14 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGYPART C, VOL. 20, NO.

1, JANUARY 1997

Mechatronics Challenge for

the Higher Education World
Memis Acar

AbstractMechatronics engineering courses at undergraduate of such philosophies beginning at conceptual design level
and graduate levels, as well as vocational training courses are requires engineers with a new range of skills and attitudes
rapidly increasing across the world. Philosophy and structure of and with a concomitant stimulus to the providers of training
such courses divert from the classical single-discipline engineering
programs and induce a challenge for the higher education insti- and education. The true mechatronics engineer of the future
tutions. Different institutions in various countries are reacting is the rare individual who is able to work across the bound-
differently to this challenge but, all aiming at educating mecha- aries of constituent disciplines to identify and use the right
tronics engineers. This paper reviews the mechatronics education combination of technologies which will provide the optimum
at various centers in the world. It also analyzes the structure solution to the problem in hand. He/she should also be a
and contents of a number of selected mechatronics programs in
various higher education institutions. Furthermore, it proposes a good communicator who is able to work in and lead a design
list of features that a sound mechatronics engineering program team which may consist of specialist engineers as well as
should contain. generalists. Universities and colleges are currently reacting to
Index TermsMechatronics education, mechatronics engineer- this challenge in their own different ways.
ing courses. This paper attempts to summarize how some higher ed-
ucation institutions in various countries are reacting to the
I. MECHATRONICS PHILOSOPHY VERSUS challenge of educating mechatronics engineers of the future
TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING THINKING and tries to paint a picture of activities across the world.
Although every effort is made to give a wide coverage of
M OST engineered products or processes have moving
parts and require manipulation and control of their dy-
namic constructions to a required accuracy. This may involve
the mechatronics programs, the author does not claim that the
lists given here are fully comprehensive. He would be grateful
to receive further information on new courses or other existing
a combination of the enabling technologies such as sensors,
ones which are omitted here, as well as updates of the ones
actuators, structural mechanics, electronics, microcontrollers,
mentioned here.
software and control engineering, neural networks, fuzzy logic,
and active materials. A key factor in the mechatronics phi- II. TRAINING THE MECHATRONICS ENGINEER OF THE FUTURE
losophy is the integration of microelectronics, computing,
and control into mechanical systems, so as to obtain the Both in Europe and the United States, the traditional en-
best possible design solution and a product with a degree gineering education system is oriented towards producing
of intelligence and flexibility. Design of such products and specialist engineers with narrow and deep specializations.
processes, therefore, has to be the outcome of a multidisci- Although many engineering departments in the United King-
plinary activity rather than an interdisciplinary one and must dom universities were conceived initially as departments of
address other factors such as appropriateness. In all cases it is engineering, with only a very few notable exceptions they have
of paramount importance that the adoption of a mechatronics developed into specialist departments, churning out specialist
design approach should have some added value. This may engineers. This is also true of the most U.S. and European
either be in terms of added functionality for the same price or universities. Even those which have maintained the broad
a reduced price for similar functionality when compared with ideals of general engineering promote final year specialization.
a product produced by a more conventional approach. Hence There is some evidence, in the U.K. at least, that the move
mechatronics philosophy challenges traditional engineering towards specialist departments is recognized as divisive and
thinking and practices because the integrated approach in the there is a swing towards a return to the integrated faculty
selection of means to the contemplated functional ends must structure which is in line with a closer working relationship
involve, by nature, a team activity, and crossing the boundaries of the professional engineering institutions.
between conventional engineering disciplines. In recent decades, there has been a move in industry to
Mechatronic design philosophies and concurrent practices return to more integrated production techniques and, with
for achieving the physical embodiment of those designs are the development of microprocessors and microprocessor con-
seen as an appropriate response to the challenge. The adoption trolled systems and products, a need for integration in engi-
neering design and education. The modern commercial climate
Manuscript received September 6, 1996; revised March 1, 1997. is causing companies to rationalize their operations to adopt
The author is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lough- best practice or to go to the wall. Industry is now demanding
borough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU Leics, U.K. (email:
[email protected]). engineers with both great depth and breadth. If generalism is
Publisher Item Identifier S 1083-4400(97)02548-5. taken too far then the engineers have covered a wide range of
10834400/97$10.00 1997 IEEE
ACAR: MECHATRONICS CHALLENGE 15

