Design and implementation of a Semester I for mechatronics

Abstract

This work presents a “Semester I” experience developed for a group of 8th-semester students of Mechatronic Engineering (IMT) on the Laguna campus of the Tecnologico de Monterrey. The students received twenty-seven content modules related to seven subjects (which met their curricular training requirements), and they were given tools to solve the challenges to real world problems in the community. In addition to these contents, students had to delve into knowledge and skills not previously learned in their scholastic careers but which were necessary to solve the challenges. These included different methods for the measurement of non-constant and turbulent fluids as well as techniques for plant irradiation. During the semester, the periods of total immersion were planned times that would be dedicated to work on the resolution of the challenges, when the students, professors and advisers worked collaboratively. Two training partners participated; namely, Madero Equipos de Ordeno, S.A. de C.V., and Almerimex, S.A. de C.V. (In Mexico, “S.A. de C.V.” designates a corporation.) The training partners provided advice to the students so that they could design a milk flow sensor and a bactericidal system with Ultraviolet-C light (UV-C light) and also manage the costs of building the prototypes designed. For the students, the semester served to measure disciplinary competencies such as the design, construction and testing of a mechatronic system prototype and the design and analyses of experiments. They also acquired transversal competencies such as the passion for self-learning and critical thinking for the identification and analysis of a problem and the generation of alternatives to solve it.