Consider the modern auto-focus,
auto exposure camera. To use the camera all you need to do is point it at the
subject and press the button to take the picture. The camera automatically
adjusts the focus so that the subject is in focus and automatically adjusts the
aperture and shutter speed so that the correct exposure is given. Consider a
truck smart suspension. Such a suspension adjusts to uneven loading to maintain
a level platform, adjust to cornering, moving across rough ground, etc to
maintain a smooth ride. Consider an automated production line. Such a line may
involve a number of production processes which are all automatically carried
out in the correct sequence and in the correct way. The automatic camera, the
truck suspension, and the automatic production line are examples of marriage between
electronic control systems and mechanical engineering.
Such control systems generally
use microprocessors as controllers and have electrical sensor extracting
information from mechanical input and output via electrical actuators to
mechanical systems. The term mechatronics is used for this integration of
microprocessor control systems, electrical systems and mechanical systems. A mechatronic
system is not just a marriage of electrical and mechanical systems and is more
than just control system: it is a complete integration of all of them. In the
design of cars, robots, machine tools, washing machines cameras, and very many
other machines, such an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to
engineering design is increasingly being adopted. The integration across the
traditional boundaries of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering,
electronics and control engineering has to occur at the earliest stages of the
design process if cheaper, more flexible systems are to be developed. Mechatronics
has to involve a concurrent approach to these disciplines rather that a
sequential approach of developing, say, a mechanical system then designing the
electrical part and the microprocessor part.
Mechatronics brings together
areas of technology involving sensor and measurement systems, drive and
actuation systems, analysis of the behavior of systems, control systems, and
microprocessor systems.
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