do useful work.

 Engineering designs of this era were largely mechanical

 Purely mechanical systems suffer from:

– Power amplification inability.

– Energy losses due to tolerances, inertia, and friction.

Semiconductor Revolution
Led to the creation of integrated circuit (IC) technology.

 Effective, miniaturized, power electronics could amplify

and deliver needed amount of power to actuators.

Signal conditioning electronics could filter and encode

sensory data in analog/digital format.

 Hard-wired, on-board, discrete analog/digital ICs

provided rudimentary computational and decision-making
circuits for control of mechanical devices.
Information Revolution
Introduction of microprocessor, microcomputer, and
microcontroller.

Microcontrollers are replacing precision mechanical

components.

Programmability of microcontrollers is providing a

versatile and flexible alternative to the hard-wired
analog/digital computational hardware
Mechatronics has a variety of applications in the area of
‘manufacturing automation'. Some of these applications are
as follows:

Computer numerical control (CNC) machines

Tool monitoring systems

Advanced manufacturing systems

Industrial robots

Automatic inspection systems: machine vision systems

Automatic packaging systems

Comparison between a conventional machine tool and a CNC
machine
Computer numerical control (CNC)
machines
CNC means operating a machine tool by a series of
coded instructions consisting of numbers, letters of the
alphabets, and symbols which the machine control unit
(MCU) can understand.

These instructions are converted into electrical pulses

of current which the machine's motors and controls
follow to carry out machining operations on a work
piece.
Computer numerical control (CNC) machines

Numbers, letters, and symbols are the coded instructions

which refer to specific distances, positions, functions or
motions which the machine tool can understand.

CNC automatically guides the axial movements of

machine tools with the help of computers. The auxiliary
operations such as coolant on-off, tool change, door open-
close are automated with the help of micro-controllers.
 Tool monitoring systems
Tool wear is a critical factor which affects the productivity of a
machining operation.

 Complete automation of a machining process is realized when there

is a successful prediction of tool (wear) state during the course of
machining operation.

Mechatronics based cutting tool-wear condition monitoring system

is an integral part of automated tool rooms and unmanned factories.

These systems predict the tool wear and give alarms to the system
operator to prevent any damage to the machine tool and work piece.
These can be classified in two
groups
Direct methods deal with the application of various sensing and
measurement instruments such as micro-scope,
machine/camera vision; radioactive techniques to measure the
tool wear.

These methods can easily be applied in practice when the

cutting tool is not in contact with the work piece. Therefore they
are called as offline tool monitoring system.

Offline methods are time consuming and difficult to employ

during the course of an actual machining operation at the shop
floor.
Indirect methods predict the condition of the cutting tool by analyzing
the relationship between cutting conditions and response of machining
process as a measurable quantity through sensor signals output such as
force, acoustic emission, vibration, or current.

It employs the cutting forces recoded during the real-time cutting
operation to predict the tool-wear.

The cutting forces can be sensed by using either piezo-electric or strain

gauge based force sensor.
Steps followed in an indirect
tool monitoring system
Comparison Between Direct and Indirect Method
Advanced Manufacturing Systems
This is of two types:

a. Flexible manufacturing system (FMS)

b. Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)

FMS is a manufacturing cell or system consisting of one
or more CNC machines, connected by automated
material handling system, pick-and-place robots and all
operated under the control of a central computer.

A central online computer controls the machine tools,

other work stations, and the transfer of components and
tooling.
The computer also provides monitoring and information
control.
This combination of flexibility and overall control makes
possible the production of a wide range of products.
Each of component of the FMS can have further
elements depending upon the requirement as given
below,
A. Workstations
CNC machine tools
Assembly equipment
Measuring Equipment
Washing stations
B. Material handing Equipment
Load /Unload stations (Palletizing)
Robotics
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
Automated Storage and retrieval Systems (AS/RS)

C. Tool systems

Tool setting stations
Tool transport systems

D. Control system

Monitoring equipments
Networks
The characteristic features of an FMS system are as follows:
FMS solves the mid-variety and mid-volume production
problems for which neither the high production rate transfer
lines nor the highly flexible stand-alone CNC machines are
suitable.

Several types of a defined mix can be processed simultaneously.

Tool change-over time is negligible.

Part handling from machine to machine is easier and faster due

to employment of computer controlled material handling
system.
Benefits of an FMS

Flexibility to change part variety

Higher productivity
Higher machine utilization
Less rejections
High product quality
Reduced work-in-process and inventory
Better control over production
Just-in-time manufacturing
Minimally manned operation
Easier to expand
 Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) defined
CIM as ‘CIM is the integration of the total manufacturing
enterprise through the use of integrated systems and data
communications coupled with new managerial philosophies
that improve organizational and personal efficiency'.

CIM basically involves the integration of advanced

technologies such as computer aided design (CAD),
computer aided manufacturing (CAM), computer
numerical control (CNC), robots, automated material
handling systems, etc.
Industrial robots  
Industrial robots are general-purpose, re-programmable
machines which respond to the sensory signals received
from the system environment.

Based on these signals, robots carry out programmed work

or activity.

