436-438 Advances In Industrial Automation

This is an advanced final-year elective. Familiarity with the content of the prescribed subjects in the first four years of the mechatronics course will be assumed.

Upon completion, students should have gained an appreciation of the state-of-the-art, in the application of mechatronics to industrial automation, current research challenges, and the structure of the industry in Australia and the rest of the world. Site visits and guest lectures from industry personnel are an important component of the subject.

Topics covered include the present status and forecast developments in industrial automation; needs, opportunities and challenges; developing a case for industrial automation and planning for implementation; marketing issues; review of available software and hardware options and development environments; and current developments in selected areas such as the use of machine vision and other advanced sensing in industrial automation, intelligent actuators, distributed sensing and actuation, intelligent highway-vehicle systems, computer and communication networking, the use of multiple agent systems in automation.

One 3-hour examination (50%); assignments and seminar presentations not exceeding the equivalent of 30 pages including computations, diagrams, tables and computer output (50%). Students will be notified of the weighting of the non-examination assessment components at the beginning of semester.