Fields of Competence
Mechatronics, Robotics, System and Control Technology

Mechatronics, as a scientific field has an integrative character therefore it joins closely to the competence of other departments and faculties, and for this reason our department plays an important role as a coordinator. Our participation in the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IEEE IES - Control, Robotics and Mechatronics Technical Committee) and in the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC TC 4.3 Robotics) are ongoing.

The most important international background to our activities are provided by iSpace Laboratory Network, which coordinates research groups engaged in the research of intelligent spaces, and by a joint Japanese-Hungarian and a joint Norwegian-Hungarian laboratory.

Our most important competences are:

  • Mechatronical sensors and actuators
    • Research of intelligent materials in order to make sensors and actuators
    • Silicon based sensors and actuators
    • Axial micromotors
    • servopneumatics
  • Robotic systems
    • Robot control (optimal trajectory planning)
    • Telepresence (cognitive telemanipulation and 3D augmented reality)
    • Human-Robot Interaction (ethorobotics and ethocommunication)

    Robotics is facing a paradigm shift. Previously robots were mainly used by big companies in high volume manufacturing (i.e. car industry). Industrial robots were perfect to execute  procedures simplified to tiny (angular) movements. Today robots have appeared in small and medium enterprises, thus the efficiency of robot programming methods must be improved in order to avoid losses caused by frequent switches  in small scale production . So there is an increasing need to make the training of robots more automatized and at the same time to make them be able to fulfill more and more sophisticated tasks. For robots in our daily life it is not enough to execute a pre-programmed action line. They must be able to adopt themselves to changing environment, make their own decisions and in addition, they have  to socially fit into the human environment. This requires a more sophisticated robot control.

  • Control technology
    • Sliding mode control
    • Time delayed system control
Leader of this topic:
Péter Korondi, Ph.D, D.Sc.
Optics

Since the foundation of our department, optics – that covers both applied and technological optics - is a traditional research area.

Our main competences are:

  • diagnosis and correction of human colour vision deficiency (20 year research work), international patents, spin-off companies, generations of PhD students)
  • colour research, colour vision,  colour mesaurement techniques
  • engineering of optical systems (lens and mirror systems, image compose and light technological optical systems)
  • optical transfer functions (the most important caracteristic of optical systems)
  • 3D image compose technologies, 3D visualization in intelligent space and in robotics, moiré measurement technology
  • photometry, radiometry and spektroradiometry ( development and measurement of the optical characteristics of light sources)

Leader of this topic:
Balázs Vince Nagy, Ph.D.
Measurement, Instrumentation Technology and Precision Engineering

In the field of measurement and instrument technology our department focuses on metrology and on the construction of measuring instruments.

Based on our tradition we deal with the measurement of geometric quantities of mechanical engineering and with the statistical analysis and data acquisition of the measured values. Our activity involves also the electronic measurement of typical time depending non electric quantities of mechanical engineering and of mechatronics. Developing of measurement methods and of the structure of special measurement chains, non conventional sensors and transducers are the most important fields of our industrial research projects. Besides of these also the systematization of errors, according to their origin, character and form and the environment conditions of measurement belong to the field of our interest.

Precision engineering deals with the research and engineering of mechanical constructions which provide mainly the transfer of information instead of transfer of power and energy and contain structure units that are 2-3 times smaller in order of magnitude than typical in classical mechanical engineering.

Precision engineering is the most traditional field of speciality of our department. While during the last decades the traditional solutions of precision engineering had been pushed into the background the development did not stop. The precision engineering is -in a new form - remarkably present in the research profile of our department since the complex mechatronical structures contain precision elements in form of actuators and sensors.

The mechanical structure of optical instruments especially the operating and fixation elements usually contains special solutions belonging to the precision engineering. Measuring instruments, transducers and sensors are unthinkable without using of this special science. A further speciality of our group is the research and application of high elasticity materials - like silicone rubber – in flexible transducers, actuators and in special devices of the medical engineering.

Micromechanics is a new direction of progress in precision engineering and the simulation of microsystems belongs also to the competences of our department in traditional cooperation with partners from abroad.

Leader of this topic:
Krisztián Samu, Ph.D.
Informatics:

MOIE gestorates the informatics subjects of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
In undergraduate education from the basic informatics subjects our department teaches „Information systems” and programming (Software Engineering) in different faculties.

Hardware related informatics (basic subjects like, „Control” or „Control Engineering”) is also among the main educational activities of our department. Naturally our special subjects on informatics appear not only in MsC but also in PhD degree programmes in either a compulsory or in an optional form.
The following examples show the different science areas we cover: „Computer Algorithms”, „Software Technologies”, „Database Technologies”, „Presentation Technology”, „Image Processing”, „Theory of Computer Controlled Systems”, „Computer Modelling and Simulation”, „Applying VEM in Mechatronics”.

The experience we gained in teaching informatics subjects is published in books. Our technical books written in different levels are popular course books not only in BME but also in other universities (University of Miskolc, Corvinus University, Eötvös Lóránd University, Szent István University)

Similar to our education, our research activities are also related to the following areas: Internet based communication and 3D visualisation of intelligent robotic and mechatronic systems, textile, rag-trade and medical informatics areas. Our significant partners are: AGA Informatics Kft., Bay Zoltán Institute of Logistics, BME Department of Polimertechnics, Eötvös Lóránd University, Isparta University (Turkey), University of Maribor (Slovenia), MTA SZTAKI, Salus Kft., Semmelweis University, Varinex Rt, Witwatersrand University (Johannesburg, South-Africa) and the University of Zagreb.

Leader of this topic:
János Botzheim, Ph.D.
Biomechatronics:

Important research work is conducted by Department staff in all branches of biomechatronics (the science of biologically inspired intelligent machines), including the design and the construction of new engineering structures based on biological principles, improvement of existing mechanisms, and modelling of life by mechanical methods to understand it better, to improve the quality of life. Our colleagues are actively involved in the development of self-propelled probes imitating peristaltic motion. High-priority areas include the development of measuring instruments and measuring methods to assist medical diagnostics, such as a 3D scanner to define the shape of the body, measurement of reaction forces by force- and pressure sensors (manosensors), and a mechanical scanning instrument to define the shape of the spine, as well as the improvement of the Moiré technique and telemanipulators. Research is also extended to the investigation of design options for intelligent prostheses and ortheses. Another important research area involves the development of motion analysis system, for the recording of animal and human motion using marker-based or markerless methods, measurements of balancing capacity after sudden changes in direction, introduction of new parameters to characterize motions, and the support of etology studies.

Department staff are actively involved in the work Hungarian biomechatronics and biomechanics organizations like the Cooperation Research Centre for Biomechanics, the Society for Biomechanics, and medical organizations such as the Hungarian Orthopaedic Association or the Hungarian Spine Society. Domestic and international relations by research fellows at departments include highlights such as cooperation and connections with Semmelweis University, the IASTED Biomedical Engineering Group, Let People Move Laboratory in Perugia, Biorobotics and Biomechanics Laboratory at Technion University, and Wessex Institute of Technology.

Leader of this topic:
Rita Kiss, Ph.D, D.Sc.