Challenging computer‐based projects for a Mechatronics course: Teaching and learning through projects employing virtual instrumentation

For the Mechatronics program in the School of Engineering, at Monash University, one of the approaches to Mechatronics education is mainly through a project‐based course. In this pedagogical approach, the synergistic combination of traditional lecture‐type of teaching and projects were presented to students. This approach is believed to be useful in the providing for hands‐on engineering experience for Mechatronics undergraduate students (MechUGs). This paper describes a second‐year Mechatronics undergraduate project‐based course. This paper deals with and reports on the successfully utilization of virtual instrumentation for Mechatronics projects and engaging the students to learn intuitively. This paper summarizes four different projects based on commercial National Instruments (NIs) LabVIEW software and various hardware, which were successfully implemented. Four groups of second‐year MechUGs were enrolled for a project‐based course for one semester period. The four projects involved the utilization of a variety of hardwares. A common software, LabVIEW was used for all the four projects. These projects involved data acquisition, signal processing, motion control, low‐cost machine vision, and digital I/O (Input/Output) control on NI‐ELVIS (Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite) workstation. This approach has prolifically enabled intuitive learning and hands‐on experience gained by these MechUGs. They were able to successfully complete their Mechatronics projects within a short span of 13 weeks. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 14: 222–242, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20083

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