Dr. M.R. Emami University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies 4925 Dufferin St., Ontario, Canada M3H 5T6 Phone:    +1-416-946-3357 Fax:        +1-416-946-7109 Email:     emami (at_sign) utias.utoronto.ca Web:       Click Here

Aerospace systems are genuine mechatronic artifacts characterized by the synergistic integration of their mechanical, electromechanical, and electronic components, as well as built-in informational constituents in the form of microcontrollers. Design of such systems is challenging, as the conventional decoupled or loosely-coupled approaches can hardly provide optimal or even sub-optimal solutions.

The prime goal of the Space Mechatronics research thrust is to develop systematic frameworks and modular, hierarchical architectures for the concurrent, detail-level engineering of aerospace systems, from conception to configuration and integration, to realization and implementation.
Some of the group's current research topics include:

a) Linguistic Mechatronics: This research introduces the notion of Linguistic Mechatronics as an alternative for concurrent engineering. The new methodology systemizes qualitative and subjective aspects of conceptual design through a practical multiattribute concurrent approach, based on fuzzy logic, yet takes into account objective performances using a holistic mechatronic system modeling. 

b) Free-base Robot Manipulation: The research aims at reformulating the kinematic and dynamic equations of free-base manipulators, based on symplectic geometry, in order to obtain suitable laws for the concurrent base-manipulator motion control. The goal is to develop new generation of free-flying manipulators that can be released from the base station for reaching larger workspaces.

c) Heterogeneous Robotic Team: The implementation of knowledge-base hierarchical control schemes is studied for developing new architectures that allow a team of non-uniform (with respect to both software and hardware) rover platforms to communicate and collaborate in performing various tasks and also to enhance their collective performance in time, without the intervention of a central server or operator.

d) Intelligent Robotic Swarm: The research focuses on creating large quantities (tens to thousands) of rover platforms that are small, simple, and cheap, and that collectively behave similarly to a colony of ants in terms of navigation, communication, interaction, and social learning. 

e) Aerospace Remote Experimentation: The research attempts to establish a transformative vision of remotely-accessible aerospace laboratories for both pedagogical and research purposes. The goal is to enable students and researchers to reliably operate remote devices (such as manipulators) in space and also conduct from Earth future experiments on the moon.

f) Robotic Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation: A practical framework for the concurrent engineering of reconfigurable robot manipulators is constructed through the development of a hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform. The key features of the platform include: hierarchical and modular architecture, knowledge-base capability, object-oriented modeling and design, reconfigurability and scalability, and distance communication between distributed designers and remote hardware/software modules.

g) Detail-level Concurrent Engineering of Mechatronic Systems: Systematic concurrent methodologies, such as Linguistic Mechatronics, are applied to realistic design problems to investigate their merits and also find better solutions for complex systems. Some of the applications include fast-running legged robots, autonomously reconfigurable robot manipulators, rehabilitation robotics, etc.

h) Mechatronics Pedagogy: The research attempts to define a hybrid framework for teaching mechatronics that synergistically utilizes various learning theories. The premise is that teaching mechatronics requires both direct instruction and learner-controlled knowledge construction by integrating Constructivist and Behaviourist learning models through the Elaboration Instructional Design theory.

Research Highlights