Mechatronics: Now and Then.

The name "Mechatronics" was originated in 1969 by senior engineer Tetsuro Mori. He was working for a Japanese company called Yaskawa Electric Corporation that had been creating mechanical factory equipment for some time.

At that time, Yaskawa Electric Corporation was using some electronic features for manufacturing mechanical equipment. Mori wanted to introduce a technical term for that new technology, so he combined the two technical words ‘mechanical’ and ‘electronics’ and created the new word "Mechatronics."

Earlier, this term was based on only some electrical and electronic computers, but after the 1980s, the use of computer technology was integrated. The controlling and functioning of machines became much easier by using computer hardware and software. This allowed the start of manufacturing of a variety of products of any size with very high accuracy and comparatively low cost.

Nowadays, robotics has become a major field in Mechatronics. Robot development has expanded to an audience of tinkerers, college degree programs, industrial developers and major suppliers of hardware.  The robot industry in North America is estimated to be a $1.3 billion market and growing rapidly.

The concept of the robot has been with us for almost 100 years.  It has always been man’s fantasy to be perform work without effort. Let’s face it, if you could have a robot that does all the heavy lifting, doesn’t get tired or cranky, doesn’t make mistakes, it would be a great thing.

Many of the applications that robots are being developed for are cases where a human being would be at serious risk.  Bomb disposal, repairing leaky nuclear reactors, even military combat are all areas of development for robotics.  The challenges have consistently been the cost and sophistication of the machine that can replace a human in any of these situations.  Those costs have been declining rapidly with the digital revolution.  The real challenge, as with all great mechatronic challenges, is to come up with ever more sophisticated mechanical solutions that make the end product cost effective to produce.

Taken from:www.mechatronictips.com

2. Design a short activity for the learners that focuses on one or more of the features of tense and aspect discussed this week.

-After reading the text, analyzing the unknown vocabulary and checking comprehension through some oral questions, i.e. Who was the creator of the term “Mechatronics”? Which company started using this techonology and when?.

- After having ss reflect on the main points of the reading, in pairs, they make a timeline of the most important events of the text “Mechatronics: Now and Then.” T makes ss reflect on the grammar that is being used and why it is being placed at certain point in the timeline.

Events to organize: - Many of the applications that robots are being developed for are cases where a human being would be at serious risk.- Computer hardware and software began to be used to make the control and function of a machine easier.- The name "Mechatronics" was originated in 1969 by senior engineer Tetsuro Mori.- The real challenge, as with all great mechatronic challenges, is to come up with ever more sophisticated mechanical solutions that make the end product cost effective to produce.- Yaskawa Electric Corporation was using a new technology, for manufacturing mechanical equipment.-Robotics has become a major field in Mechatronics.

-T introduces tense and aspect of the verb, T explains by using some sentences as examples:

i.e. Robot development has expanded to an audience of tinkerers…

TENSE ASPECT VERBpresent perfect expand

-Using sentences from the previous text, ss make the same categorization.

WORKSHEET:

1. He was working for a Japanese company.TENSE ASPECT VERB

2. Yaskawa Electric Corporation that had been creating mechanical factory equipment for some time.

TENSE ASPECT VERB

3. Yaskawa Electric Corporation was using some electronic features for manufacturing mechanical equipment.

TENSE ASPECT VERB

4. Mori wanted to introduce a technical term for that new technology.TENSE ASPECT VERB

5. This allowed the start of manufacturing of a variety of products.

TENSE ASPECT VERB

6. Those costs have been declining rapidly with the digital revolution.TENSE ASPECT VERB

3. Explain in your post the reasoning underlying your activity and the language awareness objectives you have for the activity.

I decided to use a reading that was related to the students’ career ‘Mechatronics’, since at the moment I am teaching an ESP class. “Mechatronics: Now and Then” describes the origin of this discipline and how it has evolved, by now including Robotics as part of its present and future.

My students are very interested in texts that talk about their career, this helps me introduce any grammatical content in an easier way. By using the timeline activity, learners are able to indentify the use of the grammatical tenses in a more visual way. Since they can notice why an event that is using the simple past goes before an event that is written with a present tense.

After students become aware of these elements, T introduces through an explicit approach, the tense and aspect of the sentences, this way learners become fully aware of these elements and distinguish them in some of the sentences that were previously placed in the timeline.

The overall objective is to help students identify the meaning, as well as the time in which an event happens.