Proceedings of 2008 IEEE International Conference on
Mechatronics and Automation
WC1-1
Human Adaptive and Friendly Mechatronics
(HAFM)
Maki K. Habib
Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Sciences and Engineering
The American University in Cairo, Egypt
maki@ieee.org
Abstract- Mechatronics represents an engineering
science paradigm, which brings out innovative ways to
synergize multiple disciplines and enhances machine
intelligence. Mechatronics supports new ways of
thinking, innovations, design methodologies and
practices to the develop new intelligent products and
engineering systems, which concentrates on achieving
optimum functional synergy, from the earliest
conceptual stages of the design process. HAFM
represents the new era of Mechatronics, which provides
new methodologies and tools to design and to build new
human oriented machines and systems featured by
harmony and coexistence with its human user. HAFM
allows to create, design and support the development of
new concepts for realizing intelligent human oriented
machines that can think, coordinate and featured by
interactive cooperation with their human users. This
paper provides insight on the importance and evolution
of Mechatronics and the role of HAFM as a new era of
Mechatronics.
Keywords:
Interdisciplinary, Learning, Mechatronics Design,
Knowledge Space, HAFM, Synergy, Engineering Science.
I. MECHATRONICS KNOWLEDGE SPACE
The term Mechatronics has prompted many debates on
its proper definition and scope. Many definitions of
Mechatronics are available but none has become
universally accepted [1][4-9]. Reference [10] includes
collections of many definitions for Mechatronics. Most of
the available definitions vary mainly with the discipline
and the background of the person or the group who states
the definition [11]. Too rigid a definition would constrain
and limit the concept and the focus of Mechatronics and
bound its progress. Incomplete and unfocused definitions
will only add confusions to the concept of Mechatronics
and create many difficulties to its growth and evolution.
Mechatronics should not be constrained within one of the
traditional engineering disciplinary boundaries. Many
different notions similar to or including Mechatronics have
been used in various contexts, such as micro-Mechatronics,
Opto-Mechatronics, Super-Mechatronics, Mechano-
978-1-4244-2632-4/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE
61
informatics, Bio-Mechatronics, Control-mechanics and
Megatronics are some of those, each coined to put forward
a specific aspect or application of Mechatronics [12][13].
The rapid advances in computing and technological
capabilities have now overtook many of the early
definitions of Mechatronics, in particular, processor speeds
and memory capacity that led to the inclusion of more
sophisticated design and evaluation algorithms and
processes, many of which contain intelligent paradigms.
This will always demand to have more dynamic and up to
date definition of Mechatronics. As the Mechatronics
discipline is relatively new, evolving and rapidly
expanding, a precise description for the term Mechatronics
is not desirable for the time being [3-5] because it is still
necessary to understand the prospect and the vision of
interdisciplinary engineering of which Mechatronics is an
excellent example. Hence, there is no need to spend more
time in describing the term and arguing about the
percentage of each contributed discipline into
Mechatronics. Specialists in the field should cooperate and
work closer in order to build gradually a common base for
the new evolving engineering science discipline. There is
an urgent and real need for scientific contributions
(research, education, knowledge, conferences, journals,
collaborations, etc.), and intensive efforts to sharpen the
understanding of Mechatronics as interdisciplinary
engineering science and to make the progressive
Mechatronics field more focused. Mechatronics should be
seen to represent a synergy and fusion of knowledge and
practices from wide range of disciplines into one
knowledge space, and it should be regarded as a
philosophy supporting new way of thinking and innovation
in engineering science and design.
Mechatronics as an interdisciplinary field tends to
attract adequate contributions and insights from all relevant
disciplines. However, currently the field is not really
putting forward the opportunities and challenges arising
specifically due to the interdisciplinary interactions. Many
Mechatronics conferences came into existence and were
unfocused, and thereby have not attracted the right
contributions. This is a disadvantage as unfocused efforts
through many international conferences, periodicals, and
meetings could hamper the development of Mechatronics
as engineering science discipline [2][14][27]. Scientific
publications in Mechatronics, that aim to help in making
Mechatronics more focused, are still quite few. This
demands from the Mechatronics community to recognize
and appreciate the added-value contributions, and specifies
the challenges that help getting to the heart of
Mechatronics as interdisciplinary engineering rather than
making ourselves busy in creating disputes about
formulating rigid definitions for Mechatronics.
