Application of Web Technologies in Automation Technology Education

Abstract

Automation is an interdisciplinary technology. It covers design, material, electric, automatic control, electronic, optical and so on. Hands-on experiences in automation technology education are typically provided through laboratories and expert’s experience. However, laboratories require a high investment in both equipment and instructor time, and expert’s experience is often limited.

The objectives of this paper is to develop an e-learning system to teach automation technology and engage students in real-world applications to positively impact student motivation and conceptual understanding of automation engineering. To achieve these objectives, the course model is designed based on functional design approaches. The principle of manufacturing features and group technology are applied to develop learning strategy to improve student’s practice ability on the process planning. Learning of process parameters are designed to use virtual reality as a tool that integrates the fundamental concepts of design, analysis, and manufacturing. The developed virtual hands-on laboratories are added to online education that can be manipulated remotely.

Key Words:

• Automation technology
• e-learning system
• virtual laboratory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Jou

Min Jou received his Ph.D. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He joined the faculty and appointed as the Chairman for Mechanical Engineering Department from 1997 to 2000 in National United University. In 2001, he joined the faculty in National Taiwan Normal University. He has authored one technical book in design, and over 40 research papers in diverse areas of computer technology, control, e-learning technology and automation. In addition to, he served as reviewer of numerous SCI & SSCI indexed journals for many years. In 2006, International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED, Canada) appointed him to serve as technical committee on the Web, Internet, and Multimedia. He is also the editor of International Journal of Electronic Democracy (Springer). He teaches multidisciplinary courses in control, computer aided engineering, and mechatronics, his current research interests include industrial education, e-learning technology, manufacturing technology, control engineering and mechatronics.

J.-K. Shiau

Jaw-Kuen Shiau received his — B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Electronic Engineering from Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan, in 1981 and 1983 respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA in 1995. He had worked in industry and government laboratory on high performance fighter aircraft flight control system design for over 10 years. He is a member of IEEE. Since 1997, he has been with the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taiwan. His research interests include robust control, flight control system design, avionics system design and integration for UAV, solar power management system for UAV and network control systems.

H.-W. Zhang

Han-Wei Zhang is a graduate student in National Taiwan Normal University.