What is Mechatronics and Robotics

                     Mechatronics

    The word mechatronics was invented by the Japanese engineer Ko Kikuchi in 1969. It is a combination of the terms 'mechanical' ("mecha" for mechanisms, i.e., machines that 'move') and 'electronics'. The word reflects the basic nature of this field, to integrate electrical and mechanical systems in a single device. Mechatronics is said to be the junction where concepts from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science are merged to design, build and operate products.
    
   The leading scholarly publication on mechatronics is IEEE/ASME

     Definitions of Mechatronics 

Here are several definitions of mechatronics:
(1) The incorporation of electronics into mechanisms.
(2) The integration of mechanical engineering with electronics and intelligent computer control.
(3) The use of a synergistic integration of mechanics, electronics, and computer technology to produce enhanced products or systems.
(4) The application of complex decision making to the operation of physical systems.
(5) The addition of intelligence to a mechanical design or replacing mechanical designs with an intelligent electronic solution.
(6) The synergistic combination of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, and software engineering.

[Note: some of these definitions use derivatives of Synergy, which is observed when "two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents. Often the prediction is the sum of the effects each influence is able to create independently."]

        Mechatronics in academia 

   
    In spite of earlier projections that estimated large growth in the number of engineering departments labeled formally Mechatronics Engineering, the actual number of such programs continues to be small. Most of the academic activity in mechatronics occurs in departments of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering.

     Mechanical and Automation Engineering

Programs labeled Mechanical and Automation Engineering are more popular in Chinese speaking regions than elsewhere (see for example the departments at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and I-Shou University).

    Like Mechatronics Engineering, the combination Mechanical and Automation Engineering is an example of an inter-disciplinary field that integrates mechanical systems with electronics, control, and computer technologies. In Mechanical and Automation Engineering, there is, in addition to mechanical system design and analysis, a focus on process control, networking, and computer interface and software. Some examples of courses in Mechanical and Automation Engineering are mechanics and materials, thermal fluids, dynamics and control, electronics, robotics, design and manufacturing.

      Mechatronics and Robotics

     A robot is a good example of a mechatronic system. Most robots integrate software, electronics, and mechanical designs in a synergistic manner (meaning that the separate parts act together in such a way that the combined effect is stronger than the sum of the separate effects of each one of the components). Other examples of mechatronics are the digital thermostat and the anti-lock brake system. Both were originally designed as mechanical systems and have been improved later by their integration with electronic controls and digital computing elements.

    Robotics is considered a subset of mechatronics, since almost all robots are mechatronic but not all mechatronic systems are robots. Many classes on mechatronics in university curricula include the design and construction of robots or robotic elements as examples. Some mechatronics programs and mechatronics courses are essentially all about robotics.

Sources:

[1] Robert Bishop: The Mechatronics Handbook.

[2] Newton C. Braga: Robotics, Mechatronics, and Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Circuit Blocks for Designers.

[3] Microchip.com website: Designing for Mechatronics, 2006, accessed January 25, 2007.

[4] Wikipedia.org: Mechatronics, accessed January 25, 2007. Caution: Wikipedia entries can be changed arbitrarily by any user at any time.

[5] http://tryengineering.org/ask-expert/what-difference-between-robotics-and-mechatronics-also-how-does-mechanical-and-automation

Saturn V and Wernher Von Braun

          SATURN V  F-1 Engines

             

     Fifty two years ago, on April 16, 1965, the full power of the Saturn V was felt for the first time in a test stand firing of the cluster of five F-1 first stage (S-IC) engines at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. The five F-1 engines burned for 6.5 seconds and produced 7.5 million pounds-force (33.4 MN) of thrust. This test firing occurred two months ahead of schedule and created the loudest noise ever heard in Alabama. The mighty roar of the Saturn V’s first stage firing was heard tens of miles away.

    This test was a critical milestone on the way to achieving President Kennedy’s goal of landing an American on the Moon and returning him safely by the end of the decade. The Saturn V was the brainchild of Dr. Wernher von Braun and would be the vehicle that America would literally ride to the stars. Without the Saturn V, the NASA moon landings were impossible. The Soviets’ equivalent of the Saturn V was the N1, with an unwieldy cluster of 30 engines in the first stage. All four N1 test flights were failures (1969–1972).

