Topic outline

  • General

    Atlas robot


    Lecture and exercise info

    The lectures will be given in lecture hall 216 in K1 building (Otakaari 4) and streamed and recorded using Zoom. Active participation in the lectures is only possible locally - joining virtually enables only passive participation, and thereby joining locally is recommended.

    The exercise sessions are organized only locally in Maari C-D (Sähkömiehentie 3).

    Course personnel

    Responsible teacher, lecturer: Raine Viitala

    Main assistant: Samuli Rytömaa

    In cases of any questions or issues, please use the general discussion forum, or contact the teachers directly via email or teams.

    Introduction of the course

    The course is arranged during only one period. This means 5 credits worth of studying, i.e. nominally 135 hours, during seven weeks. Therefore, be prepared to allocate enough time for the lectures and the exercises in your calendar. The course starts with the first lecture on Tuesday 24th of October and the final exam is 14th of December.

    This course is, as its name suggests, a basic level course which covers a very wide area of subjects in as much detail as we have time for. This course does not have official prerequisites; however, some understanding of electrical and mechanical engineering is required to successfully pass the exercises and to follow the lectures. These basics are not taught on this course. The first introductory exercise round will have basic exercises about electrical engineering (Ohm's law, Kirchoff's law, inductance etc.) and mechanical engineering (gears, kinetic energy, inertia etc.) to ensure that everyone has at least some knowledge of them. If you have never heard of these concepts, the course book has a very good and short basic electrics chapter and the equations for the electrics and mechanics can be found in the equation collection in the Other material page in MyCourses.

    The course book is Alciatore & Histand: Introduction to mechatronics and measurement systems. We will not follow the book; however, it is a good book covering all the subjects of this course. The lecture slides do not have all the necessary information to solve the weekly exercises or to answer to the exam questions.

    The exercises in this course contain calculations, simulations and essays. Simulation exercises are emphasized since they can give a good understanding of the dynamics of a complex system. The simulations are conducted using Matlab Simulink, which indicates that previous experience with Matlab and/or Simulink will make your life easier but is not required. The weekly exercises are the most important part of this course and thus passing half of the weekly exercise rounds is mandatory in order to pass the course. Last year, according to the feedback, solving the weekly exercises took on average almost nine hours per week. Be prepared for something similar.

    Remember to enroll into the course in SISU on time. Check also the Exercise and MyCourses instructions in Other material page.

    The figure below shows the streamline of the mechatronics education in Aalto. The bachelor level courses can naturally be taken as elective studies in the masters programme.