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Mechatronics xxx (2006) xxx–xxx
Mechatronics curriculum development at Philadelphia
University in Jordan
Tarek A. Tutunji *, Mazin Jumah, Yehia Hosamel-deen, Saber Abd Rabbo
Mechatronics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Philadelphia University, P.O. Box 1, 19392, Jordan
Received 1 March 2005; accepted 14 March 2006
Abstract
Mechatronics system engineering has gained global interest in the past decade from the educational and industrial sectors. Several
universities in the middle east have introduced mechatronics engineering for undergraduate studies. One of those pioneers is Philadelphia
University (PU) in Jordan. This paper presents the mechatronics curriculum developed at Philadelphia University with emphasis on
regional needs. The paper also includes comparisons among local and global curricula. It is concluded that there is a rising demand
of mechatronics engineering studies in the middle east. Local mechatronics programs must establish strong ties to the local industry
and cooperate with global partner universities in order to overcome obstacles such as lack of funded research and design centers.
2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Mechatronics curriculum development; Mechatronics study in the middle east
1. Introduction
The term mechatronics was first used in the late 1960s by
a Japanese Electric Company to describe the engineering
integration between mechanical and electrical systems
[1,2]. Mechatronics can be defined as the analysis, design,
and integration of mechanics with electronics through
intelligent computer control. Today, mechatronics system
engineering has gained much recognition and importance
in the industrial world and therefore many universities
have established engineering degrees in mechatronics.
Middle eastern universities initiated mechatronics programs in the late 90s. Since then, the local interest in this
discipline has increased tremendously. Universities in Jor-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +962 2637444x253, +962 7777 464516
(mobile); fax: +962 26374440.
E-mail addresses: ttutunji@yahoo.com, ttutunji@philadelphia.edu.jo
(T.A. Tutunji), y.hendawy@philadelphia.edu.jo, yhendawy@yahoo.com
(Y. Hosamel-deen), saberabdrabbo@yahoo.com (S.A. Rabbo).
dan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and United Arab Emirates currently offer mechatronics degrees.
PU in Jordan is one of the mechatronics engineering pioneers in the middle east region. The mechatronics program
was initiated in year 2000 and accredited by the Ministry of
Higher Education in Jordan by 2004. The mechatronics faculty at PU includes well qualified professors with educational and industrial experiences from around the globe:
USA, Japan, England, and Egypt. This faculty was, and still
is heavily involved in workshops around the middle east
(Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt) that discuss, compare, and
develop mechatronics systems curricula.
Many papers have been published that discuss mechatronics curriculum and education development in North
America and Europe [3–8], but none have focused on
mechatronics education in the middle east.
This paper presents the Philadelphia University experience in teaching mechatronics engineering in the middle
east. The paper will also include comparisons among local
and global university curricula with emphasis on regional
needs and objectives.
0957-4158/$ - see front matter 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.mechatronics.2006.03.009
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2. Motivations and objectives
The plan to launch a mechatronics curriculum at PU
was motivated by several factors:
2.1. Industrial needs
As regional industry developed through automated production and computerized manufacturing, requirements
for multi-disciplinary engineers with in-depth knowledge
of mechanics, electronics, and computers increased. The
demand for such system engineers was fast developing,
even though ‘‘mechatronics’’ as a term was still not known
in the industry.
The rising demand for mechatronics study in Jordan is
evident by the increasing number of students at PU as
shown in Fig. 1. Other local and regional universities have
shown similar trends [9–12]. Furthermore, the increasing
development of automatic production, micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), intelligent sensors, and automotive technology accelerated the growth of mechatronics as
documented by several reports [13–16].
2.2. Educational motivation
As interaction among different engineering fields
increased, students were encouraged to study system functionality. This developed the need for a curriculum that
offers integrated system engineering.
2.3. Mechanical engineering development
As technology advanced, computers and electronics
started to play bigger roles in mechanical systems and
therefore more and more mechanical engineers started to
take computer and electronics courses in order to
strengthen their grasp on mechanical system technology.
Surveys to the industry showed that companies expect
mechanical engineers to have computer science and electronics skills [17].
