Development of a Mechatronics Course Integrated With Lab

This paper reports the development of an introductory mechatronics course in Mechanical Engineering (ME) undergraduate program at Georgia Southern University. This an updated version of an existing required course in the ABET accredited BSME program. The course covers three broad areas: mechatronic instrumentation, computer based data acquisition and analysis, and microcontroller programming and interfacing. This is a required 3-credit course in the ME program with updated computing application specific content reinforcing theoretical foundation with hands-on learning activities of the existing course. The course has four contact hours per week with two hours of lecture and two hours of interactive session of problem solving and laboratory experiment. For each topic covered, students get the theoretical background and the hands-on experience in the laboratory setting. Both formative and summative assessment of the students’ performance in the course are planned. Both direct and indirect forms of assessment are considered. The paper reports the details of the course materials.