The conditions of the age and the developing technology cause the emergence of different professions. One of them is mechatronics engineering, which has a wide application area.
The word 'mechatronics', first used by a Japanese engineer in 1969, means the merger of the fields of mechanical and electronic engineering. Considered an interdisciplinary branch in engineering education, mechatronics engineers can work in fields such as biomedical, automotive, control, communication, software, robotics and material production and control, which are the professions of the age and have a positive effect on the economic development of countries.
Mechatronics Engineering, which serves a sustainable environment by developing hybrid vehicles and improves the quality life of individuals with medical inventions such as pacemakers, is one of the interdisciplinary professions that will shape the future with a wide application area.
What is Mechatronics Engineering?
Mechatronics engineering is a multidisciplinary branch of engineering that deals with robotics, aerospace, electronics, communication, control, industrial product management, electrical and mechanical systems. In short, you can think of it as a combination of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. In other words, every system including software, mechanical system and motor is in the field of mechatronics engineering.
From automatic robotic production lines in factories to unmanned aerial vehicles, from 3D printers to the automotive industry, mechatronics engineering covers a very wide area. This may increase job opportunities for graduates of mechatronics engineering, and may also cause students to be indecisive about which field to specialize in.
Who is a Mechatronics Engineer?
A mechatronics engineer is a person who specializes in machinery and electronics, who can take part in the design, maintenance, optimization, quality control and production stages of electronic and mechanical systems within the scope of mechatronics. The most important point that separates the mechatronics engineer from the electronics and mechanical engineers is that the mechatronics engineer has knowledge in both of these fields. For example, an electronic engineer does not have a good command of the mechanics of a machine, while a mechanical engineer does not have a good command of the electronic part of the machine. Mechatronics engineers, on the other hand, have the knowledge to examine machines both mechanically and electronically. They even specialize in software and programming depending on their field of interest.
If we explain with examples, a mechatronics engineer working on robotic systems has a level of mechanical knowledge to understand the axial movement capacity of the robotic arm, and also has software and electronic knowledge to move that robot in the direction of the axis he&she has determined.
What Does a Mechatronics Engineer Do?
Since the mechatronics engineer will undertake a wide variety of tasks according to the field in which he&she will work, and we cannot explain all of them here, I will explain to you under this heading what a mechatronics engineer does with an example.
Consider a new mechatronics engineer responsible for the operation of robot arms on the production line of an automotive factory. This engineer first checks the software of the robots. If there are errors or slownesses caused by the movement axes of the robots, it can reprogram the robots to regulate it, and if the errors still persist, it controls the robots mechanically and electronically and corrects the problem areas with the help of technicians.
Generally speaking, a mechatronics engineer carries out the design, analysis, maintenance, control and optimization of mechatronic systems through various computer software.
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