Mechatronics: Sensors, Actuators, Embedded Control and Intelligent Machines — From First Principles to Industry 4.0, Robots and Digital Twins (Humanoid Robotics) - Softcover

Lip Phang, Chong

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798163551477

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

Learn to design machines that sense, think and act — from the physics of a sensor to a PLC-controlled, vision-guided workcell.

Mechatronics is a complete, modern textbook for engineering undergraduates and serious makers. It covers everything the classic mechatronics courses teach — sensors, actuators, signal conditioning, microcontrollers, modelling, control, PLCs and fluid power — and adds what today's industry actually uses: field-oriented motor control, IEC 61131-3 Edition 4 (2025), EtherCAT, IO-Link, OPC UA and MQTT, ISO 13849-1:2023 functional safety and ISO 10218:2025 cobot safety, TinyML on microcontrollers, digital twins and virtual commissioning.

Theory is complete and always worked: Laplace and z-transforms, Bode plots and root loci, state space, PID, LQR and the Kalman filter, each with numeric examples checked in Python. And theory always lands on hardware you can build for a modest budget.

Three lab benches run through the book:

• MotorLab — a DC gearmotor with an encoder, current sensing and an ESP32-S3, used for modelling, system identification, PID, digital control and field-oriented control of a brushless motor.
• Balancer — a two-wheeled self-balancing robot for state space, LQR and sensor fusion.
• SortCell — a desktop conveyor sorting cell with industrial sensors, a stepper pusher, pneumatics, an emergency-stop circuit and a soft PLC running CODESYS or OpenPLC, connected over Modbus TCP and OPC UA to a Python digital twin.

The capstone adds a vision-guided pick-and-place gantry and walks through requirements, design, wiring, software, testing and the design review.

Python simulations run with their real output, ESP32-S3 and Raspberry Pi Pico 2 firmware compiled with Arduino CLI, Structured Text compiled with an IEC 61131-3 compiler, circuits simulated in ngspice and Verilog simulated in Icarus.


What you will learn

• Foundations: the mechatronic design process and the VDI/VDE 2206 V-model, measurement uncertainty and calibration, and the maths and Python toolkit.
• Electronics for mechatronics: switching inductive loads, op-amp signal conditioning, 4–20 mA loops, power converters, H-bridges and inverters, batteries, grounding, EMC and PCB design in KiCad 10.
• Embedded computing: microcontrollers, timers and PWM, encoder decoding, ADC sampling synchronised to PWM, UART, I²C, SPI and CAN, real-time software with FreeRTOS, data acquisition and digital filters.
• Sensors: encoders, resolvers, proximity and time-of-flight sensors, MEMS inertial sensors, strain gauges and load cells, temperature, flow and level, cameras and LiDAR.
• Actuators and drives: gears, ball screws and reducers, solenoids, brushed DC, stepper, brushless and induction motors, VFDs and servo drives, pneumatics, hydraulics, piezo and smart-material actuators, and how to size them.
• Modelling and control: mechanical, electrical, fluid and thermal models, frequency response and vibration, system identification, PID with anti-windup, lead–lag design, digital control in fixed point, state feedback, observers, LQR, Kalman filtering, motion profiles, MPC, sliding-mode, adaptive, fuzzy and iterative learning control.
• Industrial automation: PLCs in ladder, FBD, Structured Text and SFC, PackML, Modbus, PROFINET, EtherCAT, IO-Link, HMI and SCADA, OPC UA, MQTT, IEC 62443 and machine safety.
• Industrial robots and intelligent machines: robot kinematics and cobots, AGVs and AMRs, CNC machines and motion controllers, industrial machine vision, TinyML, digital twins, hardware-in-the-loop testing, condition monitoring and reliability.
• Mechatronics in practice: case studies of cameras, washing machines, hard disk drives, 3D printers, robot vacuums, engine management, ABS, electric vehicles, e-bikes and drones.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798163551477
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 798