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Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is the cornerstone of how you design and build things. It allows the user to digitally create, visualise, and simulate 2D or 3D models of real-world products before it is being manufactured.
CAD models allow users to iterate and optimize designs to meet design intent.
The use of CAD software facilitates the testing of real-world conditions, loads, and constraints, which increases the quality of the product.
CAD software helps to explore ideas and visualise the concept.
Improve the quality, precision of the design, and communication in the design process.
Analyse real-world scenarios by computer-aided analysis
Create a database for product development and manufacturing.
Some Practical Applications of CAD Software
Source: https://learnsolidworks.com/
Source: https://automation.siemens.com/
Source: https://leocad.org/
Automobile parts can be modelled, visualised, revised, and improved on the screen before being manufactured.
Electrical schematics, control circuit diagrams, PCBs, and integrated circuits (ICs) can be designed and developed with ECAD software
With CAD software, architects can visualise and simulate their entire project using real-world parameters, without needing to build any physical structuress or models.
What CAD software do I need?
Something free
FreeCAD
TinkerCAD
Fusion 360
Onshape
Solid Edge
Blender
SketchUp
My design goes with me wherever I go (cloud-based)
Python is the most popular programming language in the world with a popularity of 28%.
It is easier to learn than many other programming languages.
Python is very readable due to its structure. Thus, bugs can usually be found and fixed quickly.
Python can be both procedural and object-oriented, which makes it very versatile.
There is a large number of software libraries. On python package index, PyPI, over 400,000 packages can be found. And the most important ones can be downloaded quickly and easily using pip.
Python and almost all Python software libraries are available for free on the Internet.
Data Science is one of the most popular application areas of Python. Here, not only the complete data analysis but also the visualization will be implemented in Python. Generally, software libraries such as Numpy, Matplotlib and Pandas are used for this purpose.
Machine learning is another very popular area. Python can be used for supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning. Libraries such as TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch or scikit-learn are used for this purpose.
Furthermore, Python can be used for all kinds of general purpose programs, such as app development, GUI design, web development and in many other areas. In addition, programs with Python interfaces can be automated through a Python program, for example simulation programs.
Practical example of Python in academia
Especially during the time as a student it is good to have a tool with which you can validate your hypotheses or perform the calculations by the computer. Thus, programs can be written with which problems in physics, chemistry or other tasks can be simulated and subsequently the simulation data can be plotted or even videos can be generated.
Companies like Google collect and process your data
Google collects your data from many different sources. Here are some examples:
Gmail: Google can read and store information from every email you write and receive, including in the spam, draft, and trash folders.
Google Maps: Google saves every location you search, in addition to all the places you physically visit with your devices, even if you aren’t logged in. Are you using Waze instead? Google owns that too. The ubiquity of phones and our constant use of them makes them almost like tracking devices we carry around willingly.
Android devices: Because Android phones and tablets run on an operating system built by Google, the company can track which ads you’re shown while using your phone. Google also knows what time, down to the second, you open each app.
Google apps: The Google Play store records all your searches and downloads, as well as any rewards cards used. Google also tracks which articles you’ve read through Google News.
YouTube: Google acquired YouTube back in 2006. When you’re using YouTube, Google tracks your search history, your watch history, how long you spend watching videos, and all your comments and likes or dislikes.
Google Assistant: Every request you make and every question you pose is recorded — you can even listen to the audio playback.
G Suite: Your calendar shows where you’ll be and when, and Google Hangouts saves all of your conversations.
If you are interessted in which data Google has collected about you, test Google Takeout.
In our digital age, we have to be aware of the data collection strategies of all services that we use. However, often, alternatives developed by the open-source community exist. Here are some recommendations:
You may use these templates also for other lectures, courses, seminars or doctoral theses at other chairs at the Montanuniversität Leoben. However, do not remove the acknowledgement or copyright statement.
This tutorial explains how to install the basic Python environment for the Lecture Maschine Learning. This course requires a Python version >= 3.8 and PyCharm as IDE. In case you are using another operating system you can find some links at the end of this wiki post.
Download and Installation of Python
To program with Python you need a current Python version, which can be downloaded from the following website: Python. Basically every version after 3.8 can be used, quite new versions can still have bugs now and then, furthermore some packages are not yet transferred to the newest version, therefore 3.9 is recommended.
After the download, the program must now be installed. It is important that Python is added to the PATH, otherwise this step must be done manually. This is accomplished by selecting the “Add Python 3.9 to PATH” checkbox. Now Python is installed and the IDE “PyCharm” can be downloaded.
Installation of PyCharm
To install PyCharm visit the jetbrains website and follow the instructions. We recommend the Professional version, to get the license for it you need to create an account on Jetbrains and log in to the program after the installation.
This tutorial describes the usage of the program CoppeliaSim. In particular, the use of the software in the context of the course “Cyber-Physical-Systems” is discussed.
Download and setup of the program
CoppeliaSim can be downloaded from this website. Furthermore, the Python package “msgpack” must be downloaded via pip. Depending on your operating system, different steps are required after the installation.