Given the cited three main motivations, PU underscored
that its main objectives in launching the mechatronics curriculum was to provide the following:
a. Integrated system education to equip the graduates
with the necessary knowledge and skills needed for
the regional industry.
b. In-depth knowledge in the analytical, experimental,
and computational areas of mechanics, electronics,
control, and computer engineering.
c. Knowledge and skills to analyze, design, program,
build, and maintain fully integrated engineering
systems.
3. Curriculum structure at Philadelphia University
Curriculum at Jordanian Universities must follow general guidelines set by the Accreditation Committee within
the Ministry of Higher Education. These guidelines include
the number of credit hours needed to obtain the BS degree,
the main fields of department expertise that must be covered, the minimum number of laboratories, and an appropriate percentage among the university, faculty, and
department requirements as explained in Sections 3.1–3.3.
Engineering degrees in Jordan are five year programs with
160 credit hours.
The mechatronics curriculum at PU was initially developed by the combined efforts of the mechanical, electrical,
and computer departments at PU. A specialized committee
that consisted of two associate and two assistant professors
(two mechanical engineer, one electrical engineer, and one
computer engineer) was given the task of developing the
curriculum in 1999. The committee studied global curricula
(mainly in North America and Europe), modified per
regional needs and available expertise, and proposed the
mechatronics curriculum in 2000. The initial proposal
had heavy emphasis on mechanical engineering since it
was the offering (mother) department.
In 2002, the mechatronics engineering department was
established as an independent entity in order to nurture
and further develop the curriculum, identify the detailed
250
Students
200
150
100
50
0
2001-2002
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
Academic year
Fig. 1. Number of students at mechatronics department, PU.
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course contents, and establish the laboratories. Initially the
department had one professor, two assistant professors,
and one lab engineer that provided for 39 students. By
2005, the department had grown to include two professors,
two associate professors, two assistant professors, three lab
engineers, and two technicians that provide for 206
students.
The current curriculum is a collaborated result from all
faculty members with regional workshop consultations
over several years of development [9–12]. The curriculum
is described in the rest of this section.
3.1. University requirements
PU, guided by the ministry of higher education and scientific research in Jordan, has set 27 credit hours for general university requirements to be studied by all
university students. They include Arabic and English languages, computer skills, and national studies courses.
3.2. Engineering faculty requirements
The faculty of engineering has set 29 credit hours divided
into two main areas: mathematics and engineering skills.
The former includes the general calculus, differential equations, and numerical analysis needed for engineering students. The later, engineering skills, is concerned with
CAD / CAM
3
developing the students’ engineering personality and leadership. It was noted that in many programs, graduating students lacked the essential communication skills needed to
excel in the real world. In order to treat this phenomena,
PU offers three well designed courses: engineering fundamentals, engineering skills, and entrepreneurship to be studied in the first, third, and fifth years accordingly. These three
chain courses form the backbone of engineering thought.
3.3. Mechatronics department requirements
The mechatronics department requirements were set to
104 credit hours. Those include 95 compulsory and nine
elective hours. mechatronics engineering was divided into
five main fields: electrical and electronics, mechanics, computer, control and instrumentation, and systems as
described below:
3.3.1. Electrical and electronics
This field includes electrical circuits, analog and digital
electronics, power electronics, drive circuits, and electric
machines.
3.3.2. Mechanics
This field includes statics, dynamics, vibrations, thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluids, CAD, manufacturing,
Mechatronics
Senior Project
DSP
Year 5
Automation &
Robotics
Hydraulic &
Pneumatic Syst.
Manufacturing
Technology
Electrical
Machines
Thermofluids
Power Electronic
& Drives
Machine
Design
Analog & Digital
Dynamics &
Vibrations
Electronics
Electrical
Circuits
Statics
Analog &
Digital Control
Machine
Intelligence
Mechatronics
System Design
PLC
Mechatronics
Intro. Project
Year 4
Simulation &
Interface
microcontroller
Systems
Year 3
Sensors &
Actuators
Programming
Year 2
Statistics &
Logic Circuits
Quality Control
Math + Physics + English + Arabic
Year 1
Fig. 2. Department requirement modules for mechatronics engineering at PU distributed across main fields of knowledge.
