Course Description

This course is intended for students beginning the professional study of mechanical engineering. The focus is on combining fundamental concept development with the practical specifications of mechanical components. Subjects covered by this course include engineering basics, failure prevention, gear components, joint components, flexible components, and various other mechanical components. Special topics will be covered regarding the pathway from mechanical engineering fundamentals towards future directions of the design engineers in research and industry towards advanced machinery, automation, and robotics.

• To teach students how to formulate design and manufacturing problems for mechanical systems.
• To teach students how to apply the general mechanical engineering sciences in analyses specific to the design of mechanical components.
• To teach students in a laboratory setting how to generate concepts, conduct analyses to size components, construct, assemble, and program a system prototype and test its function to meet the specifications of a design and manufacturing problem.
• To reinforce students’ team skills through a team project, including problem formulation, problem solutions, and written reporting of results.
• To reinforce students’ visualization and hands­-on skills through project virtual prototyping and/or physical construction exercises.

Learning Outcome

As a core course for mechanical engineering majors, this course lays the foundation for students to conduct machine design, manufacturing, and related research and development. The following learning outcomes are expected for students taking this course:

• Given functional and manufacturing requirements, utilize concept generation methods within a team setting to achieve a consensus for a product concept.
• Weigh trade-offs in concept and detail design from the perspectives of function, manufacture, design effort and available resources.
• Apply the basics of conservation and constitutive laws from the mechanical engineering sciences to understand the basic nature of a posed problem.
• Compile reference (e.g. catalog, handbook, and textbook) resources to formulate an analysis for specific mechanical and mechatronic components addressed within those resources.
• Make decisions regarding buying or building for individual components of a design.
• Test, in a team, setting or independently, the system performance and all failure modes that may be present per the analyses conducted during the design stage.
• Communicate engineering decisions, justification for those decisions, designs, manufacturing plans, and test results in multi-media presentations and report writing.

Course Instructors & Teaching Support

• Lead Instructor: Dr. Song Chaoyang
• Teaching Assistant: Qiu Nuofan, Xu Ronghan, Dong Yujian, Han Xudong
• Teaching Administrator: Fu Tian
• Office: Room 517, North Block, New Engineering Building

Grading

• 20%: Lab Projects
• 20%: Assignments
• 30%: Final Exam
• 30%: Final Presentation & Report

Academic Integrity

• This course follows the SUSTech Code of Academic Integrity. This course’s students are expected to abide by the SUSTech Code of Academic Integrity. Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student’s work. Violations of the rules (e.g., cheating, copying, non-approved collaborations) will not be tolerated.

Course Materials

• Required:
  • Textbook by HUST on Mechanical Design (Limited copies can be borrowed from the TA)
  • Textbook by HUST on Mechanism Design
  • Textbook by Zhu Kezhen on Mechanical Design
• Optional:
  • Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design (McGraw-Hill Series in Mechanical Engineering) 10th Edition by Richard G Budynas (Author), Keith J Nisbett (Author)
  • Machine Design (5th Edition) by Robert L. Norton (Author)

Chat Group

• QQ: 856738506

Lecture Notes

• All submission deadlines are Sunday at 23:30 (No late submission is allowed)
• Link to Homework Submission.
• Link to Fusion 360 Certificate Submission.
• Link to Final Report Submission. (same as the HW submission link, choose the correct option)

