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Northwestern Mechatronics Design Lab

The Northwestern University mechatronics design wiki provides reference material on the theory and applications of electronics, sensors, actuators, etc., for use in mechatronics-related research and projects. Practical applications often refer to equipment and supplies available in the Northwestern Mechatronics Design Lab.

The mechatronics wiki was initiated by undergraduate Ben Stephens in 2006, under the supervision of Profs. Kevin Lynch and Michael Peshkin. Since then, many students have contributed content.

(Here you can find the Old Index Page of the mechatronics wiki, as of May 2, 2009. That page is now obsolete, and new material should be indexed on the pages below. New pages may be indexed in multiple places.)

• Editing the mechatronics wiki (or visit The sandbox to practice your wiki skills)
• Home page of the NU32 PIC32 microcontroller development board and the book "Embedded Computing and Mechatronics with the PIC32 Microcontroller"
• Books and Accompanying Videos and Software
  • "Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control," by Kevin M. Lynch and Frank C. Park
  • "Embedded Computing and Mechatronics with the PIC32 Microcontroller," by Kevin Lynch, Nick Marchuk, and Matt Elwin
• Courses
  • DTC
  • EDI Bootcamp
  • Engineering Analysis 3
  • ME 333 Introduction to Mechatronics
    • ME 333 final projects (2010 and earlier)
  • ME 433 Advanced Mechatronics
  • Northwestern Design Competition
  • ME 449 Robotic Manipulation
• Electronics basics
• Sensors
• Actuators
• Communication
• Control computers and software
  • Robot Club
  • Medical Makers
  • ASEE Robot Design Competition
  • nScope
  • Microchip PICs
  • PC/104 stacks and Matlab xPC
  • QNX
  • Robot Operating System
  • Processing
  • Node.js
  • Eagle
  • KiCad
  • C Compilers
• Tools in the lab and shop (software, hardware, supplies, etc.)
• Vendors and Useful Links
• Projects and miscellaneous (projects, research, and other mechatronics-related info)