FEATURE MECHATRONICS: Gaining Control and Applications “New” Technology Turning Heads — and Profits. Jack McGuinn, Senior Editor electronic engineering, and software engineering Not to bury the lead, but did you know that me- chatronics has been around since the 1960s? And my favorite, from Kevin Hull, application and deploy- For some, that is old news. For the majority others — who ment supervisor / motion control, Yaskawa America Incor- knew? porated: “Mechatronics is a way of doing things.” Mechatronics sounds like one of those slacker words, Yaskawa has been “doing things” the mechatronics way e.g. — “agreeance” or “sexting.” In reality mechatronics is an since 1969, when Tetsuro Mori, an engineer for Yaskawa engineering-intensive interdisciplinary field that is a criti- Electric Corporation, coined the word. cal part of the yet-evolving, revolutionary advances in U.S. Existing applications for mechatronics include: manufacturing technology. For today’s engineers with the • Machine vision sharpest pencils — especially in the United States — “manu- • Automation and robotics facturing technology” is a bit of an oxymoron. After all, why • Servo-mechanics has it taken decades for U.S. manufacturing to embrace me- • Sensing and control systems chatronics — something Europe and parts of Asia did years • Automotive engineering, automotive equipment in the ago? The answer — if one exists to that question — can wait design of subsystems such as anti-lock braking systems for another time. But one wonders; if there is an explanation, • Computer-machine controls, such as computer driven is it perhaps for the same reason that post-WWII U.S. auto- machines like IE CNC milling machines makers ignored the then-revolutionary, American-devised- • Expert systems provided quality processes that Japan’s automakers eagerly • Industrial goods adopted to help rebuild devastated country, restore its econ- • Consumer products omy, and revolutionize the automobile industry? • Mechatronics systems Putting all that aside, mechatronics has arrived and is gar- • Medical mechatronics, medical imaging systems nering widespread acceptance here in the U.S. Just one of a • Structural dynamic systems number of mechatronics drivers is robotics. According to a • Transportation and vehicular systems recent report from the Robotics Industry Association (RIA), • Mechatronics as the new language of the automobile North American orders and shipments of robotics again • Computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems broke all-time records in 2016; shipments increased 10 per- • Computer-aided design cent by volume over 2015, totaling sales of $1.8B. • Engineering and manufacturing systems But how is mechatronics defined? Many ways, as it turns • Packaging out, including: • Microcontrollers / PLCs • The science of intelligent machines • Mobile apps • M&E Engineering Or, • A multidisciplinary field of science that includes a But just what, exactly, do mechatronics engineers do? combination of mechanical engineering, electronics, Many things. According to one online source: “They unite computer engineering, telecommunications engineering, the principles of mechanics, electronics, and computing to systems engineering and control engineering generate a simpler, more economical and reliable system. And, But over the years mechatronics has come to mean a meth- • The incorporation of electronics into mechanisms odology for designing products that exhibit fast, precise • The integration of mechanical engineering with performance. These characteristics can be achieved by con- electronics and intelligent computer control sidering not only the mechanical design, but also the use of • The use of a synergistic integration of mechanics, servo controls, sensors, and electronics.” electronics, and computer technology to produce There are many engineers who posit that mechatronics is enhanced products or systems the spawn of robotics. Earlier- generation robotic arms, then • The application of complex decision making to the unable to coordinate their movements without sensory feed- operation of physical systems back, have significantly improved thanks to advances in ki- • The addition of intelligence to a mechanical design or replacing mechanical designs with an intelligent nematics, dynamics, controls, sensor technology, and high- electronic solution level programming — i.e., mechatronics. A short history: • The synergistic combination of mechanical engineering, • During the 1970s, mechatronics was concerned with WWW.POWERTRANSMISSION.COM 22 Power Transmission Engineering FEBRUARY 2017 ]———— FEATURE servo technology used in products such as automatic the drive and view the faults codes. Once a new drive is in- door openers, vending machines, and autofocus