topics in insufficient depth to be of use. Thus the education TABLE I

and training of mechatronics engineers is not an easy task. In MECHATRONICS UNDERGRADUATE COURSES IN THE U.K.
any case, it is not sufficient to teach a wide range of topics and
call the product a mechatronics engineer; the thorny problem
of integration must be properly addressed.
A considerable number of higher education institutions in
various countries are offering mechatronics education and nat-
urally their response to the educating mechatronics engineer
challenge varies depending on their culture, system, and
the availability of existing courses and resources. There is
some evidence that many undergraduate degree programs in
mechatronics are simply a gluing together of mechanical and
electronic components lacking a coherent integrative theme.
This is obviously not ideal. On the other hand, some institu-
tions are designing mechatronics degree programs from scratch
with integrating design projects running through the program.
Mechatronics engineering courses at undergraduate and
postgraduate levels as well as vocational training courses, have hence they rely upon generalist education and co-operation
been rapidly increasing in higher education institutions in Eu- within the project team for the development of mechatronic
rope, particularly in the U.K., U.S., Australia, and the Pacific products and processes. Others think that special programs
Rim. These developments have been reported in the proceed- for mechatronics are necessary and feel that they can only be
ings of a number of international mechatronics conferences in trained in house.
recent years which included a special session or a selection of Many engineering departments in Japanese universities
papers on mechatronics education and training. The 1994 Stan- teach elements of mechatronics within their programs. For
ford University Workshop on Mechatronics Education [1] had example, Toyohashi University runs a regular M.E. course
many contributors, mainly from North American institutions. since 1983 in Mechatronics Engineering. Another example of
The 1994 Budapest Mechatronics Conference [2], and 1995 commitment to mechatronics manifests itself in the change
Istanbul Mechatronics (ICRAM95) Conference [3] included of name of the Department of Precision Engineering
special sessions on Mechatronics education and training. The to Mechatronics and Precision Engineering at Tohoku
1994 Australia and 1995 Hong Kong M VIP Conferences [4] University.
also included papers on the subject. In particular, the special IV. UNITED KINGDOM SCENE
session of the ICRAM95 Conference has brought together
about a dozen papers on mechatronics education and training In recent years mechatronics gained an increasingly promi-
from eight different countries giving it a truly international nent place in the U.K. higher education scene. This is clearly
flavor. Mechatronics Journal also dedicated a Special Issue visible from the rapidly increasing number of undergraduate
on Mechatronics Education in the USA [5]. degree programs and M.Sc. programs offered by a number of
higher education institutions.
III. JAPANESE APPROACH A typical B.Eng. (Bachelor of Engineering) degree in an
The Japanese university educational system tends to foster English university is normally of three year duration, which
engineers with a transdisciplinary approach. Japanese educa- is approximately equivalent of the sophomore, junior, and
tionalists see the mechatronics engineer as a broader based senior years in a United States university engineering degree
mechanical engineer who has a good hands on knowledge and program, since students start their engineering degree at a
ability in microprocessor hardware and software, electronics, higher level in the U.K. Four-year M.Eng. (Master of Engi-
actuators, and control. The Japanese national university system neering) programs are gaining popularity and many institutions
aids the formation of mechatronics engineers with good R&D nowadays offer M.Eng. as well as B.Eng. degrees. At the
skills that are of benefit to industry. Undergraduate programs undergraduate level, several course providers in the U.K. feel
are four years in length with the entire final year spent full that a suitable mechatronics degree can be offered within the
time on a laboratory based research project; the final year normal three year duration of a typical U.K. degree program
of the two year masters programs is also spent on such a for a first degree. Opponents of this approach feel that it is not
project. Postgraduate education in Japan is considered as both possible to give the required breadth and depth in three years
necessary and a good investment. and believe that a suitable mechatronics degree should have an
Most Japanese companies assume that design is learned on extended study period. Others offer mechatronics education as
the job, backed by in-house training. In addition to formal a post graduate masters course only and concentrate on giving
training the best way of creating engineers with general more breadth and appreciation to single discipline graduates.
skills is to operate in-company education and job rotation
schemes. The need for mechatronics engineers will depend on A. Undergraduate Courses
the company; some feel that generalist engineering training Lancaster University established the first undergraduate
produces suitable engineers for mechatronics project teams, degree course in mechatronics as a specialist option of their
16 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGYPART C, VOL. 20, NO. 1, JANUARY 1997

TABLE II
MECHATRONICS COURSE AT LANCASTER UNIVERSITY, U.K.

