Dr.Anjali Vishwas Kulkarni
Indian Institutes of Technology Kanpur, India
Title: Mechatronics: The gateway to the national development
Biography
Biography: Dr.Anjali Vishwas Kulkarni
Abstract
Technology is all pervading in today’s world. Hence, learning and development of technological skills is very important. This can be achieved with a paradigm shift of using Technology based science education. Most gadgets and equipment today are mechatronic devices. Mobile technology is one such example which has made tremendous impact on our life style. Mechatronics is a design practice in applying mechanical engineering, control theory, computer science, electronics and electrical engineering, sensor and actuator technologies to improve products or processes. This technology has produced many new products and provided powerful ways of improving the efficiency of the products. The lecture will discuss about the present scenario, the research experience and the future trends in this area. The applications of Mechatronics in the fields such as medical, material handling, military, rescue operations and industry automation will be discussed. Some of the facilities at IIT Kanpur useful in realizing these research trends will be touched upon. On-line courses on robotics and mechatronics for teachers of IIT’s, NIT’s and Government Engineering colleges have been under consideration for making Mechatronics more popular and penetrating. This will in turn foster the government mandate of Digital India. Another aspect of mechatronics being explored is in providing the hands-on technical education for students through numerous workshops. This is proving to be fruitful in generating the technological awareness and interest. Mechatronics being the applied subject is very challenging with many entrepreneur potentials. Graduate students, women and men alike, can come forward to initiate small-scale business in one of the many aspects of the mechatronic product, these are: over-all design process, mechanical design, manufacturing, programming, electronics and electrical control, sensors design and fabrication, to name a few. Government is also promoting the establishment of startups and facilitating the overall process. In my opinion, national development in every sense is through the use and development of technologies and the gateway to this progress leads through the Mechatronics.