Mechatronics has come to mean the synergy and the
interdisciplinary field of engineering science that
successfully fuses (but not limited) mechanics, electrical,
electronics, informatics and intelligent systems, control
systems and advance modeling, optics, systems
engineering, artificial intelligence, intelligent computer
control, precision engineering, virtualization and virtual
environments into a unified framework that enhances the
design of products and manufacturing of processes. The
synergy in Mechatronics engineering creative design and
development enables a higher level of productivity, precise
performance, smart and high functionality, precision,
robustness, power efficiency, application flexibility and
modularity, improved quality and reliability, intelligence,
maintainability, better spatial integration of subsystems
(embodied systems), miniaturization, and embed life cycle
design considerations. In addition, it contributes to shorten
development time, deal flexibly with complexity, and adopt
cost effectiveness approaches for wide range of intelligent
products and applications. It is important to note that the
Mechatronics concept is not just about achieving
technological and knowledge synergy but it involves
aspects of organization, training, management (projects,
products, market demands, and administration), and
sustainable development. Mechatronics systems, processes,
and products enable the implementation of a scalable
architecture in which functional elements are equipped
with local control, diagnostics, and communication
features. The design of Mechatronical systems must ensure
an effective transfer of complexity between individual
technologies, both for individual elements within the
system and for the system as a whole. The adoption of such
synergized, inter or trans-disciplinary approach to
engineering design implies a greater understanding of the
design process.
Mechatronics is a unifying interdisciplinary and
intelligent paradigm that synergizes, permeates, and
comprehends modern engineering technologies, systems
and practices. It pervades virtually every aspect of the
modern world. The framework of Mechatronics
engineering science discipline describes the synergy of
interdisciplinary: education, knowledge, thinking, design,
way of work, practices, and professional skills, which is
supported by strong engineering science foundation beyond
traditional disciplinary boundaries and featured by open
ending learning chains with ability to fuse continuously
new knowledge and experiences through life long learning.
Interdisciplinary Mechatronics emphasizes on continuous
individual self-learning, and team based learning through
problem and project-based approach to fulfill the
challenges of modern technology and the demand for
innovation. The author believes that right through the early
62
stage of Mechatronics education, learning and skill
building: the contributed knowledge of all inherent
disciplines at the degree program (Interdisciplinary
foundational and core knowledge), and the newly added
knowledge, experience and practices through professional
life as needed, are continuously fused to feature the
uniqueness of Mechatronics as engineering science
discipline. No boundaries are going to stay between the
contributed knowledge from other disciplines once they
enter the Mechatronics knowledge space. The are no solid
boundaries between the contributed knowledge within the
Mechatronics knowledge space and with the general
knowledge space to emphasize the readiness of
Mechatronics knowledge space to fuse new knowledge,
experiences and skills that leads to expand it further.
Hence, Mechatronics education, learning and design should
reflect this fact through the learning process while
preparing new Mechatronics engineers. In addition, a major
issue that features Mechatronics and Mechatronics
engineers is the readiness and the will to continuously learn
(self-learning, team based, continuous education, research,
etc.), and to fuse efficiently new knowledge, skills and
practices into the knowledge space of Mechatronics.
II. MECHATRONICS: A UNIFYING
INTERDISCIPLINARY PARADIGM
New technology, new ideas, new subjects of study, new
research goals, etc. are emerging at the same time and
raising challenges to disciplinary boundaries. In addition,
there are real-world issues and problems that are too broad
or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single
discipline or profession, and it can be fruitfully examined
in an interdisciplinary framework. Multiple viewpoints are
thus developed and gradually become part of the new
trends of explanation, modeling and confrontation.
Interdisciplinary is a purposeful interaction of knowledge,
skills and processes from different fields of study and
different perspectives towards problem solving, broad
understanding and cognitive development. True
interdisciplinary occurs when researchers from two or more
disciplines pool their knowledge, experience and
techniques, and have open and transparent interaction so
that their synergized ideas and thinking are better suited to
solve the problem at hand. Interdisciplinary involves
bringing together distinctive components of two or more
disciplines in a single mind. In academic discourse,
interdisciplinary typically applies to four realms:
knowledge, research, education, and theory [18-20].
Interdisciplinary analysis requires synergy of knowledge
and its quality depends on the degree of influence exerted
by the respective disciplines while it helps to push research
in related fields into new fruitful directions. Various
disciplinary knowledge, concepts, tools, and rules of
investigations are considered, contrasted, and combined in
such a way to yield better outcome that is better than
simply the sum of each disciplinary. Successful
interdisciplinary thinkers do not only generate new
knowledge through concurrent synergy and synthesis as
they explore the issue or topic at hand, but they also
acquire a fuller appreciation for the epistemological
similarities and distinctions between and among the
disciplines.