TABLE III
MECHATRONICS B.ENG. COURSE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL, U.K.

electronic and mechanical engineering courses. The Univer- B. M.Sc. Courses

sity of Hull and Leeds University have followed soon after. Lancaster University was one of the earliest involved whilst
Several other universities and colleges have since embraced the M.Sc. at Dundee is notable in that it involves cooperation
the subject to the extent of offering mechatronics courses between University of Dundee and University of Abertay. The
at B.Sc., B.Eng., and M.Eng. levels. These include Kings course at De Montfort University has a considerable emphasis
College London, Sussex University, Staffordshire University, on a multinational student body and European student ex-
Manchester Metropolitan University, Middlesex University, change and emphasizes the business environment. Loughbor-
De Montfort University, University of Abertay Dundee, Glam- ough University is one of the most advanced providers with a
organ University, and Swansea Institute of Higher Education, novel delivery suited to the attendance of part-time industrially
offering courses at degree level. based students. The course at the University of follows
The degree programs offered by these universities are a week-long-module pattern similar to the Loughborough
summarized in Table I. It should be noted that whilst some course. Kings College London and City University are the
institutions have designed mechatronics courses from scratch two new players in the scene of M.Sc. courses. Table IV
others have done little more than putting together modules gives a list of M.Sc. courses offered in the U.K. and Table V
from electrical and mechanical engineering departments to provides details of a one-year M.Sc. course entitled Design of
create a mechatronics program or renaming existing electro- Mechatronic Products offered by Loughborough University.
mechanical or systems engineering type programs, paying This program consists of taught lecture courses and a project
scant attention to the fundamental issue of integration. Details which requires a written dissertation.
of two undergraduate programs from two British universities,
namely University of Lancaster and University of Hull, are
given in Tables II and III. V. EUROPEAN PROGRAMS
Numerous universities and colleges of higher education also Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Den-
offer technician level courses. Furthermore, the Open Univer- mark have the longest tradition of mechatronics activities in
sity also offers a course entitled Mechatronics: Designing Europe. The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) of Sweden
Intelligent Machines. has been involved with mechatronics education since 1970s,
ACAR: MECHATRONICS CHALLENGE 17

TABLE IV TABLE V
MECHATRONICS M.SC. COURSES IN THE U.K. ONE-YEAR M.SC. COURSE AT LOUGHBOROUGH
UNIVERSITYTAUGHT AND EXAMINED MODULES

