Teaching Creative Mechanism Design by Integrating Synthesis Methodology and Physical Models

Abstract

Teaching young graduate students in the field of mechanical design has always been a challenging task. In particular, imparting some aspects on the creative design of mechanisms and robotics by far introduces additional difficulties. Because almost all existing systematic design or synthesis methodologies for the creative design, have a close connection with complicate mathematic tools. The objective of this paper is therefore to present a teaching approach based on an overview of pedagogical challenges of the authors in the past 8 years in teaching “Creative Design of Mechanisms and Robotics” to graduate students enrolled in mechanical engineering. One of the major components of the course is screw theory and its application to creative design of mechanical devices. In view of the fact that a large number of abstract concepts concerned, which heavily hinders the understanding of kernel knowledge, a reconfigurable model, based on the modularity design paradigm and latest study on flexures-based compliant mechanisms, is developed recently and integrated into impartation of a series of associating abstract knowledge. This paper outlines latest one-year experience of how the students are guided to learn the model-theory-integrated approach to creative design in a comparatively simple way.