2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate major in Mechanical Engineering
Fundamentals of Robot Components and Design
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Mechanical Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Mitsuru Endo / Daisuke Matsuura
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Mon (I1-256(I121))
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- MEC.H437
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2026
- Offered quarter
- 1Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 23, 2026
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course aims to cultivate knowledge that enables students to thoroughly understand the components of robots, and tackle the design and control of complex, practical robots. Each session will cover the fundamental principles of important elements constituting robots, along with points to note when using them in robots, with practical examples. Students will also gain understanding of controller design that takes into account the characteristics of these elements.
The content is structured around the following core points:
1. Various elements responsible for robot mechanisms and actuation, and their principles.
2. The relationship between materials, shape, and structure of mechanical elements and actuators.
3. The relationship between actuators and control systems, and the design and implementation methods for basic controllers.
4. Design optimization, component design, and system design.
Course description and aims
1. Understanding the kinds and basic principles of various elements responsible for robot mechanisms and actuation.
2. Design and implementation methods for basic controllers based on the relationship between actuators and control systems.
3. Understanding of basics of whole-system of robot, based on design optimization and relationship between component design and system desi.
Keywords
Robot, Machine elements, Actuator, Controller, Conceptual design and detail design, Design optimization
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
This course insists of lectures including exercise problems.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Outline and purpose of the robot component design |
Fundamental of robot components and its design flow |
| Class 2 | Robot mechanism analysis and design of linkages |
Direct and inverse analysis of translation, velocity, acceleration and statics of mechanisms, relationship between material and shape of linkages |
| Class 3 | Design of gears, bearings and spindles |
Design parameters of spindles, bearings and gears and workflow of design |
| Class 4 | Composition and working principle of electric motors |
Composition and physical principle of electric motors, torque generation and basic characteristics, motor selection considering applications |
| Class 5 | Fundamentals for modeling actuators and control system, and controller design |
Hierarchical control architecture, feedforward and feedback control, basic control laws at each layer, implementation method |
| Class 6 | Fundamentals of design optimization and application for robot component design |
Applications of optimization, basic categorization of optimization methods, multi-objective optimization |
| Class 7 | Design exercise of robot considering important robot components |
Determination of endeffector trajectory, system design of robot mechanism |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
N/A (essencial materials will be distributed on LMS)
Reference books, course materials, etc.
N/A (essencial materials will be distributed on LMS)
Evaluation methods and criteria
Grades will be determined based on the overall performance of exercise during 1st to 7th lectures in which from 1st to 5th are basic and 6th and 7th are comprehensive. The weighting for 1st to 5th submissions and the final two submissions will be 60% and 40%, respectively.
Related courses
- MEC.H201 ： Machine Elements and Machine Drawing
- MEC.H202 ： Machine elements
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of the mechanics of particles and rigid bodies and materials science is desirable.
Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).
E-mail: matsuura.d.5700[at]m.isct.ac.jp
Office hours
N/A (please e-mail to the above address)
Other
N/A