The Beginner Introduction

The word comes from "mechanics" and "electronics". Honestly, it's a pretty diluted term, and the focus of this website might also be described as just "electronic prototyping". But we decided to use Mechatronic prototyping - so deal with it!

When prototyping within the field of mechatronics, you will often use either a computer () or a micro controller ( or ). To understand what that is in general terms, see the following figure of a shepherd.

Awesome analogy
In this analogy, the shepherd is the computer. On a computer you can write code and execute it, meaning that you can decide the best way to control your sheep and then do it yourself. Sometimes, however it's nice to have some assistance. That's where the herding dog comes into the picture. In this analogy the dog is the micro controller. The micro controller can't figure out how to control the sheep, but if trained (coded) properly, it can control the sheep and do tasks that the computer might not be able to do. So what do they control? Picture the sheep as being different functions. Do you want to measure a distance, or save how many times a button has been pushed, or just light an ? Whether or not this happens is controlled by either a computer or a micro controller.

And where are you in this analogy? Well, you are God of cause. The great almighty, who will decide the purpose of all the creatures of the land.

The other Introductions

Coming down from that ego-high, it's now time to look at what you can/need to learn to succeed in mechatronic prototyping.

A lot of the work when doing mechatronic prototyping is coding, so if you don't know any code language, this might end up being quite the challenge, but that doesn't mean impossible. We recommend you read the introduction to coding in mechatronics, so that you can read and adjust the code you copy from the internet (yes, this is the most common way to do it). You do not need to be a coding genious to learn how to make mechatronic prototypes, so push on dear student!

Okay, you might not be ready to design your own prototypes yet, but you will soon, and then it's super important to be creative, and understand the limits and strengths of different solutions. So read this great introduction, and allow yourself to become more open minded.

Pretty self explainatory, but since you've only scratched the surface of this website, it might be a good idea to see what else you can learn here. Also, when you've learned the basics you can use it to look up code on some of the different circuits.

As you might have realized, we like to talk about platforms. We've have chosen to work with both , , and , but what is a platform? We've tried our best to explain what we consider a platform, and how understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a platform might help you become better and more effecient at prototyping.

Well, aren't you growing up so fast. Moving on from this website is important and therefore we would recommend some great tools and destinations for your future travles within the universe of mechatronic prototyping! Did you think that you actually needed to have a micro controller to create a circuit with one? Think again, and check out this guide to find out how you can start before you have the parts at home.

Before you leave us, it might be a good idea, to learn a little more about prototyping. In this introduction we'll teach you our recommended prototyping process, that will help you structure and document your prototyping. You might think, "that will just slow me down", but believe us, when we say that it's a good idea to have good structure when things start getting more complex. Especially, if you need to showcase your prototype in a professional or academic setting.

Last Advice

"Stay Golden Ponyboy"

Also, head into guides and try out some projects ! It's really cool!

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