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[20], University of Glamorgan (Wales) [9,10], as shown in
Table 1.
Several regional universities were also used for comparisons. They are Jordan University, Balqa Applied Science
University, Hashemite University (all three are from Jordan) [11], Tishreen University (Syria) [9,10], Ain Shams
University and 10th of Ramadan University (both are from
Egypt) [21,22], as shown in Table 2.
In both comparison studies, we excluded ‘‘math and science’’ and ‘‘humanities’’ courses in order to emphasize the
core mechatronics courses. The percentage given in the
tables include only the engineering courses taught at the
given universities. The detailed curriculum for each university was analyzed and each course was categorized in one
of the five main fields of study as described in Section 3.3.
material science, machine design, hydraulic and pneumatic
systems.
3.3.3. Control and instrumentation
This field includes analog and digital control systems,
robotics, automation, signal processing, sensors and actuators, statistics and quality control.
3.3.4. Computer engineering
This field includes logic circuits, microprocessors, microcontrollers, PLC, programming, simulation, interface, and
machine intelligence.
3.3.5. Mechatronic system design
This field concentrates on the integration among electronics, mechanics, computer, and control in order to analyze and design fully integrated systems.
Fig. 2 gives the department requirements modules for
mechatronics engineering at PU. The figure is divided into
five rows (representing the five-year program) to show the
order in which the students take those modules. It is also
divided into five columns to emphasize the five main
knowledge fields. For simplicity, the figure combines
related courses (such as analog and digital control) into a
single module.
5. Laboratories at PU
The mechatronics curriculum contains eight laboratories (each with one credit hour). Since mechatronics is
multi-disciplinary, five of those labs are supported by other
engineering departments. These are electrical circuits lab
and electric machines lab are offered by the electrical engineering department, electronics lab offered by the electronics and communication department, mechanical and
vibration labs offered by the mechanical department, and
computer lab offered by the computer department. These
are traditional laboratories that include oscilloscopes, function generators, power supplies, IC components, springmass systems, vibrations apparatus, circuit components,
DC and AC motors, etc.
PU invested heavily in the specialized mechatronics laboratories. Four labs are offered by the department: mechatronics, control, instrumentation, and fluid automation.
The mechtaronics lab contains experiments that are concerned with the design and analysis of fully integrated
mechatronics systems. It emphasizes the microcontrollers
and microprocessors input/output interface through sensors and motors. The lab is equipped with PIC microcontrollers kits, Intel 8085 kits, Motorolla 68HC11, and TI
DSP kits. Programming interfaces include assembly and
C languages.
The instrumentation lab contains different sensors and
transducers such as temperature, optical, conductive,
4. Curriculum structures at other local and global universities
Curricula at several global universities were used as a
benchmark comparison with the PU program. They are
University Linz (Austria) [18], Waterloo University (Canada) [19], North Carolina Sate University, NCSU (USA)
Table 1
Percentage of expertise courses among global universities
Fields of expertise
Electrical
Mechanical
Control
Computer
Systems
Universities with mechatronics degrees (%)
PU
Linza
Waterloo
NCSU
Glamorgan
16
35
23
19
7
34
34
9
11
12
13
29
17
24
17
19
37
10
24
10
29
10
20
15
26
a
Linz offers ten sub-mechatronics degrees. We included only the common courses (i.e. 3.5 years of education) as a benchmark.
Table 2
Percentage of expertise courses among regional universities
Fields of expertise
Electrical
Mechanical
Control
Computer
Systems
Universities with mechatronics degrees (%)
PU
Jordan Univ
Balqa
Hashemite
Tishreen
Ain Shams
10th of Ramadan
16
35
23
19
7
27
25
19.5
19.5
9
42
18
21
9
10
21
26
29
15
9
27
17
31
14
11
16
38
19
17
10
15
40
15
20
10
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capacitive, and strain gauge sensors. The sensors are interfaced with processors and computers through data acquisition systems interfaced through dedicated software such as
LabView and Matlab.
