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Spring 2004 |
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Cover Story
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Thanks to a gift from Caterpillar Inc., Iowa State University engineering students are now able to hone their mechatronics skills in a laboratory dedicated to that discipline. The new laboratory supports projects that merge electronic controls with mechanical components. The new lab was dedicated last November. Engineering faculty, staff, and students, as well as representatives from Caterpillar, attended the event. The new lab will further prepare today’s students to meet tomorrow’s engineering challenges. “Products are no longer simply ‘mechanical’ or ‘electrical,’ but are complex combinations including mechanical, hydraulic, thermal, electrical, computer, and software systems,” Brian Steward, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, said. “The term ‘mechatronic’ is an attempt to capture the blurring of engineering systems required for today’s products. To deliver these  types of systems, companies need engineering graduates who can work across different systems to do mechatronic engineering.”Caterpillar Inc., a Fortune 100 company, is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. The company’s relationship with Iowa State’s College of Engineering dates back to 1930. As one of the college’s Strategic Industrial Partners, Caterpillar recruits and hires Iowa State students for cooperative learning, internship, and summer employment positions; lends its executives for service on the college’s industrial advisory boards; and invests in research activities. More than 200 Iowa State engineering graduates are working within the Caterpillar organization, several in key management positions. “As an Iowa State engineering graduate myself, I appreciate the high standards to which the college holds its students,” Sid Banwart, Caterpillar vice president, systems and processes division, and chief information officer, said. “Likewise, the college’s long-standing commitment to tailoring its curriculums to meet ongoing industry needs encourages corporations like Caterpillar to give back and ensure that excellence in engineering education continues.” Engineering Dean James Melsa underscored the increasing importance of industrial partners such as Caterpillar in keeping Iowa State engineering students at the forefront of the profession. “With diminished support from public sources,” Melsa observed, “we look to private concerns such as Caterpillar to invest in their own futures by investing in the education of their future employees. I can think of no better example of the direct connection among education, technological innovation, and a dynamic economy than this lab. Everybody wins.” In the new Caterpillar Mechatronics Laboratory, undergraduate and graduate students will carry out exercises involving data acquisition, electronic and mechanical interfacing, electrohydraulic actuation and control, dynamic systems, and computer modeling. These fundamental capabilities for computer interfacing, modeling, and control are intended to both provide a learning foundation for students and expand companies’ research in the area of mechatronics and hydraulics. Currently, according to Steward, agricultural and biosystems engineering students are using this knowledge to design projects like an autonomous agricultural vehicle to be used for the robotic collection of soil samples in agricultural fields. Engineering faculty members say the hands-on, solution-oriented learning provided by the lab will be a powerful motivator for students. |
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