Week	Tuesday	Thursday	Assignments
01	理论课：第01章 – 机械设计总论（上） Tue Sep 06	理论课：第01章 – 机械设计总论（中） Thu Sep 08	Homework 01 Release Team Formation Fusion 360 Registration
02	理论课：第01章 – 机械设计总论（下） Tue Sep 13	习题课：第01章 – 机械设计总论 项目课：课程项目简介（QiuNF） 项目课：Fusion 360 Basics（XuRH） Thu Sep 15	Homework 01 Deadline: Sep 18 @ 23:30 Fusion 360 Basics Homework 02 Release
03	理论课：第02章 – 平面连杆机构（上） Tue Sep 20	理论课：第02章 – 平面连杆机构（中） Thu Sep 22	Homework 01 Answer Homework 02 Deadline: Sep 25 @ 23:30 Homework 03 Release
04	理论课：第02章 – 平面连杆机构（下） Tue Sep 27	习题课：第02章 – 平面连杆机构 Thu Sep 29	Homework 02 Answer Homework 03 + Fusion 360 Basics Certificate Deadline: Oct 09 @ 23:30 Homework 04 Release
05	理论课：第03章 – 齿轮传动设计（上） Tue Oct 11	理论课：第03章 – 齿轮传动设计（中） Thu Oct 13	Homework 03 Answer Homework 04 Deadline: Oct 16 @ 23:30 Fusion 360 Simulation Homework 05 Release
06	理论课：第03章 – 齿轮传动设计（下1） Tue Oct 18	理论课：第03章 – 齿轮传动设计（下2） Thu Oct 20	Homework 04 Answer Homework 05 Deadline: Oct 23 @ 23:30 Homework 06 Release
07	理论课：第04章 – 轴承及轴设计（上） Tue Oct 25	理论课：第04章 – 轴承及轴设计（中） Thu Oct 27	Homework 05 Answer Homework 06 + Fusion 360 Simulation Certificate Deadline: Oct 30 @ 23:30 Homework 07 Release
08	理论课：第04章 – 轴承及轴设计（下1） Tue Nov 01	理论课：第04章 – 轴承及轴设计（下2） Thu Nov 03	Homework 06 Answer Homework 07 Deadline: Nov 06 @ 23:30 Homework 08 Release
09	理论课：第05章 – 连接及连接件（上） Tue Nov 08	理论课：第05章 – 连接及连接件（中） Thu Nov 10	Homework 07 Answer Homework 08 Deadline: Nov 13 @ 23:30 Homework 09 Release
10	理论课：第05章 – 连接及连接件（下） Tue Nov 15	项目课：Reachy Fusion Team Review 习题课：第05章 – 连接及连接件 Thu Nov 17	Homework 08 Answer Homework 09 Deadline: Nov 20 @ 23:30 Homework 10 Release
11	理论课：第06章 – 挠性传动设计（上） Tue Nov 22	理论课：第06章 – 挠性传动设计（中） Thu Nov 24	Homework 09 Answer Homework 10 Deadline: Nov 27 @ 23:30 (Cancelled)
12	习题课：第06章 – 挠性传动设计（下） Tue Nov 29	项目课：Design Manual Report Preparation Thu Nov Dec 01	Homework 10 Answer (Cancelled)
13	理论课：第07章 – 支承零件设计（上） Tue Dec 06	理论课：第07章 – 支承零件设计（下） Thu Nov Dec 08
14	习题课：第07章 – 支承零件设计 Tue Dec 13	项目课：Design Manual Report Preparation Thu Nov Dec 15
15	理论课：第08章 – 其他机械设计（上） Tue Dec 20	理论课：第08章 – 其他机械设计（下） Thu Nov Dec 22	Design Report Deadline: Dec 25 @ 23:30
16	习题课：第08章 – 其他机械设计 Tue Dec 27	项目课：Final Presentation & Review Thu Nov Dec 29

University Calendar

Project Reachy Fusion for ME303

In this project, we aim to adopt Reachy by Pollen Robotics as the subject to practice basic concepts in mechanical design using Autodesk Fusion 360. The overall goal is to conduct a design analysis of Reachy to evaluate its engineering characteristics against its performance, use Fusion 360 as the tool for design analysis, formulate a user manual with details instructions and conclude with design recommendations for future iterations.

[All images and videos below are reproduced from Reachy main website for educational purposes only. We hope to talk with Reachy about properly using this media content. Please contact songcy@sustech.edu.cn for more.]

By the end of this project, you are expected to

• formulate a project team of 3~4 students with different roles
• get yourself fluent in using Parametric Design with Fusion 360
• practice engineering drawings on the components of Reachy
• formulate a step-by-step assembly for Reachy in Fusion 360
• conduct engineering analysis of Reachy’s mechanical design
• compose a detailed user manual for Reachy Fusion for ME303

Seven teams of design engineers are to be formulated, covering each part of Reachy, including

Roles of Design Engineers

Each team will focus on your allocated part of Reachy, with different roles of design engineers covering the following areas. When formulating your team, be sure to identify your role from the beginning.

• Design engineer 1 for producing technical drawings for each component
  • You should be generally proficient with CAD software and be open to training yourself fluently using Fusion 360. You are highly encouraged to go through the recommended training videos to familiarize yourself with Fusion 360 and its usage. You should generally have an open mind or experience in manufacturing, fabrication, or prototyping. It would be great if you have already, or plan to have, experience dealing with various vendors or suppliers. Your attention to detail is most valued as a design engineer in general and regarding your contribution to the project.
• Design engineer 2 for arranging the step-by-step assembly instruction
  • You should be generally proficient with CAD software and be open to training yourself fluently using Fusion 360. You are highly encouraged to go through the recommended training videos to familiarize yourself with Fusion 360 and its usage. You should feel good about visualizing designs or decomposing machines within your mind and put your skills into practice. Your logical thinking is most valued as a design engineer in general and regarding your contribution to the project.
• Design engineer 3 for analyzing the mechanical components for engineering specs
  • You should be comfortable working with modeling and numbers. Besides the recommended training videos, you are encouraged to familiarize yourself with engineering specs of things, structures, components, and designs. You should be a highly organized engineer that can put things into numbers and calculations to justify the reasoning behind a design and be generally familiar with things other than mechanical, such as electronics, materials, mechanics, control, programming, etc. Your calculations and logic play a critical role in explaining the engineering details of the design.
• Design engineer 4 for preparing the overall instruction manual
  • You should be comfortable with communication, expression, and writing. Besides the recommended training videos, you are encouraged to organize communication within your team and translate design analysis into structured logic that better explains the engineering details behind a particular design. You should be the one constantly asking the questions and organize your team’s answer into a logical expression that answers the “why” behind a design. Your overview of the big picture plays a critical role in explaining the engineering details of the design.

