Distributed Engineering Education Resource E-learning Network in Medical Mechatronics

⎯ Medical mechantronics (MM) is a newly designed multidisciplinary study program in response to the urgent needs for training engineering students with medical modality development skills in Taiwan. Chang Gung University(Taiwan) offers a master degree program in medical mechatronics. This program is designed to accept engineering and non-engineering degree students with interdisciplinary curriculum to expose students with diverse techniques (e.g .domain knowledge, hands-on skills, teamwork attitude, and creative thinking).All enrolled students are encouraged to participate a hands-on design project during their study. This paper describes the training protocol of student hands-on design project and establishment of the distributed design engineering resource e-learning network . The activities in the hands-on design project includes conceptual design, engineering analysis, interdisciplinary work team , progress report and presentation, literature and patent search, scientific /research methodology, and final product demonstration. The function of the distributed design resource e-learning network includes virtue design, virtue analysis, virtue manufacturing and virtue assembly for the hands-on designed prototype. A student hands-on design project entitled “design of a transformable driver seat / wheelchair automatic lifting system “ completed in one semester is presented in detailed. The work consists of system requirement analysis using Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) technique, establish system design specification based on House of Quality (HoQ) method, perform conceptual mechanism design utilizes TechOptimizer, construct 3D computer model using Solid Works package, simulate mechanism motion with working model software, perform structural analysis using finite element analysis package, and finally construct a prototype for functional verification Key Words⎯Medical Mechatronics , hands-on design, engineering education.