Work in Progress: Incorporating Microprocessors across the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

also in Mechanical Engineering. He currently teaches first-year engineering courses as well as various courses in Mechanical Engineering, primarily in the mechanics area. His pedagogical research areas include standards-based assessment and curriculum design, including the incorporation of entrepreneurial thinking into the engineering curriculum and especially as pertains to First-Year Engineering.

Automation Course and Laboratory on Design and Programming of Multi-axis Industrial Machines

“…Industry needs engineers who can do system design and integration using motion controllers and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) as the primary building blocks for automation/mechatronics applications. They are not expected to design controllers, control algorithms or interface electronic circuits at the board level or program microprocessors such as Arduino 4,5 . Instead, they need to combine theoretical and practical knowledge to select industrial-grade components from manufacturers' catalogs.…”

Developing an Affordable Multi-Course Electronics Kit for Increased Software and Mechatronic Literacy in Mechanical Engineering

“…Implementations in individual courses have been especially effective in mechatronics courses [7], [13] and introductory engineering courses [8], [9], [14], [15]. Student feedback shows that using kits increase students' learning motivation [16] and understanding of concepts [14]. While individual electronics kits are often used in electrical and computer engineering curricula and the number of low-cost platforms available has continued to increase [17], [18], there are relatively few instances in the literature where microcontrollers have been systematically implemented and assessed across multiple courses in mechanical engineering [16].…”

“…Student feedback shows that using kits increase students' learning motivation [16] and understanding of concepts [14]. While individual electronics kits are often used in electrical and computer engineering curricula and the number of low-cost platforms available has continued to increase [17], [18], there are relatively few instances in the literature where microcontrollers have been systematically implemented and assessed across multiple courses in mechanical engineering [16]. In this paper, we focus on how repeated use of a multi-course hardware kit across the ME curriculum improves students' understanding of how theoretical concepts can be put into practical application using basic electronics and programming skills, as well as how this affects their confidence in their ability to write programs and prototype designs.…”