| Instructor: | Prof. Kevin Lynch, kmlynch@northwestern.edu |
| Class Hours: | T Th 12:30-2:00 Tech L160 |
| Labs: | W 2-5 (Section 1), 6-9 (Section 2), B100 Ford building (Mechatronics Design Lab) |
| Office Hours: | Tech B221, T Th 2-3 or by appointment (467-5451) |
| Teaching Assistant: | TA: Peng Yang, p-yang@northwestern.edu. Grader: Tom Worsnopp. Their office hours: M 3:30-4:30, LIMS lab (through double doors in ME main office). See Tom for homework-related questions, Peng for lab stuff. |
Text
This year there will be no required text. We will rely mostly on course
notes and handouts. However, the following is an excellent text, which I
recommend (but do not require) to reinforce the material we will cover
in class:
Introduction to Mechatronics and Measurement Systems, Third Edition, D. G. Alciatore and M. B. Histand, McGraw-Hill.
The second edition, which may be obtained more cheaply, is just as good for this class. Another good reference that may be less expensive and covers much of the material in this class is the following:
Mechatronics: Principles and Applications, G. C. Onwubolu, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005, ISBN 0-7506-6379-0.
Some Other Sources
The Art of Electronics, second edition, P. Horowitz and W. Hill,
Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-521-37095-7.
Mechatronics: Electronic Control Systems in Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering, second edition, W. Bolton, Addison
Wesley Longman, 1999, ISBN 0-582-35705-5.
Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation, second edition, J.
Jones, A. Flynn, and B. Seiger, AK Peters, 1999, ISBN 1-56881-097-0.
Mechanical Devices for the Electronics Experimenter, B.
Rorabaugh, TAB Books (Division of Mc-Graw Hill), 1995, ISBN
0-07-053547-7.
Web Site
http://lims.mech.northwestern.edu/~lynch/courses/ME333/2006
Problem sets, handouts, and other course information will be available here.
ME 433 Advanced Mechatronics website
Mechatronics Design Lab website
Putting together your PC/104 computer
Getting started with xPC Target with your PC/104 stack (Just do section 4, xPC Introduction, skipping the part on creating a boot disk)
Using your PC/104 stack in stand-alone boot mode (to run your model automatically upon boot)
Course Description Introduction to the design of microprocessor-controlled electromechanical systems. Interfacing sensors and actuators to a personal computer and a single-board computer. Electrical and mechanical design, prototyping, and construction. Dissection of a commercial mechatronic product. Students work in teams to produce final computer-controlled electromechanical projects of their own design.
Open to students of all engineering disciplines and computer science. Prerequisites: EA3 or instructor permission.
General Information
Much of this course is a self-study course. We will cover the basics
in lecture, but it is essential that you keep up with the outside
reading. Do not fall behind! Short quizzes will be given
periodically and may cover assigned readings that we have not
discussed in class.
Homework will be assigned periodically during the quarter. You are encouraged to view the homeworks as learning exercises. You may work with others during the initial phases, but the final writeups must be your own work. Copying is not allowed.
You will be divided into teams of three for labs and for the final project. The first two labs will be done during the scheduled lab times; the remaining labs will be done on your own time and demonstrated during the scheduled lab times. A preliminary project proposal will be due in the fifth week of the course, and a final project proposal will be due in the seventh week. More details on the project will be given during the course. The final project report will take the form of a website.
At least one member per team will be certified to use the machine tools by a short course taught by one of the machinists.
Grading
Homework and Quizzes 25%, Labs 25%, Project 50%
Each student email to Tom Worsnopp, at greycloak@northwestern.edu, with cc to me (kmlynch@northwestern.edu), one final project idea. Your project idea should involve some sensing, some actuation (motion), and some real-time control and/or computation. It can be something practical or something fun or whimsical. Be creative! It is also acceptable to do something similar to a previous project, as long as you do it better or somewhat differently.
Your project idea should be a paragraph or two, giving a rough idea of how the project works and what sensing and actuation is involved. You are not committed to doing this project, but it should be feasible, i.e., of reasonable scope and not requiring inordinately expensive hardware.
For an idea of the scope of project you can do, see past ME 433 projects. You can also see past ME 333 projects and past student project ideas at the webpages for ME 333 in previous years. Just be aware that you are using a more powerful computer this year, so you are now able to do some high-speed control, if your project calls for it. You will be programming primarily in Simulink/Matlab, not C. This makes it easy to do block-diagram type programming, but harder to do traditional coding.
See here for your project ideas and the ideas suggested by the faculty.
Project proposal, one for each team. The proposal should be 3-6 pages (approx.), with at least one drawing (hand drawing OK) showing the whole device, a paragraph or two discussing the overall function and goal of the project, as well as discussions of the sensors and actuators you will use, the computation, and the mechanical design. Although you do not have to have worked out all the details, the proposal should show that you've thought about how the whole project will work. Keep in mind that your project will be graded on reliability, functionality, and aesthetics. It can be a fun whimsical project, or it can solve a practical problem. Your project should creatively use simple sensors and actuation, but your proposal should be beyond simply applying what we do in lab. Unless you clear it with me in advance, your project should be stationary (not a mobile robot) in fit in a relatively compact space, like a 1 meter cube box. For feasibility, previous ME 433 projects are a good indicator of what's possible.
It is suggested you meet with me (sign up on my advising week schedule outside my office door) before submitting your proposal.