(Lesson strength: Insight/8, Knowledge/5, Inspiration/4; Application/2; Lesson time:<5 min)

Hi [your name here].

Welcome to my on-line classroom, the focal point of the Mechatronic Design community.

It’s now [note current time], so let’s get started.

This is an AP/AP course, the latest thing in on-line education. I’m not exactly certain what AP/AP stands for (even though I made it up), but it has to do with learning a lot very quickly and getting out of class before you have time to get bored.

Now before we dismiss — see what I mean, now, about fast — I’d like to distribute a handout that will help focus our next few discussions on mechatronics as well as broaden our understanding of the concept itself.

When I began talking about mechatronics nearly 20 years ago, I quickly learned that the few people who claimed familiarity often couldn’t agree on what it actually meant. The handout, a takeoff on the allegorical story of the “blind men and the elephant,” explains why.

Interdisciplinary (mechatronic) design manifests itself on many levels and is practiced and viewed from multiple perspectives. Getting into a conversation on it without some sort of diagram or map would be as pointless as asking the “six men of Indostan” (see link below) to convince each other what an elephant is.

For the next few sessions, we’re going to look at the different characters in the drawing — including the two men who are completely “out of touch” — and explore the perspectives they represent.

Class dismissed.

See ya’ back in a few, and please sign in if you haven’t already.

The Blind Men and the Elephant