Best Mechatronics Books: What’s On Your Reading List?
As our world becomes more technological, technology further integrates itself into the fabric of every day life. Mechanical and electronic devices more and more frequently become one, the engineers who make these things possible will have to adapt with it, as will their areas of expertise. This was the line of thinking that led Tetsuro Mori in the early 1970s to coin the term mechatronics – the discipline of engineering that combined mechanical engineering, electronics, and computer science into a unified theory of automated devices and systems that today underpins the industrialized world.
Mechatronics is a relatively new engineering field – it is less than fifty years old – while civil and mechanical engineering have roots going back to ancient civilizations. Consequently, the gold standard set of textbooks has only begun to come together. However, the following books are universally well-regarded in the field and make up a representative set of high-quality mechatronics texts for interested students.
Mechatronics: Principles, Concepts, and Applications
Starting out learning a new discipline is often the hardest part. You need to grow familiar with the terminology, concepts, mathematics, and real-world applications of mechatronics. What you learn in your first course or self-teaching will be the foundation of everything you learn from then on, so it’s critically important that your introductory material is as thorough and well-presented as possible.
No first- or second-year undergraduate level text prepares budding mechatronic engineers for the rest of their educations as does Mechatronics: Principles, Concepts, and Applications by Nitaigour Mahalik. The book presents the myriad fundamental concepts of mechatronics from the fields of mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering as well as computer science in an easy-to-digest and incremental way, peppered with real-world applications of the principles introduced in each chapter.
Getting Deeper: Control Systems Engineering
Getting the basics under your belt is just the first step into this broad field of engineering. While Control Systems Engineering by Norman S. Nise focuses on the same areas as the previous book, it assumes that its readers already have at least a first year undergraduate knowledge of engineering and physics, going much deeper into the subject matter and serving as an excellent follow-up. This book spends more time both on the fundamental theory behind mechatronics principles and presents more complex and detailed examples of real-world applications.
Developing Expertise in a Subfield: Robot Modeling and Control
As the title might suggest, Robot Modeling and Control by Mark Spong, Seth Hutchinson, and Mathukumalli Vidyasagar, focuses on robotics through the lens of mechatronics. Not only is it an excellent robotics textbook, but it provides an illuminating overview of mechatronics as a whole.
Engineering textbooks have a bad reputation for being dry and bogged down with unnecessarily long chapters on theory, physics, and computer science. These sections can be illuminating, but they are not always easy to get through or understand, nor are they always necessary for an engineer. This book avoids those pitfalls expertly, presenting the material positively and with the kind of enthusiasm that robotics deserves.
For the Hands-on Learner: Mechatronics for the Evil Genius
Not everyone interested in learning mechatronics is destined to become a roboticist or mechatronic engineer, and some are not engineers at all. Mechatronics for the Evil Genius: 25 Build-It-Yourself Projects by Newton C. Braga is a compilation of projects that plunge the reader into the deep end, encouraging learning by doing. While the book is light on theory, it is an enjoyable hands-on overview of mechatronics that exemplifies the breadth of the field.
Are these books on your reading list now? If you’re interested in earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering Technology with a focus in Mechatronics, there’s no time like the present to see if you would be a good fit for a degree program. ECPI University offers this program is an accelerated course with year-round classes, enabling students to graduate sooner and start working in their field faster. For more information, connect with a friendly admissions advisor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.