mainly in the form of teaching design of embedded systems

in conjunction with the mechanical engineering courses. Tech- mechatronics products and systems projects to be designed,
nical University of Denmark teaches the mechatronics concept built and tested and sometimes contested between groups.
as an element of the engineering design process. Table VI Currently, the National Science Foundations Undergraduate
gives a list of European universities offering mechatronics Education Division is sponsoring a project entitled Preparing
courses. the Leaders for Mechatronics Education to be undertaken by
In Austria, Johannes Kepler University of Linz offer a Cal Polys Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Depart-
five-year mechatronics degree program. This course, based ment. This is an indication of the emphasis placed on further
within the Institute for Mathematics, covers all fundamental developing mechatronics education in the U.S. It will not be
elements of mechatronics as detailed in Table VII, but tends too long before we see a full degree program in mechatronics
to be more theoretical than one expects from a mechatronics engineering in a United States university. A further funding
undergraduate program. The course is organized in two parts, by National Science Foundation was awarded to San Jose
taking two and three years, respectively, and a diploma thesis. State University to develop a new curriculum stem (not a
Katholieke University of Leuven has also been active in new degree program) in Mechatronics Systems Engineering
this field and offers courses in mechatronics. Various other in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
institutions in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and This will involve developing five new courses (modules) and
Belgium are also active in mechatronics. Among these we a new mechatronics engineering laboratory, also with the aid
can mention Institutes of Mechatronics in the universities of of donated equipment by a leading computer company. The
Darmstadt, Chemnitz, and Duisburg, Mechatronics Laboratory undergraduate courses to be developed are as follows:
at University of Paderborn, ETH Zurich, and Twente Univer- 1) fundamentals of mechatronics engineering;
sity. The author is not aware of full degree programs offered 2) electromechanical system and microprocessor applica-
by these institutions but elements of mechatronics are taught tions;
within the classical degree programs such as mechanical and 3) design for manufacturability in electronics and computer
electrical engineering. equipment;
4) introduction to micro-manufacturing;
VI. DEVELOPMENTS IN UNITED STATES UNIVERSITIES 5) control of manufacturing processes.
Each of the United States universities which claims to The Mechatronics Engineering Laboratory was developed to
teach mechatronics mainly offers a course (module or unit) support the instruction of Mechatronics Systems Engineering
in microprocessor or microcontroller applications usually at course and to enable students to gain significant hands-on
the senior year level. A list of these institutions can be found laboratory experiences in mechatronics.
in Table VIII. Some institutions offer modules in mechatronics
product or system design, but no coherent total degree program VII. AUSTRALIA AND FAR EAST
was offered in any United States university. This is sometimes A number of universities in Australia offer undergraduate
due to the structure and rules of the institution (e.g., in some degree programs in Mechatronics (Table IX). The University
cases to offer a degree program it would be necessary to have of Sydney initiated a program in 1990 which already graduated
a Department of Mechatronics). An exception to this is the their first intake. This course is based on mechanical engineer-
integrated interdepartmental curriculum which is being de- ing which also attracts the support of electrical engineering.
veloped jointly by the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering First two years of the course is mostly common to both
Departments of The Ohio State University. This pilot project mechanical and mechatronics engineering students. With the
is sponsored by a NSF-DUE curriculum development grant difference that mechatronics engineering students take further
and also supported by the Ford Motor Company. electronics and carry out an introductory mechatronics design
The examples of Mechatronic System Design or Smart project. Room was created for these subjects by reducing the
Product Design or Designing Smart Machines can be seen content of thermofluids on the course. The overlap between the
at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University mechatronics and mechanical students are reduced to 50% in
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These courses are the third year. Mechatronics students take additional subjects
usually offered to senior or masters level students and require like electrical machines and drives, industrial electronics, and
18 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGYPART C, VOL. 20, NO. 1, JANUARY 1997

TABLE VI
MECHATRONICS EDUCATION IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

TABLE VII
MECHATRONICS CURRICULUM AT UNIVERSITY OF LINZ, AUSTRIA (NUMBERS IN BRACKETS SHOW WEIGHTING, 1 UNIT = 6 h/WEEK APPROXIMATELY)

digital systems. In addition students take a full-year laboratory program since 1992, developed jointly by the departments
course consisting of short, structured and long, open-ended of electrical engineering and manufacturing engineering. The
practical work. In the fourth and final year the emphasis is important features of this course are: induction of student
on the professional development. There are two compulsory centered activity in every major theme, a major design project
elements: professional communications and research or de- concentrating on either process or product mechatronics and
velopment project, which constitutes a significant part of the development of suitable laboratory facilities to cater for the
final assessment. The balance is made up with elective subjects mechatronics activity. Students are required to attend, in
most of which are project based. summer terms, simulated practical training modules which take
There are also a number of newer players in the game place at the university laboratories. The course structure is
mechatronics education, namely James Cook University, Uni- given in Table X.
versity of South Queensland, and University of New South Mechatronics is also establishing itself as major discipline in
Wales. James Cook University developed its mechatronics Korean institutions. A typical example is Chung Nam National
course in collaboration with the Royal Institute of Technology University which is heavily investing in the development of
of Sweden. USQ and UNSW have based their courses in mechatronics activities.
their mechanical engineering departments with contributions
from the electrical engineering and computer science sections VIII. CONCLUSION
within the last two years of the four year degree programs. The fierce international competition in design and devel-
Hong Kong City University is offering a mechatronics degree opment of mechatronics products and systems demands sig-
ACAR: MECHATRONICS CHALLENGE 19

