KB6058 - Automation and Mechatronics

Active learning sessions will allow you to engage with and appraise new material and assist you in exploring and critiquing key concepts and topics within the module. Sessions will involve a combination of content delivery and practical learning exercises to enable you to apply your learning to complex and authentic engineering problems. A problem-solving focused curriculum will allow you to explore and analyse solutions to complex challenges where wide-ranging and conflicting constraints require innovative discovery and enterprise. Learning activities will enable students to work collaboratively and practice and reflect upon of teamwork and communication skills, and the facilitation of creative thinking approaches to solve open-ended engineering problems.

During your active learning sessions, academic support will be available to facilitate your exploration of the problem-solving activities. Formative feedback will be provided by the module team, including answering student queries and providing guidance concerning the module such as assessments and your academic progress. The electronic learning platform (eLP) provides a comprehensive resource for integrated learning incorporating learning materials and reading lists that will facilitate directed and self-directed learning. Contact with academic tutors and your peers outside formal teaching hours is encouraged through dedicated ‘office hours’, discussion boards and messaging systems within the eLP. Professional support staff, such as Ask4Help, provide the first point of contact for a range of queries, including, for example, those concerning assessment submission, late submission/extensions, and other administrative issues.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
MLO1. Apply knowledge of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles to the solution of complex problems. Some of the knowledge will involve leading-edge automation processes and be at the forefront of the field of mechatronics.
MLO2. Select and evaluate technical literature and other sources of information to select and apply appropriate materials, equipment, engineering technologies and processes, recognising their limitations.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO3. Use practical laboratory and workshop skills to investigate complex problems requiring automation and mechatronic solutions.
MLO4. Discuss the role of quality management systems and continuous improvement in the context of automation and how they are utilised in complex problems.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO5. Apply creativity and curiosity to analyse complex mechatronics-based problems to reach substantiated conclusions using first principles of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles.

Formative Assessment
Academic staff on the module will assess you in a formative manner to help build your confidence and highlight any misunderstandings you may have of the theoretical and professional concepts presented in the module. Your formative feedback will be given to you either verbally by academic staff on the module during formally scheduled teaching sessions or using the eLP. Your formative feedback aims to help you learn and prepare for the submission of your summative assessment.

Summative Assessment
Academic staff on the module will assess you in a summative manner by two pieces of assessment:
Component 1 to assess your knowledge and understanding, practical and theoretical, of automation and mechatronics to investigate and recognise their limitations in complex problems (MLOs 1-3 through completing an industry compatible written submission
Component 2, will evaluate your ability to apply creativity and curiosity to analyse complex mechatronics-based problems, reaching substantiated conclusions using engineering principles within a culture of quality management systems and continuous improvement, MLOs 4 and 5, in an industry compatible written submission.

Feedback will be provided electronically through the eLP or student email within 20 working days of the date of submission.

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This module explores automation systems and the devices that may be used to construct such systems. The safe and efficient implementation of such systems to achieve organisational aims will be explored, supported by the applied investigation of technical aspects such as sensor design and integration, machine control and programming that contribute towards the successful design and selection of automation systems. In the module, you will be encouraged to investigate and gain confidence in research and critical thinking through the application of appropriate knowledge and methodologies to tackle complex problems. Active learning sessions will allow you to engage with and appraise new material and assist you in exploring and critiquing key concepts and topics within the module. Sessions will involve a combination of content delivery and practical learning exercises to enable you to apply your learning to complex and authentic engineering problems. The module utilises the electronic learning platform (eLP) to provide a comprehensive resource for integrated learning incorporating learning materials and reading lists that will facilitate directed and self-directed learning.