| Week 1 | |
| Tuesday | What is mechatronics? Example systems and architecture. Basic circuits review: current and voltage sources, resistance, capacitance, inductance, constitutive laws, Kirchoff's current and voltage laws. |
| Thursday | Basic nonlinear elements: diodes and transistors. Prep reading: A&H 2.1-2.5, 2.7, 3.1-3.4 |
| Week 2 | |
| Tuesday | Nonlinear circuit elements (cont.) |
| Wednesday | Lab 1: The Furby (motor control). |
| Thursday | Nonlinear circuit elements (cont.) |
| Week 3 | |
| Tuesday | Review of C programming. Basic constructs, for and while loops, if/else, data types, arrays, constants, functions, passing arguments and pointers. Prep reading: Bolton, Chapter 17 (C Language); sample C program; Furby program. |
| Wednesday | Lab 2: The Furby (encoder and home switch). |
| Thursday | C programming continued. Number systems: binary, hexadecimal. Computer I/O cards and the Servo-to-Go (STG) card. Polling and interrupts. |
| Week 4 | |
| Tuesday | Single-board computers, the Handyboard, creating and downloading a program in IC. Prep reading: handouts, A&H 7.1-7.2. |
| Wednesday | Lab 3: The Handyboard single-board computer. |
| Thursday | Op-amps and simple sensors. Signal conditioning, converting to TTL level, interfacing to the Handyboard. Prep reading: A&H Chapter 5. |
| Week 5 | |
| Tuesday | Digital design and integrated circuits. Combinational and sequential. Interfacing to the Handyboard. A/D, D/A, counters, timers. Reading: A&H 5.13, 8.3-8.4. |
| Wednesday | Lab 4: Sensors. |
| Thursday | DC motor theory, controlling a DC motor, relays, pulse-width modulation, H- bridges. (Closed-loop control with an encoder or tachometer.) Reading: A&H 10.1-10.5, handout with Maxon motor data sheet, motor equations, L293D data sheet, and push-pull current amplification circuit to augment the Handy Board drivers. |
| Week 6 | |
| Tuesday | Stepper motors. Prep reading: A&H 10.6-10.7, web page on stepper motors. |
| Wednesday | Lab 5: Actuators. |
| Thursday | Motor sizing. Power transmission: gears (rack and pinion, spur, planetary, worm, bevel, crown, harmonic) and belt drives; torque, speed, and power equations, efficiency, inertia, reflected inertia, inertia matching. |
| Week 7 | |
| Tuesday | Power transmission continued. |
| Wednesday | Lab time: Machine shop training. |
| Thursday | Power transmission continued. Linkages, cams, and bearings. |
| Week 8 | |
| Tuesday | Student project presentations. |
| Wednesday | Lab time: Machine shop training. |
| Thursday | Electrical noise, isolation, grounding, shielding. Reading: A&H 2.9-2.10. |
| Week 9 | |
| Tuesday | Digital circuit design. A&H Chapter 6. |
| Wednesday | Lab time: Project consultation. |
| Thursday | Special topic. |
| Week 10 | |
| Tuesday | Special topic. |
| Wednesday | Lab time: Project consultation. |
| Thursday | Project review. |