Mechatronics engineering is about mastering a
multitude of disciplines, technologies and their interaction,
whereas Mechatronic science is about invention and
development of new theories, models, concepts and tools in
response to new needs evolving from interacting scientific
disciplines. Mechatronics thinkers will play a main role to
close the gap between different disciplines. Mechatronics is
an engineering science that is featured by an
interdisciplinary knowledge area and interactions in terms
of way of work and thinking, practices experiences, and
theoretical knowledge. Consequently, the important role of
Mechatronics is to bridge the gaps between relevant
engineering sciences. Mechatronics creates a virtual locus
where researchers from different fields and disciplines can
meet. Creating the synergy between different disciplines
leads to new degrees of freedom in design and
corresponding research directions. In addition, the
professional Mechatronics concurrent design and
development process is featuring interdisciplinary in
practice through innovative development process by
merging necessary team members from different
disciplines inside a concurrent and interactive development
environment, and facilitates systematic and synergized
process to achieve the necessary fusion through the design
process. The Mechatronics design and development
process can be divided generally into seven interactive
stages: understand the problem and identify the need;
collect relevant information; introduce alternative
solutions; choose the optimal solution; design and build a
prototype; test, evaluate and adjust the development
process, and estimate manufacturing cost, and assess
production feasibility.
III. LEARNING, THINKING AND INNOVATIVE
MECHATRONICS DESIGN
Mechatronics focuses on the process of learning linked
with actions rather than teaching, and the learning process
is directly couples with thinking. Thinking is a skill that
can be developed. The Mechatronics engineering science is
a challenging field, which contributes to improve the
design process, methodologies, efficiency, energy saving,
ease of use, human factors, etc. Infusing creative thinking
skills into the design process during project-based learning
may provide a rich learning environment that contributes
not only to the development of thinking skills but also to a
better understanding of the discipline under study.
It is important for Mechatronics practitioners to study
and apply lateral thinking tools in order to deal with
different alternatives, consider multiple factors, and to
refrain from premature judgments on ideas. In addition,
they should use vertical thinking tools in order to shortlist
the best solutions, document their design process, and then
go through the details of implementation, testing and
63
evaluation. In order to be able to use both effectively, one
must appreciate their differences [2][24][25]. Vertical
thinking is essential at the stage of choosing a solution and
developing it.
Researchers, designers, and commercial developers are
now employing a wide range of advanced computing
techniques that are capable of enhancing the working
environment of designers and empowering engineers in
their work [16]. Some important elements of engineering
informatics are explicit representations of physical and
abstract components, symbolic and numerical process
models, graphical user interfaces, large-scale databases,
and interactivity. The information processing consists of
low-level and high-level feedback control, supervision and
diagnosis, and general process management. With the aid
of knowledge base and inference mechanisms
Mechatronics systems with increasing intelligence are
developed [15].
In Mechatronics, software and sensory information
represents vital dynamic elements that contribute to
optimize capabilities, enhance smartness and improve
flexibility of targeted systems through the design process.
The capabilities of Mechatronics systems are increasingly a
function of their control software, and computational
capabilities and limitations must be considered at every
stage of design development and implementation. The
software in Mechatronics systems is the making of
information fusion with methods and algorithms possible to
facilitate decision and action support, and the building of
associated intelligent functionalities. Information fusion
can take place at different levels of abstraction in a system
and at each subsystem as necessary. The resulting decision
or action is in some sense better, qualitatively or
quantitatively. In addition, utilizing the Internet and fusing
Mechatronics with information networks are supporting
global connectivity and enabling people and systems to act
and operate beyond time and space constraint. Just as the
Internet induces us to think of information as a flow with a
plurality of contexts, research on the network similarly
forces us to think of science as a dynamic enterprise with a
plurality of referents. Practicing interdisciplinary means
taking advantage of this plurality and guarantee the
diffusion of ideas and the mobility of concepts [16][17][
21][22].
