Embracing Industrial Revolution 4.0: Project of third year students from the School of Mechanical Engineering in Mechatronics Challenge 2019

Nur safwati Mohd nor

On 11th May 2019, lecturers teaching SKMM 3252 (Mechatronics) had organized MECHATRONICS CHALLENGE 2019 at E07, School of Mechanical Engineering. This programme was participated by 197 third year undergraduate students from the School of Mechanical Engineering as well as 3 secondary schools in Johor (SMK Sri Perling, SMK Skudai, SMK Bandar Uda Utama). All 41 groups that participated presented their Arduino-based project in 3 categories (Vending machine, Stamping machine and Shirt folding machine). Amongst the judges who evaluated their performance were lecturers from the School of Electrical Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering as well as industry representatives from Dyson Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (Senai) and TDK Electronics Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Tebrau). The Chair of School of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Dr. Mohd Hasbullah bin Hj. Idris also attended this programme to witness the project demonstration from students and prize giving ceremony. The programme represents essential Teaching & Learning activities of Mechatronics (SKMM3252) by helping to deliver and assess students’ capability to embrace “Modern Tools” and “Team working” in their mechatronic engineering solutions. This is inline with the faculty’s effort towards embracing the concept of Industrial Revolution 4.0 into it’s Teaching and Learning practices. Students presented (poster and demo) their prototypes from a variety of 3 titles. The objectives of the programme were

To provide exposure to students and prepare them on the use of modern tools in IR4.0 era.
To promote UTM and provide social services to secondary / primary schools, and hence establishing potential research links with the schools.
To inculcate and assess “Team working” generic skills for the Teaching & Learning of Mechatronics (SKMM3252).

Mechatronics Challenge 2019 Fun Facts:

3 types of Arduino based project – Vending machine, stamping machine, shirt folding machine
197 undergraduate students (Skmm 3252, Mechatronics) – 38 groups
15 secondary school students – 3 groups (Smk Skudai, Smk Bandar Uda Utama, Smk Sri perling)
7 judges – SKE (Dr Adilla, Dr Effiyana)
– SKM (Dr Akmal, Dr Hasrul, Dr Kamarul)
– Industry (Dyson Manufacturing, TDK Electronics)
4 Mechatronics lecturers -Dr Nur Safwati (Programme Director), Dr Maziah, Dr Tang, PM Ir Dr Zarhamdy and 9 committee members among first year students.