The control lab contains speed-and-position motor control kits, inverted pendulum system (which represents conventional and intelligent control strategy), and complete
pneumatic and hydraulic control units (which include servo
drives, PID controllers, and fluidic memory).
The automation lab contains a CNC machine, a robotic
system (with conveyers, motors, and sensors, which represents flexible manufacturing system), and PLC units.
Fig. 4. Tech arm robot.
6. Projects and regional industry
The mechatronics department at PU promotes practical
graduation projects for the students. Students are encouraged to do reverse engineering of available mechatronic
systems in order to understand the system dynamics and
build a duplicate system. The emphasis is on the actual
implementation and fabrication of a complete mechatronic
system. Through the process, the student learns to analyze
existing technology, understand system functionality,
design, and build products. Two such products were a
CNC (computerized numerical control) machine and a
Tech arm robot shown in Figs. 3–5. In both projects the
students were able to build fully functional prototypes.
All the elements of mechatronics (mechanical, electrical,
control, programming, and system integration) were
involved in both projects.
To further strengthen the student projects, links were
made with the local industry in order to realize in-demand
Fig. 5. CNC prototype.
projects. One such example was the financial support of
King Abdullah II Fund for the building of a full size threeaxis CNC machine. Such machines are in great regional need
Fig. 3. CNC machine: designed and implemented at Philadelphia University.
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and are imported throughout the manufacturing industry.
Building CNC machines locally would be a great success.
Other projects targeted the local industry needs include
the design and implementation of a control system for capsule production and an automatic food processing system.
The mechatronics staff made several visits to a local capsule production company, Arab Pharmaceuticals and
Chemicals, in order to offer consultations on developing
automated systems for the capsule production lines. Students worked on projects that control the oven temperatures and fluid levels.
Contacts were also made with a local vegetable and fruit
processing company in order to develop automated sorting
and grading production lines for their products. Such automated systems are imported from Europe. Our goal is to
work closely with the industry in order to build those systems locally.
7. Challenges
The biggest challenges in developing a successful mechatronics curriculum in the middle east region are as follows:
• The size of the ‘‘production, automation, and manufacturing’’ industry is relatively small.
• The technology used is imported and therefore there is a
lack of design and support centers.
• Research is subdued since most of the local universities
do not offer graduate degrees in mechatronics.
Since mechatronics is an applied and integrated field of
engineering, the lack of a strong industrial foundation
undermines the ability to compete globally. In order to
overcome those obstacles, the mechatronics department
should focus on two fronts:
• Increase the cooperation with the local industry and set
common goals.
• Establish exchange programs with North American,
European, and Japanese universities in order to transfer
the technology and learn from their experience.
References
[1] Harashimi F, Tomizuka M, Fukuda T. Mechatronics: what is it, why,
and how. IEEE/ASME Trans Mech 1996;1:1–4.
[2] Tozimuka Masayoshi. Mechatronics: from the 20th to 21st century.
Control Eng Prac 2002;10:877–86.
[3] Wright Andrew B. Planting the seeds for a mechatronic curriculum at
UALR. Mechatronics 2002;12:271–80.
[4] King Tim. Millwrights to mechatronics: the merits of multi-disciplinary engineering. Mechatronics 1995;5:95–115.
[5] Giorgio Rizzoni, Ali Keyhani. Design of mechatronics systems: an
integrated
inter-departmental
curriculum.
Mechatronics
1995;5(7):845–53.
[6] Lyschevski Sergey Edward. Mechatronics curriculum: retrospect and
prospect. Mechatronics 2002;12:195–205.
[7] Giurgiutiu Victor, Bayoumi Abdel-Moez, Nall Greg. Mechatronics
and smart structures: emerging engineering disciplines for the third
millenium. Mechatronics 2002;12:169–81.
[8] Meek S, Field S, Devasia S. Mechatronics education in the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah. Mechatronics 2003;13:1–11.
[9] TEMPUS-FINSI workshop. Beirut, Lebanon, 28–30 July 2004.