IV. HUMAN ADAPTIVE AND FRIENDLY
MECHATRONICS (HAFM)
The new era of Mechatronics provides new
methodologies and tools to design and to build machines
and systems for safety, security, and dependability. The
main goals of modern technologies are to have smart living
environment that reduce operational stress, facilitate better
life, and to assist human well being while maximizing
performance. The increased functionality and smartness
mean the ability of products to identify and respond to
changes in the environment and to user's needs, i.e., to have
intelligent machines that can be seen as partner rather than
just a tool. Machine and human have to cooperate in order
to find out the best solution in sovling problems and
achieving common goals. Hence, a key topic in the new
Mechatronics era is the design of human-oriented machines
that implies intelligent and cooperative coexistence
(beyond time and physical constraints) between technical
systems and biological ones (human) within their natural
environment. Human and machine may either share the
same natural environment or be located at different ones. It
the latter case, it should be supported by mutual awareness
to create a natural and mutual perception as they are
located within the same natural environment. The machines
can overcome situations that could not be foreseen by the
machine at the design stage, in an autonomous way and up
to a certain degree of complexity, while in critical
situations it is necessary to facilitate intelligently the
interaction with human user/operator [23]. Mechatronics
will meet human science and will be applied to enhance
human performance in general, through harmony of
coexistence, and to help elderly/handicapped people to lead
their lives safely and securely. However, the design of
human oriented machines should bring no mental and
psychological stress to its user. This will lead to have
human friendly and environmentally conscious
Mechatronic technology that coordinate work and
cooperate with human being. It appears natural to design
machines that can cooperate in an intelligent way with their
human users, thus enable human to make best use of the
machine capabilities while it protects itself from any miss-
use or critical situations. Such human oriented machinery
will have novel features in their behavior relevant to the
level of interaction with humans [2][3][23][26][27]. This
implies that the enabling Mechatronics systems have to
understand human behavior and interact intelligently,
adaptively, seamlessly and mutually for the sake to
optimize the performance and both side of interaction
should have the ability to assume initiative within a task. Human
oriented machines should be able to adapt according to the
competence of human user and the capacity of adaptation
may be related to the level of mental workload, and this
implies that such machines has the ability to recognize
humans performance within the process. This can be
achieved by using new methods and techniques with
learning and adaptive properties that reflect the complexity
of the working environment and the design requirements
for the interactive cooperation between human and
machine.
Robust HAFM systems adapt themselves to the skill
level or dexterity of human under various environments
with aims to improve user's skill, and assist the human-
machine interaction to achieve best performance. This
includes not only assisting control action, but also
providing proper data and knowledge for understanding the
situation and giving better decision. Human can improve
the skill elements of their actions based on interactive
signals that yield to change in skill parameters. To fulfill
this reliably, it requires,
1. Model human and machine dynamics with special
consideration on variable constraints,
64
2. Model the psychophysical characteristics of human
user/operator.
3. Model the required operation based on the demand for
essential skill, knowledge, and quality decisions.
4. The Mechatronic system has to understand the
cognition of human behaviors, and extend the
assistance to human by providing information that help
to understand the situation leads to make quality
decision and achieve high level of coordination, and
5. Enable dynamic interaction between such
Mechatronical systems and human. Aspects that have
to be considered in designing such interactive and
cooperative machines are: work psychology, safety,
ergonomics, control architecture, control modules, etc.
6. Safety should be assured throughout the coupling and
interactive relation between human and machine with
capability to resolve urgent and critical situations.
There are number of criteria for how functions and
authority are allocated to human and machine depending
on the versatility of human and the consistency of machine.
These criteria may include techniques, such as: leftover
(with high degree of automation, and only the tasks, which
cannot be automated are left over to human); economic (for
each partial task the cheapest solution is chosen);
comparison (the task is allocated to the side who perform
best), and complementary (assume that both side has
different capabilities, while complement each other)
[2][23]. Understanding these criteria may help to develop
intelligent tools that can assist human operators/users by
giving them natural operational feelings. This demands to
have physical symmetrical interaction between both sides
mediated by common tools/modules, which includes their
dynamical and behavioral/functional models, and
supported by sensory information reflecting each side
activities, and their local environments. Both sides may be
located at the same local environment or located at
completely different environments. Ambient intelligence,
biologically inspired technology (Biomimetics),
information and communication technologies, intelligent
control, smart materials represent good candidates to
facilitate the evolution of HAFM.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Through its evolution, Mechatronics has proven itself as a
unifying interdisciplinary and intelligent engineering
science paradigm as it is opening new horizons in all fields
due to the stimulation of synergy, fusion and
interdisciplinary. This insight naturally lends itself to the
concept of total quality that emphasis on learning and
innovation.
HAFM represents the new era of Mechatronics, which
provides new methodologies and tools to design and to
build new human oriented machines and systems featured
by harmony and coexistence with its human user. Hence,
HAFM contributes to change the interactive relation
between human and computerized systems, such as
machines in order to find out the best solution to problems,
maximize efficiency to achieve common goals, and provide
good level of adaptation and some degree of autonomy for
the machine.
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