Robotics and Mechatronics module (ME40003)

Robotics and mechatronics are areas where engineering meets innovation. This module explores how to design, analyse, and control robots. It will also equip you with the knowledge and skills to build machines that can think and act.

Through this module, you will gain insights into the future of technology with robotics and mechatronics, as well as explore career paths in engineering, technology, or even AI and automation.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• learn about the fundamentals of robotics, including how robots are built and how they function
• discover how mechanical systems, electronics, and computer control work together in mechatronics
• learn how to code and program robots to make robots perform tasks and make decisions
• explore how robots are used in industries, healthcare, and daily life to make things easier

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• perform robot kinematics calculations by hand
• write programs (e.g. using MATLAB) to perform calculations and analyses
• create visual simulations of basic robot systems for kinematic analysis and representation
• derive equations for camera calibration to correlate image pixels to real-world coordinates for critical analyses (e.g. position, speed, acceleration, and distance)
• perform manual and automated image processing for data collection and analysis

Assignments / assessment

• group coursework (30%)
  • 4 MATLAB based workshops
• final exam (70%)

Teaching methods / timetable

The module is taught through a combination of seminars, tutorials, and practical sessions. As a 15-credit module, there are 150 hours nominally allocated to the content delivery, including 48 hours of lectures and 12 hours of practical workshops. 90 hours are left for independent learning and preparation and submission of reports, assessments, and examinations.

Practical laboratories include using MATLAB with the following activities included in timetable classes:

• interactive classes
  • discussions will explore the principle of robotics and mechatronics
• hands-on projects
  • build and program simple robots to perform tasks
• robot demonstrations
  • live robot demonstrations showcase their capabilities and applications

There are 10 weeks of teaching. For this module, the following topics and practical classes are included.

Practical laboratories topics:

• MATLAB workshops 1 Robotic Arm Kinematics
• MATLAB workshops 2 Camera Calibration
• MATLAB workshops 3 Image Processing Calculation from Videos
• MATLAB workshops 4 Autonomous Mobile Robots