Using a Didactic Manipulator in Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering Courses

One of the most difficult and most important engineering tasks is the integration of a robot-manipulator into material handling, assembly, and production processes, offering the possibility of supervision and control. The knowledge and skills required for these kinds of tasks are purely mechatronic and, thus, multidisciplinary. This paper describes a didactic manipulator, MRA-M01, designed and produced in a mechatronics laboratory of the Faculty of Technical Sciences Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia. This manipulator serves as part of the laboratory equipment used by students enrolled in courses in the Departments of Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering. The manipulator was created to enable students to gain practical knowledge of the integration of diverse engineering fields, including electro-pneumatics, sensors, actuators, programmable logic controllers (PLC), field bus systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, material handling, industrial engineering, and intelligent control systems. The manipulator MRA-M01 is a three-degrees-of-freedom manipulator, with three linear actuators. Two of those are pneumatic (one controlled in a standard way by a control valve, and the other using servo-pneumatics), and one is electromechanical (with a dc motor). This manipulator supports hands-on activities in class by assisting students in material-handling tasks, which involve them learning about the structure of the manipulator and its components. Through this learning process, students are able to evaluate the use of different methods of manipulator design. One of the most important learning gains is that of understanding manipulator implementation by working through different scenarios that simulate industrial tasks and conditions.