         Each F-1 engine built by Rocketdyne was a monster, coming in at 19 feet (5.8 m) high, 12.3 feet (3.7 m) wide and weighing 18,500 pounds (8,400 kg). The engines burnt a fuel-oxidizer mixture consisting of RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen (LOX). The five-engine cluster combined for a total thrust of over 7.5 million pounds-force (33.4 MN). In fact, the Apollo 15 Saturn V generated over 7.8 million pounds-force (34.7 MN) of thrust. For comparison, this total energy output equals over 85 Hoover dams. The F-1 engine remains the most powerful liquid fuel rocket engine ever developed.

       A total of 13 Saturn V missions flew from 1967-1973 and all were successful – a powerful testament to the excellent team that Dr. von Braun had assembled in Huntsville, Alabama, which is now known as the Rocket City.

            Dr. von Braun provided more details on the success of the Saturn V, stating that “the Saturn V was not overdesigned in the sense that everything was made needlessly strong and heavy. But great care was devoted to identifying the real environment in which each part was to work – and ‘environment’ included accelerations, vibrations, stresses, fatigue loads, pressures, temperatures, humidity, corrosion, and test cycles prior to launch.                           Test programs were then conducted against somewhat more severe conditions than were expected. A methodology was created to assess each part with a demonstrated reliability figure, such as 0.9999998. Total rocket reliability would then be the product of all these parts reliabilities and had to remain above the figure of 0.990, or 99 percent. Redundant parts were used whenever necessary to attain this reliability goal.”

QUICK FACTS:

                 The Saturn V rocket, is an engineering marvel, perhaps unrivaled in human history. The rocket dwarfed everything that came before, and nothing built after has surpassed it.

  1. The Saturn V was the brainchild of Dr. Wernher von Braun

A German, von Braun worked for the Nazis during World War II creating the V2 rockets fired on London. He later surrendered and came to the United States following the war, designing the Saturn V for NASA. 

  2. The Saturn V stands 363 feet tall

             

    That's about 60 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty.

  3. At around 6.5 million pounds fully fueled, the Saturn V required a massive crawler-transporter to carry it to the launch pad

Max speed: one mile per hour.

  4. The Saturn V consisted of three stages, with each stage being discarded as its fuel was spent

Atop these sat the rocket’s “cargo,” which for the Apollo missions included the service, command, and lunar modules for landing on the moon.

  5. The five massive Rocketdyne F-1 engines in the rocket’s first stage produced over 7,500,000 pounds of thrust
           

    That's the equivalent to the power of 30 Boeing 747 jumbo jets!

  6. And to produce said thrust, the Saturn V’s first stage burned fuel at the astonishing rate of 13 metric tons per second

Yes. Per second.

  7. All that power was used to accelerate the giant spacecraft to speeds in excess of 25,000 mph

That’s about 15x faster than a rifle bullet. 

  8. The Saturn V was launched 13 times

 Twelve for Apollo and once to place the Skylab space station in orbit. Not once were any crew or cargo lost during flight.

  9. The Saturn V remains the only spacecraft capable of taking human beings to another celestial body

  10. It also remains the largest and most powerful rocket ever built with a load capacity (to low earth orbit) of 260,000 pounds

In comparison the Space Shuttle could only carry 63,500 pounds.

  11. Only 65 years separated the Wright brother’s first flight and Apollo 11’s landing on the moon

It truly was one giant leap. 

  12. The last Saturn V was launched in 1973

 Since then human space travel has been confined to simply orbiting the earth.

                    

Sources:

1. http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-history/our-spaceflight-heritage-50-years-since-the-first-full-saturn-v-test-fire/#pV8trSUc6z3SgRxU.99

2. https://www.thrillist.com/culture/things-you-didn-t-know-about-the-saturn-v-moon-rocket

3. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/f1_engine_new.html