Windows 10
For Windows 10, no further installation steps are necessary. However, to use the B0-based remote API, some .dll files must be available in the working directory. These can be found in the installation folder of CoppeliaSim. To shorten the search for the files, you can find all the required files in the GitHub project linked below.
Ubuntu 20.04
Before CoppeliaSim can be started, dependencies for the BlueZero API have to be installed. To accomplish that follow the instructions bellow.
In contrast to Windows, CoppeliaSim must be started from the terminal on Ubuntu. To do this, right-click on the unpacked folder and select the option “Open in Terminal”. Then enter the following command “./coppeliaSim.sh”. After confirming with the Enter key, CoppeliaSim starts. To use the B0-based remote API, the file “libb0.so” must be available in the working directory. For some simulations, additional files must be added in the same directory, these can also be found in the GitHub project linked below.
CoppeliaSim and B0-based remote API - Python Client
As described above, depending on the operating system, .dll and .so files need to be added to the workspace. Besides the operating system specific files, the Python scripts “b0.py” and “b0RemoteApi.py” must be present in the working directory. These files can be found in the installation folder or in the GitHub project. For the task of the course, the following two applications are most important: actuation, sensing. Sample code for actuation and sensing can also be found in the GitHub project. In the following section, their application is briefly discussed.
Actuation
Using the API, Two movement modes are implemented in the provided scene “scene_with_pandas.ttt”. These are used with the method “simxCallScriptFunction” in Python because they are programmed as a function in the simulation file. The following modes are available:
– pts: In this mode, the angular positions of the joints and the corresponding time are passed to the simulation as a list (all intermediate points are interpolated). This mode is important for control tasks and if the inverse and forward kinematics have been developed by the user.
mov: In the “mov”-mode, the positions and speeds of intermediate points are transferred to the simulation. The inverse kinematics of Reflexxes Motion Library type II or IV is used in this mode.
Sensing
At the beginning, the object handles of the observed objects must be determined, this is done with the help of the method “simxGetObjectHandle”. To execute this method you need a so-called topic, more about this down below. Since “simxGetObjectHandle” only needs to be executed once, and only at the beginning or before the simulation, the topic “simxServiceCall” is used.
Afterwards, the joint angles or joint positions can be streamed with the help of the method “simxGetJointPosition” and the position of the end effector with “simxGetObjectPosition”. To achieve this, a callback function is needed for each angle or for the coordinates (one for each xyz triplet). These callback functions are called cyclically and can be used, for example, to store the angles in an array. Finally, it must be noted that the sensor data should always be saved with their time, otherwise no meaningful calculations or diagrams can be made.
As with the actuation, sample codes are available in the GitHub project.
We believe that the best way to write a technical paper is by using LaTeX. Therefore, we provide a LaTeX template for you which you can download at the end of this page. Furthermore, we recommend the lecture notes form Prof. O’Leary’s lecture “Engineering and Scientific Documentation” for a basic introduction in writing technical papers and LaTeX. At this point we would like to thank Prof. O’Leary for allowing us to link to his lecture notes.
Text structure
There are no general guidelines for text structure. Since each thesis is unique, the structure will be discussed in detail with the supervisor. The same applies to the scope of the paper. A basic setup is nevertheless available in the LaTeX-template.
Language
Basically, you can write your thesis in German or English. However, you have to coordinate this with your supervisor, since we also have international staff at our chair who support your work and can do this better in English.
Realization of the thesis
For Bachelor’s theses, the total duration of the work should be approximately 3 months and concludes with the presentation of the thesis to the chair staff. Master’s theses should take about 6 months. Within the scope of the thesis, you have to make an interim presentation at the chair, as well as a final presentation within the scope of the master’s examination. More details can be found in the article “Completion of the master’s program”.
At the end of your bachelor or master studies you have to write a thesis. In case of the bachelor’s study programme your workload should be around 180 to 200 netto work hours (7.5 ECTS credits) and your master’s thesis workload should be around 600 to 650 netto work hours (25 ECTS credits). In these theses, you as a student should independently research the topic and prove your scientific problem-solving strategies. To solve this difficult task, we will help you with our expertise.
What are the requirements to write a thesis?
The bachelor’s programme at MUL requires that you have already completed the courses of the first four semesters to start your thesis. The prerequisite for writing your master’s thesis is to be enrolled in a master’s programme.
How do I get a thesis at the chair of cyber-physical systems?
First, you can check our homepage to see if you find a topic that interests you. If this is not the case, you can contact our chair and propose your own topic. In any case, you should ask for a personal appointment at the secretary’s office so that possible questions or topics can be discussed.
Important Information
If you want to write your thesis at the chair of cyber-physical systems, do not start writing the thesis until it is approved by the chair. Otherwise, it is possible that your topic can change during writing. At University of Leoben we have a guideline for good scientific practice, therefore the university wants you to stick to this practice. Finally, the chair of cyber-physical systems has an internal guideline for the implementation of a thesis. More about this in our wiki article on thesis guidelines.