electrical versus mechanical designing

The Electronic-Mechanical Engineering Course in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering was originally established under the Department of Electronic-Mechanical Engineering in 1982 for the following three reasons.

(a) Historical background: Recent developments in micro-electronics technology and computer science influence mechanical engineering and produce new intelligent machines with advanced technology based on computer-aided design (CAD), computeraided manufacturing (CAM), numerically controlled machine tools, industrial robots, etc. As a result, electronic-mechanical engineering was founded to integrate conventional mechanical engineering with electronics and information engineering electrical vs mechanical engineering.

(b) Regional advantage: There are many large manufacturing companies in the aerospace industry, automotive industry, steel industry, mechanical industry, etc., in the Chubu region, i.e., the central region of Japan ’s main island. They all require the development of new and innovative electronic-mechanical engineering technologies.

(c) Human resources: Education for engineers and researchers to acquire knowledge of recently developed technologies in electronic-mechanical engineering is also needed. They are expected to design and produce value-add products using integrated knowledge of electronics and information engineering as well as conventional mechanical engineering.

The Department of Electronic-Mechanical Engineering started with three research groups (the Mechatronics Basic Theory Research Group, the Mechatronics Applied Design Research Group, and the Ultra-Precision Machining Research Group). After that, more research groups joined the department, and they established the Department of Electronic-Mechanical Engineering. By 1992, the department consisted of six research groups. In 1994, owing to a proposed government policy giving overriding priority to the graduate school, the department joined the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering together with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Mechano-Informatics and Systems, and changed its name to the Electronic-Mechanical Engineering Course.

The Electronic-Mechanical Engineering Course provides a curriculum with a variety of topics including mechatronics and aerospace engineering as well as conventional mechanical engineering in collaboration with other courses in the department (the Mechanical System Engineering course and the Aerospace Engineering course).

 In the first year, students study basic subjects such as mathematics and physics, which are common to all courses in the department. Professional education is available after the first year. The subjects of professional education in the Electronic-Mechanical course include basic mechanical engineering, electronics, basic information engineering, control engineering, robotics, computer-aided design engineering, etc. Students can acquire knowledge to design intelligent and integrated mechanical systems.

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