[10] TEMPUS-FINSI workshop. Tripoli, Lebanon, 1–7 September 2004.
[11] Mechatronics day workshop. Amman, Jordan, 3 August 2004.
[12] Engineering accreditation workshop for Jordanian universities.
Amman-Jordan 12 July 2004.
[13] An industry cluster analysis for newva region of Virginia. Prepared by
Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness at Arlington, Virgina. Presented at 5th planning district regional alliance. September
2004.
[14] Thomas Simon. Mechatronics systems: a semiconductor perspective.
A Motorola presentation, 7 September 2004.
[15] The North American market for control and mechatronics in
packaging machinery sector. Published by IMS research, 2003.
[16] A submission to the higher education review committee. Prepared by
the school of mechatronic engineering university of western sydney,
Nepean, 22 April 1997.
[17] Leinonen T, Jutila E, Tenhunen I. On the requirements of industry in
mechanical engineering education. J Eng Educ 1997;1(1).
[18] ‘‘Mechatronik’’ studienplan fur die studienrichtung an der technischnaturwissenschaftlichen fakultat der Johannes Kepler Universitat
Linz 2002–2003.
[19] Mechatronics education in Canada: past experience and future
directions. Presented by University of Waterloo and Canadian
Society for Mechanical Engineering. University of Waterloo, ON,
Canada, 18 May 2001.
[20] North Carolina State University, <http://www.unca.edu/ncsu_engr/
mechatr_links.html>; 2005 [accessed 19.05.05].
[21] Curriculum plan for undergraduate program. Faculty of engineering,
Ain Shams University, Egypt, 2003.
[22] Curriculum plan for undergraduate program. Faculty of engineering,
10th of Ramadan, Egypt, 2004.
8. Conclusions
Philadelphia University (PU) in Jordan is one of the
regional leaders in mechatronics engineering education.
With a well developed curriculum, advanced laboratories
and experienced staff, PU was able to establish a strong
department.
Mechatronics is applied engineering and is heavily
related to the industry. Therefore, mechatronics education
must establish strong ties with the local industry. Furthermore, post graduate programs should be established in
order to energize the research and build the mechatronics
momentum.
Dr. Tarek A. Tutunji is currently serving as the
chairman of the mechatronics department/faculty
of engineering at PU. He has experience in manufacturing and design development where he
worked for four years as manufacturing engineer
with Halliburton in Texas and two years as design
developer with Seagate in Oklahoma. He has a
Ph.D. in industrial engineering and MS in electrical engineering, both from University of
Oklahoma, USA. He is involved in developing the
mechatronics curriculum guidelines at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Integrated Systems Interface (ISI)
Curriculum in the middle east through the TEMPUS-FINSI Joint European Project.
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Prof. Mazin Jumah joined the University of
Technology in Baghdad, department of systems
and control in 1976, became the dean of the
engineering college in 1977, became the president
of the foundation of technical institutes in 1985,
and the president of the University of Technology
in 2001. During that period he has published over
90 papers and books regarding control engineering and education. He has extensive experience in
connecting higher education with the industry
and participated in many regional international
conferences and workshops. He is a currently a member of the mechatronics department at faculty of engineering in PU and is involved with
TEMPUS-FINSI Joint European Project.
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Dr. Saber Abd Rabbo is currently serving as
associate professor in the mechatronics department at PU. He joined the faculty of engineering,
Zagazig University, Benha branch, Egypt in 1985
as assistant lecturer, became assistant professor in
1994, and associate professor in 2005. He has
experience in the field of process control and
automation. He is involved in developing the
mechatronics curriculum guidelines at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He has published over
18 papers in the field of process control, robotics
and automation.
Prof. Yehia Hosamel-deen is currently working as
a member in mechatronics engineering department and vice dean of the faculty of engineering,
PU, Jordan. He is involved in mechatronics curriculum design in 10th of Ramadan engineering
section, Egypt, and PU. He was a head of
mechatronics department in 10th of Ramadan
and PU. Teaching experience is 30 years. He got
the Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA.
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