Page 17 - The Mechatronics Handbook

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What is Mechatronics?

1.1 Basic Definitions
1.2 Key Elements of Mechatronics
Robert H. Bishop
1.3 Historical Perspective
The University of Texas at Austin
1.4 The Development of the Automobile
M. K. Ramasubramanian as a Mechatronic System
North Carolina State University 1.5 What is Mechatronics? And What’s Next?

Mechatronics is a natural stage in the evolutionary process of modern engineering design. The develop-
ment of the computer, and then the microcomputer, embedded computers, and associated information
technologies and software advances, made mechatronics an imperative in the latter part of the twentieth
century. Standing at the threshold of the twenty-first century, with expected advances in integrated bio-
electro-mechanical systems, quantum computers, nano- and pico-systems, and other unforeseen devel-
opments, the future of mechatronics is full of potential and bright possibilities.

1.1 Basic Definitions

The definition of mechatronics has evolved since the original definition by the Yasakawa Electric Com-
pany. In trademark application documents, Yasakawa defined mechatronics in this way [1,2]:
The word, mechatronics, is composed of “mecha” from mechanism and the “tronics” from electronics.
In other words, technologies and developed products will be incorporating electronics more and more
into mechanisms, intimately and organically, and making it impossible to tell where one ends and the
other begins.
The definition of mechatronics continued to evolve after Yasakawa suggested the original definition. One
oft quoted definition of mechatronics was presented by Harashima, Tomizuka, and Fukada in 1996 [3].
In their words, mechatronics is defined as
the synergistic integration of mechanical engineering, with electronics and intelligent computer control
in the design and manufacturing of industrial products and processes.
That same year, another definition was suggested by Auslander and Kempf [4]:
Mechatronics is the application of complex decision making to the operation of physical systems.

Yet another definition due to Shetty and Kolk appeared in 1997 [5]:
Mechatronics is a methodology used for the optimal design of electromechanical products.
More recently, we find the suggestion by W. Bolton [6]:
A mechatronic system is not just a marriage of electrical and mechanical systems and is more than

just a control system; it is a complete integration of all of them.

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