Mechatronics: building a better human-machine interface

‘Mechatronics for Human Wellbeing’ is the focus of the 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM2013), which commenced yesterday in Wollongong.

The four-day event has attracted around 400 leading mechatronics scientists from around the world, who will discuss state-of-the-art technology, new research results, perspectives of future developments and innovative applications relevant to mechatronics, robotics, control, automation and related areas.

“The conference has received a record number of 439 full paper submissions from 44 countries - it is a truly international conference, with many renowned speakers and presenters attending the conference to hear, share and learn each other’s views and experiences in mechatronics,” said Professor Gursel Alici, University of Wollongong and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) Chief Investigator.

“The emerging field of mechatronics is exciting because it is the enabling technology to design and realise products, systems and processes which are more cost effective, efficient and intelligent than their predecessors. When combined with additive manufacturing technologies, high-value components, products and systems can be developed and manufactured to minimise the effects of the current manufacturing crisis in developed countries.

“Mechatronics is not only a multidisciplinary engineering field, but also a concurrent design approach going beyond classical sequential design and system development approaches, taking into account interactions between the system components, concepts and design and operation parameters. The concurrent and integrated mechatronic design approach can be applied to any system, product, processes and devices ranging from home appliances to advanced robotic systems such as surgical robots, assistive devices, medical implants, prosthetic devices, unmanned vehicles, remotely controlled ore diggers, micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) and so on.”