© 2022 Jean Bosco Samon and Brice Landry Tekam Guessom. This open access article is distributed under a Creative
Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
Journal of Mechatronics and Robotics
Original Research Paper
Analysis of Mechatronics Degree Evaluation Models
Jean Bosco Samon and Brice Landry Tekam Guessom
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ngaoundere, Cameroon
Article history
Received: 14-04-2022
Revised: 03-07-2022
Accepted: 05-07-2022
Corresponding Author:
Jean Bosco Samon
Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of
Ngaoundere, Cameroon
Email: jboscosamon@gmail.com
Abstract: A mechatronic system is an intelligent product that is usually very
complex and deserves to be characterized. The complexity comes from the
number of integration of functions in a single product. Mechatronizability,
which is the ability of the degree of mechatronics of a system, is a remarkable
characteristic for designers to decide the level of complexity at the design
stage of multifunctional products. The concern is therefore to estimate the
multifunctional degree of a mechatronic product. After the description and
analysis of a mechatronic system, two methodological approaches are
proposed based on three metric models: the functional integration indicator
which reflects the degree of collaboration of components in the realization of
functions of a product. The functional complexity indicator which reflects
the level of interpenetration between the elements belonging to the different
domains existing in each of the product functions. The functional
dematerialization indicator which measures the degree of integration of
electronic "E", computer "I" and automatic "A" areas in a product. These
indicators have been applied to a hydraulic pump. The designer will now have to
know the mechatronizability of a product to decide on its degree of intelligence.
Keywords: Metrics, Product Design, Mechatronic Evaluation,
Mechatronizability, Functional Analysis
Introduction
The birth of mechatronics can be considered a
revolution for the industrial world. The use of these
systems quickly became widespread and now influences
almost all sectors of industry today. The term
mechatronics responds to the need to define an industrial
activity for the development of hybrid products that
integrate, in an advanced and hitherto unseen way,
technologies that have been used separately until now. It
defines design engineering as aimed at the synergistic
integration of mechanics, electronics, automation, and
computer science in the design and manufacture of a
product to increase and/or optimize its functionality
(Leonida, 2017). Mechatronics is also promoted as a
technology that reduces costs and increases the added value
of the product by increasing its functionality.
In the light of the literature, two currents of thought
are observed.
The mechatronics trend that aims to design and
manufacture integrated products has continued to develop
to the point that nowadays the scope of mechatronics
covers many of our everyday or industrial objects and
includes for example the development of the Internet of
Things (Ajah et al., 2015). The Internet of Things has
been identified as a very high-growth sector very shortly.
Indeed, these commonly used products offer a very wide
spectrum of functional services. Mechatronics, on the
other hand, is studied from several perspectives: Ontology
development aspects for collaborative engineering are
studied by (Damjanović et al., 2007) and also touch on
transdisciplinary education (Pop and Măties, 2010),
emphasizing the need for professional training
throughout a mechatronics pathway and specific
problem-solving methods as levers for success (Pop et al.
2010). Connected objects, (Ajah et al., 2015) that
integrate into physical systems also present an important
part of the research as well as the reliability of
mechatronic systems (Demri, 2009).
Mechatronics is therefore essential to the industry of
the future and consequently to the factory of the future
since without mechatronics there would be no intelligence
or connectivity between machines. Moreover, companies
both supply and use mechatronic technology solutions. It
is, therefore, appropriate to study how companies that
produce and market these products are organized. It is still
necessary to find a population of companies that allows
concrete and precise targeting (Fradi et al., 2021).
Yet another trend concerns metrics for modeling
mechatronic design processes (Bonjour et al., 2009;
Bonjour and Micaelli, 2009), facilitating the evaluation of