Notes on roles and teams

• The above description only serves as a guide to help you better position your role within the team. NOT REQUIRED.
• The role description does not restrict your involvement in the team project, and there may be more than one student per role.
• Express your interest in Team Formation here.

About Reachy by Pollen Robotics

Reachy is an expressive open-source humanoid platform programmable with Python and ROS. He is particularly good at interacting with people and manipulating objects.

Starting this year, we adopt Reachy in our teaching and learning for students at SUSTech Design and Learning Lab, with pilot projects through ME303 Mechanical Design, DES5002 Designing Robots for Social Good, and hopefully more. The shared idea is to implement Reachy as the subject of learning the various mechanical and robot design features. Both courses will share a similar structure to rebuild the Reachy with a touch of Fusion 360, as the original project was implemented using OnShape.

• For ME303, as a required course for undergraduate students, the aim is to practice the use of modern CAD systems (Fusion 360 in our case) to get yourself familiar with some of the key concepts behind the design of various standard and non-standard parts as well as the whole assembly process, reproduce the whole robot in Fusion 360 as a team effort with a detailed design analysis to fully describe, justify and critically comment on the design for thinking and practice.

About Fusion 360 by Autodesk

Fusion 360 is a cloud-based 3D modeling, CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB software platform for professional product design and manufacturing.

With SUSTech School of Design, we have partnered with Autodesk to establish an Autodesk Training Center at SUSTech. A training lab with top-end Mac computers is provided by the School of Design so that our students can use and practice the use of Fusion 360 for the course. Meanwhile, through Autodesk Training Center, we offer technical and financial support for students who are willing to take the certification to become licensed practitioners of Fusion 360 in their future careers.

Individual Design Review for Reachy Fusion

• Each team will be provided with a Fusion 360 folder to work with your Reachy Design. By the end of the semester, we will assemble everything into a whole design, with an overall structure as below.
  • Reachy Fusion
    • Trunk (fixed)
      • Neck
        • Head
      • Left Arm
        • Left Gripper
      • Right Arm
        • Right Gripper
• For your team’s part of Reachy,
  • Design Engineer 1: Have you identified the files and templates for producing the engineering drawings? How many parts? Bolts and nuts?
  • Design Engineer 2: Have you reviewed the assembly process step-by-step? Did you propose a sub-assembly for your design? Joint Types?
  • Design Engineer 3: Have you identified the engineering specs? Have you made a list of the spec, organized logically with technical data?
  • Design Engineer 4: Have you found all the necessary information to explain the design? Have you reviewed the templated for the manual report?

Team Design Review for Reachy Fusion

• Based on the project introduction since the semester started and the instructions since Week 09, discuss and share with your team what you have found.
• Have each team member clarified your project’s role, task, and deliverables?
  • What remains a problem?
  • Have you talked with your team to resolve it? Have you talked with the Teaching Assistants? Do you need help from the Course Instructor?
  • Have your team reviewed the official documentation from the Reachy website and identified the positive and negative sides of the documentation?
  • Do you see a challenge you or your team may not resolve by submitting the final report?
  • What do you see would be the challenge to influence negatively to your final manual report’s quality?
• Have your team worked out an action plan to move on to the next week, with deliverables and timelines identified for each team member?