cameras. stalled, a smart phone app might be used to upload param- • In the 1980s, as information technology was introduced, engineers began to embed microprocessors in eters from the old drive and copy them into the replacement mechanical systems to improve their performance. unit. The time to troubleshoot the problem and implement a • The 1990s saw the full arrival of the mechatronic solution can be greatly reduced.” age because of the increased use of computational We put the same question to Cindy Daneker, Sr. Appli- intelligence in mechatronic products and systems. cations Engineer for SKF Linear & Actuation Technology Mechatronics is indeed an interdisciplinary field. An ef- (which, as a Swedish company, has been implementing me- fective mechatronics engineer will have a background in chatronics systems for around 50 years). mechanical engineering; materials science; electrical engi- “Many customers have been using hydraulic and pneu- neering; computer engineering (software & hardware engi- matics for many years, but due to the maintenance required, neering); computer science; systems and control engineer- and environmental concerns, they are switching to electro- ing; and optical engineering. mechanical solutions now. In the long run the electrome- With that knowledge mechatronics engineers are tasked chanical solutions are more cost effective. Accuracy and re- with uniting the principles of mechanics, electronics, and peatability are also improved with the use of mechatronics, computing to generate a simpler, more economical and and industry today, with its advancements, requires this.” reliable system. And that system today typically in- cludes modern production Yaskawa 3-axis gantry system utilizing G-Code programming equipment consisting of within MotionWorks IEC software to perform coordinated motion mechatronic modules that control (Photos courtesy Yaskawa). are integrated according to a “control architecture;” the most used architectures in- volve hierarchy, polyarchy, heterarchy (nobody said this was easy), and hybrid. The methods for achiev- ing a technical effect are described by control al- gorithms, which might or might not utilize formal methods in their design. So why now mechatron- ics? Was there a tipping point regarding the field’s now pervasive influence in manufacturing? “A stronger and more re- fined integration between hardware and software has certainly been a governing factor,” says Yaskawa’s Hull. “Solutions have become easier After poring through a litany of definitions for mechatron- to apply and maintain in production environments. Applica- ics engineer, one might wonder if it is just a dressed-up name tions that may have demanded too much computing power for what used to be known as “system integrators?” in the past to be feasible are now more common and require “Sure,” says Hull. “Mechatronics is the integration of sev- significantly less support from a short list of experts.” eral disciplines. A system integrator has always played the And since his company invented this process, it only role of pairing mechanical devices to their electronic con- makes sense to ask how Yaskawa defines it, in addition to trols, interfacing various pieces of equipment together, and “way of doing things.” “It is,” says Hull, “a philosophy made determining attainable cycle rates when all the components possible by the number of refined technologies that can be are considered as a unit.” easily incorporated with one another like never before. For And at SKF, says Daneker, “We often sell to system inte- example, if a conveyor line goes down, there may be a faulty grators, OEMs and end users (through distribution). The variable frequency drive (VFD) which provides power to the mechatronics engineers in our group range from application conveyors motor. A mechatronics philosophy means the engineers helping size and select products, to actual design VFD probably has a web server available. A local technician engineers at the factory levels.” may be able to ask for remote assistance in troubleshooting Returning to robotics and its influence on the growth of the problem, allowing an engineer to remotely connect to mechatronics, Daneker believes “Robotics is just one appli- FEBRUARY 2017 Power Transmission Engineering 23 FEATURE MECHATRONICS: Gaining Control and Appications cation driving mechatronics, but also medical, oil & gas and While at Yaskawa, even with its mechatronics DNA, Hull ergonomics to name a few.” says “It’s an ongoing challenge to find the right people with Hull concurs, adding, “While I don’t think robotics has the passion required to be a great mechatronics engineer. been a key driver, a robot exemplifies one of the greatest me- Engineering can be complicated, challenging and frustrat- chatronics