Concurrent Engineering and Robot Prototyping

This report addresses the theoretical basis for building a prototyping environment for electro mechanical systems using concurrent engineering approach In Designing a robot manipulator as an example of electro mechanical systems the interaction be tween several modules S W VLSI CAD CAM Robotics and Control illustrates an interdisciplinary prototyping environment that includes di erent types of infor mation that are radically di erent but combined in a coordinated way We propose an interface layer that facilitates the communication between the di erent systems involved in the design and manufacturing process and set the protocols that enable the interaction between these heterogeneous systems to take place This work was supported in part by DARPA grant N J NSF grant CDA and a University of Utah Research Committee grant All opinions ndings conclusions or recom mendations expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily re ect the views of the sponsoring agencies