Design Manual Report Preparation

• General:
  • Report Name: Reachy Fusion Design Manual for [Head/Neck/Trunk/Left/Right/Arm/Gripper]
  • Design Engineer 1: Full Name, SUSTech Email, Mobile
  • Design Engineer 2: Full Name, SUSTech Email, Mobile
  • Design Engineer 3: Full Name, SUSTech Email, Mobile
  • Design Engineer 4: Full Name, SUSTech Email, Mobile
  • Date & Version: YY-MM-DD-V1.0
  • A template will be provided here.
• (70%) Mechanism and Structural Design
  • (10%) Design and Feasibility Analysis
    • Abstract
      • An abstract that concludes with a short summary of the recommended design.
      • In the introductory part, use one sentence or two to provide the basic context of the design problem, comprehensible to an engineer in any discipline, explaining what your part of the design is all about, as specific as possible.
      • Next, use two or three sentences to elaborate further on the more detailed background of the design, comprehensible to engineer in a specific area with necessary but brief technical details.
      • Then followed by one sentence clearly stating the problem that is being addressed by this particular design, describing the gap that this design aims to address.
      • Start with words such as “Here we show” (or equivalent) to summarize the main result of this design in one sentence, stating the claim you wish to express with this design report.
      • Explain what you’ve done by explaining the main results in two or three sentences to support your claims or findings in this report. You can add another one or two sentences to put your results or analysis of the design into a more general context.
      • Finally, close your abstract with recommendations or implications in two or three sentences to provide a broader perspective based on your design analysis, answering either “what could be the next step” or “what would you do if you were to design it again?”
    • Introduction
      • An introduction presents the context of the situation and then gives a clear and concise statement of the problem to solve.
      • The introduction should give enough background to the reader to understand the design challenge, the problem to solve, or the importance of the proposed solution. However, be mindful of only including key information and resist the temptation of doing a fully comprehensive literature review or elaboration.
      • You can start by introducing the topic generally, then orient readers in the field and show the need for the design, followed by the objective of the design.
      • You can also include a brief review of related designs that solve the same problem, with comments on the pros and cons of these designs from various perspectives to see how they may or may not solve the problem to what extent.
    • Design Criteria
      • A list of design criteria, in order of importance, with the most critical first. Clear and concise design criteria are crucial to any design process. They establish the standards by which it is possible to determine whether a specific design is successful and to decide intelligently among competing designs.
      • Design criteria are the explicit goals a project must achieve to succeed. The design and decision criteria determine the document’s final recommendation for action. Managers use these criteria as their basic tool in evaluating a project’s potential for success and how well it fits into the goals of the organization. Experts need explicit design and decision criteria in order to evaluate recommended designs of devices and test procedures.
      • Design criteria can be divided into primary and secondary criteria. Primary criteria are those that constitute a successful project; the project will be unsuccessful if it does not meet these goals. Secondary criteria are those features that are highly desirable but not absolutely essential. Separating primary and secondary criteria establishes a clear hierarchy in design choices. Often, implementing one criterion makes the implementation of another infeasible or costly, or a secondary criterion may be sacrificed in favor of a primary criterion.
      • Make your design criteria short but as specific as possible. Avoid vague language. List your primary criteria first; then list the secondary criteria. Often design criteria are best displayed in bulleted lists, with short titles preceding the explanation. These titles may then be used later in the document to refer to the specific criteria being discussed. If you number your criteria, avoid referring to them later solely by number, a practice that often confuses readers. Use tables to show and summarize the relative effectiveness of different implementations in comparison with your design criteria.
    • (Possible) Implementations
      • Describe the implementation of the Reachy part for your team.
      • Wisely use the Technical Drawings, Step-by-step Assembly, and Spec Analysis to formulate a coherent explanation of the implementation of the Reachy design.
    • Design Recommendations
      • A recommendation with a comparison of alternatives.
      • If a design report does not present any alternative designs, it should still explain the reasons for specific design choices concerning the design criteria. Feasibility reports usually present one (or sometimes two) recommendations and argue for the recommended solution by showing how it best meets the stated criteria.
      • Graphic devices, such as a table listing how each implementation meets each design criterion, effectively summarize the reasons for the specific design recommendation.
    • Final Remarks
      • Conclusion with recommendations for further actions and a listing of issues that must be resolved before the design can be implemented.
      • Limitations on what part of the problem this design cannot solve or how this report is limited in its analysis or results.
      • Future Work on what could be done in the future to improve the existing design.
  • (20%) Mechanism DesignDraw the mechanism design
  • (30%) Structural Design
  • (10%) Design Features
• (30%) CAD Usage and Expression
  • (4%) List of Files and Completeness
    • A Zip file containing all files that can open on a local computer with a Readme of instructions, and another copy saved in the Fusion 360 Cloud folder.
  • (4%) File & Design Reusability
    • The files are all linked with the assembly state clearly defined.
  • (5%) Design Expression in Animation
    • An introductory animation of the whole assembly with basic movement, if any.
  • (3%) Motion Simulation Analysis
    • Motion simulation plots based on motor selection and design parameters to narrow down the specs, with plots matching the results.
  • (3%) Finite Element Analysis
    • Select at least one critical component for static stress analysis with the interpretation of the results.
  • (5%) Optimization and Generative Design
    • Provide recommendations for design optimization or use generative design to improve at least 1 part.
  • (2%) Selection of Material
    • Briefly summarize the selection of materials for each component of the Part of the Reachy that you are analyzing.
  • (4%) Design Aesthetic
    • Provide a basic rendering of your Reachy design using Fusion 360 from various angles and details.

Reachy Manual Submission by Sunday Midnight

• Submit your team’s Reachy Design Manual before Sunday at 23:30.

Final Presentation

• Final review of the submitted manual from each team by the Course Instructor.