They also take simple independent decisions and

communicate/interact with the other machines and the
central computer.
Robots are widely employed in the following
applications in manufacturing
A. Parts handling: it involves various activities such
as:
Recognizing, sorting/separating the parts
Picking and placing parts at desired locations
Palletizing and de-palletizing
Loading and unloading of the parts on required
machines
B. Parts processing: this may involves many
manufacturing operations such as:
Routing
Drilling
Riveting
Arc welding
Grinding
Flame cutting
Deburring
Spray painting
Coating
Sand blasting
Dip coating
Gluing
Polishing
Heat treatment
C. Product building: this involves development and building of various
products such as:
Electrical motors
Car bodies
Solenoids
Circuit boards and operations like
Bolting
Riveting
Spot welding
Seam welding
Inserting
Nailing
Fitting
Automatic Quality Control and Inspection
Systems
A number of sensors and systems have been developed that
can monitor quality continuously with or without the
assistance of the operator.

These technologies include various sensors and data

acquisition systems, machine vision systems, metrology
instruments such as co-ordinate measuring machine
(CMM), optical profilometers, digital calipers and screw
gauges etc.
Various physics based simulation software is used to
predict the performance of the product or the system
to be developed.

In the manufacture of products such as spacecrafts or

airplanes, all the components are being critically
monitored by using the digital imaging systems
throughout their development.
Classes of Mechatronics Products
In the late 1970s, the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Machine Industry (JSPMI) classified mechatronics products into
four categories :

Class I:Primarily mechanical products with electronics

incorporated to enhance functionality. Examples include
numerically controlled machine tools and variable speed drives
in manufacturing machines.

Class II: Traditional mechanical systems with significantly

updated internal devices incorporating electronics. The external
user interfaces are unaltered. Examples include the modern
sewing machine and automated manufacturing systems.
Classes of Mechatronics Products
(contd)
Class III: Systems that retain the functionality of
the traditional mechanical system, but the
internal mechanisms are replaced by electronics.
An example is the digital watch.

Class IV: Products designed with mechanical and

electronic technologies through synergistic
integration. Examples include photocopiers,
intelligent washers and dryers, rice cookers, and
automatic ovens
Element of Mechatronics
The study of mechatronics systems is composed of the
following elements:

 Physical Systems Modeling.

 Sensors and Actuators

Signals and Systems

Computers and Logic Systems

 Software and Data Acquisition

Mechatronics Design Process
Sensors and Actuators
Sensor
A device that converts an environmental condition
into an electrical signal.
Actuator
A device that converts a control signal (usually
electrical) into mechanical action (motion).

(Taken together, sensors, actuators, controllers, and

power supply form the basic elements of a control
system.)
 A collection of Sensors

GPS
Linear
Encoder
Camera
Gyroscope
Lever
Switch
Sonar
Ranging
Laser
Acceleromete Rangefinder
Piezo r
Bend PIR

Rotary
Encoder
Resistive
Pressure Bend
Pyroelectric
Detector
UV
Pendulum Resistive Detector
Metal Tilt
Detector Gas

IR Modulator
Magnetomete Receiver
r
Microphon
e
Radiation Magnetic Reed
Infrared CDS Cell Compass Switch
Ranging
 Robot Platforms (1)

Indoor Robots DLR Gripper NASA Mars Rover Asimo Humanoid

Outdoor Robots Robot Base Station KUKA Manipulator

42
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human
intelligence processes by machines, especially computer
systems.

These processes include learning (the acquisition of

information and rules for using the information),
reasoning (using rules to reach approximate or definite
conclusions) and self-correction.

Particular applications of AI include expert

systems, speech recognition and machine vision.
It is generally programmed/trained with the past recorded
empirical data for a wide range of process conditions for a
variety of materials.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as Artificial Neural

Network (ANN), Genetic Algorithm (GA) are used to train
the microprocessor based system on a regular basis.

Based on this training the control system takes the decision

to change the tool or gives an alarm to the operator
ROBOTICS
Robotics is the science of designing and building
robots suitable for real-life applications in automated
manufacturing and other non– manufacturing
environments.
Advantages of Robotics
Reliability
Increased flexibility
Low cost in the long run
Laws of Robotics
Zeroth law: A robot must not injure humanity or,
through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

First law: A robot must not harm a human being or,

through inaction, allow one to come to harm.

Second law: A robot must always obey human beings

unless it is in conflict with a higher order law.

Third law: A robot must protect itself from harm

unless that is in conflict with a higher order law.
What is a robot?
A robot is an automatic device that performs
functions normally ascribed to humans or machine in
the form of a human.

The functions of a robot can be classified into three

areas:
Sensing the environment by external sensors.
Decision making based on the information received
from the sensors.
Performing the task decided
Advantages of Robots
Lifting and moving heavy objects.
Working in hostile environments.
Providing repeatability and consistency.
Working during unfavorable hours.
Performing dull or monotonous jobs
Increasing productivity, safety, efficiency and quality
of products
Achieving more accuracy than human beings
Disadvantages of Robots
Initial and installation costs of equipment of robots
are quite high.

Replace human workers, thus causing resentment

among workers.

Lack capability to respond to emergencies, unless

programmed to do so.