Mechatronic: Think Different

Mechatronics. Surely at this time of great technological advancement, every day that show the effort of engineers and scientists from around the world, people will still be wondering what the word Mechatronics means. If you're one of them, you're on you dive into a world of knowledge of history, definition of the term, workplace, among several other things.

Mechatronics, this word consists of the words "mechanics" and "electronics". His field of study is based, as its name suggests, the combination of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, but in turn, in combination with the branch in Computer Systems and Control Systems. Its main objective is the design and automation of machines, to make them self-sufficient, and we further simplify our daily lives, that in the end, that address each of the engineering in the world, that needs society demands of them.

Although the Mechatronics Engineering is relatively new (compared to other branches of engineering), mechatronics as such arises because of the industrial revolution, which resulted in the creation of machines increased quality and quantity of products for mass use (as mentioned previously, to meet the demanding needs of society at that time). Then, in the mid 40's, in what was called the "second industrial revolution" was as important the introduction of electronic components that were coupled to integrated circuits, which gave birth to the digital computer. Countries that had such advanced technology to those times, were put on top of the edge of society, including Japan, which has always been a country that is known for its extraordinary technological innovation in different branches of science.

The term "mechatronics" was first introduced in 1969 by a Japanese precisely, the Engineer Tetsuro Mori. The definition of the term, at first was "the integration of mechanics with electronics in a machine or product." Later, he established himself as a branch of engineering, which integrated the elements of computing systems, the development of microelectronics technology, the advancement of artificial intelligence, theory of control systems, and other systems that related to computer science.

J.A. Rietdijk defined the term Mechatronic as follows: "Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of precision mechanical engineering, electronics, automatic control, and product design systems and processes." This definition is widely accepted by the scientific and technological society.

Let's talk about what is the workplace. The chances of finding work for Mechatronic Engineering are very high, as there is a wide range of work. Some of these fields are:

Ø   Automotive.

Ø   Manufacturing.

Ø   Petrochemical

Ø   Metal-mechanics.

Ø   Electromechanical.

The activities can play in these different areas are in particular:

Ø  Design.

Ø  Manufacturing.

Ø  Programming components.

Ø  Programming of industrial systems.

Ø  Etc.

As you can see, is very broad field of work that exists for this specialty.

To end this article, I will with an analogy of a Mechatronic Engineer with a duck.

"Ducks are creatures that perform certain skills which make them be special animals. The first of these skills is that they can walk, but not a great walker. The second is that it can fly, but not a great flyer. And the third is to swim, but not a great swimmer. "

Thus a Mechatronic Engineer possesses sound knowledge in various branches of science, but do not have full knowledge of them, as someone who only specializes in one.