TABLE VIII
MECHATRONICS EDUCATION IN NORTH AMERICA

TABLE IX have broader backgrounds but with specialist knowledge of

MECHATRONICS EDUCATION IN THE REST OF THE WORLD a discipline and abilities to operate in a multidisciplinary
project team. The engineering education and training sys-
tems for mechatronics engineering may have to move or
return to generalist courses at undergraduate level not only to
provide broader background than conventional undergraduate
programs, covering all the constituent disciplines of mecha-
tronics but also to accommodate depth at least in one of
the major disciplines. Expanding breadth but preserving depth
can only be achieved by increasing the number of years for
mechatronics engineering education. Integration of constituent
nificant attention to be given to mechatronics education and disciplines of mechatronics through structured and open ended
raising the awareness of mechatronics approach to design practical work, individual and group projects will have to
of products and processes. The initial urgent task of the be an essential element of a mechatronics degree program.
engineering educationalist should be to make engineers at all Without this, mechatronics programs would go no further
levels aware of the mechatronics concepts applied to product than being a typical electromechanical degree. Integration
design and its significance to industry. The importance of can be achieved by teaching students from the first year
mechatronics design must be stressed at all levels in the the mechatronic design philosophy and supporting this with
teaching and training of engineering, particularly in mechan- design projects running at every year of the program. These
ical and electronic engineering. It is perhaps not possible project can vary from artifact analysis (reverse engineering)
nor desirable to convert every mechanical and electronic and conceptual designs at earlier years to design and make
engineer into a mechatronics engineer, but the point is that projects in later years. It is essential that students develop
traditional engineers must learn to appreciate the other spe- team work approach to design and development projects and
cialist disciplines and hence to communicate with them at become effective communicators. It is crucial that industry also
the product design stage. Hence, mechatronics engineers must plays its part in the formation of the mechatronics engineers
20 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGYPART C, VOL. 20, NO. 1, JANUARY 1997

TABLE X
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING B.ENG. DEGREE COURSE AT CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

of the future. Indeed it is important that industry adopts a 6) Several student placements in industry (or internship)
leading role by participating in the development of courses at lasting one summer or one semester each, or better still
universities, providing real-world design projects for students an integrated sandwich (or co-op) type industrial training
to facilitate the integration of the elements of mechatronics de- program to provide the students with an opportunity to
gree programs, and offering industrial placements (internship) work in engineering project teams in industry would
to students. Moreover, it is also important that industry accepts also be highly desirable in order to give them valuable
that in-house training is worthwhile for engineers employed hands-on engineering experience.
and further specialization can also be gained at university
based graduate level training. REFERENCES
It is not feasible to prescribe a detailed course content for
[1] Proc. Workshop Mechatronics Education, Stanford University, CA, July
a typical mechatronics course since there will be significant 21-22, 1994, p. 116.
variations in the curricula stemming from the national and [2] M. Acar, J. Makra, and E. Penney, Eds., Topic 7: Mechatronics in
education, The Basis of New Industrial Development. Southampton,
regional culture, teaching practices, and resources available. CT: Computational Mechanics, 1994, pp. 763823.
Nevertheless, the author suggests that a sound mechatronics [3] O. Kaynak, M. Ozkan, N. Bekiroglu, and I. Tunay, Eds., Special
engineering program should have the following features. session on mechatronics engineering education and training, vol. 1,
recent advances in mechatronics, in Proc. Int. Conf. Recent Advances
1) The program duration should be longer than a typi- Mechatronics, Istanbul, Turkey, August 1416, 1995, pp. 238307.
cal single disciple engineering program to enable the [4] Mechatronics education in the USASpecial issue, Mechatronics,
vol. 5, no. 7, pp. 721853, 1995.
coverage of both breadth and depth of the essential me- [5] Proc. Mechatronics Machine Vision Prac. Conf., Toowoomba, Australia,
chanical, electrical/electronic and computing subjects. Sept. 13-15, 1994.
2) An integrating thread of practical analysis and synthesis
projects should run at every level through out the pro-
gram. A combination, without integration, of suitable
mechanical and electronics engineering and computing
Memis Acar received the B.S. degree in mechanical
courses would not be suitable. engineering from the Middle East Technical Univer-
3) Mechatronics philosophy should be continuously taught sity (METU), Ankara, Turkey, the M.Sc. degree in
through out the program. There should be structured textile technology from the University of Manches-
ter Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST),
and open ended practical laboratory work to develop U.K., and the Ph.D. degree from the Loughborough
the necessary practical skills. University of Technology, Loughborough, U.K.
4) Effective communication skills and ability to work in He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical
Engineering at Loughborough University. He is
teams are essential skills and should be developed to a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of
professional level. Intelligent Mechatronics.
5) Input from industry in the form of real life design and Dr. Acar is a member of ASME. He is a Fellow of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers and the Textile Institute and is the Acting Vice Chair
development projects and supervision of such projects and Chair Elect of the U.K. Mechatronics Forum, functioning under the
by experienced engineers is highly desirable. auspices of the IMechE and IEE.