Mechatronics: Educating the next generation of mechatronics engineers, podcast explains

Mechatronics as an engineering discipline has grown in importance as embedded control systems have become ubiquitous throughout society. In a new podcast available for download from Control Engineering, Tony Lennon of The Mathworks provides a personal view of what colleges and universities should include in a mechatronics engineering program.

By Control Engineering Staff

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Oak Brook, IL – “From the point of view of training a mechatronics engineer,” says Tony Lennon, industry marketing manager specializing in industrial automation at simulation software company The Mathworks in a new podcast available for download from Control Engineering , “our belief is that you’re training a systems engineer– someone who is looking at how different disciplines interact with each other.”
Based on his company’s 20 year history of providing mechatronics related software tools, Lennon discusses its view of mechatronics, and what students need to learn to qualify as a mechatronics engineer. From personality traits that make a person a good candidate to become a mechatronics engineer, through what skills they need to master, to what companies will expect of them as practicing mechatronics engineers, he provides a personal view of what colleges and universities should include in a mechatronics engineering program, as well as the current state of mechatronics as an engineering discipline.
Since the term was coined in the mid-1960s, mechatronics as an engineering discipline has grown in importance as embedded control systems have become ubiquitous throughout society. Some devices, such as robots and automatically guided vehicles, are simply not possible without the automated electromechanical systems that fall under the mechatronics discipline umbrella. At issue is how we prepare engineers for careers in mechatronics.
Get the full story from a veteran mechatronics expert by downloading the podcast “ Mathworks on mechatronics education ” from Control Engineering ’s Website.

– C.G. Masi ,
Control Engineering News Desk
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