Historical synthesis of the Advanced School of Mechatronics Engineering

Abstract

This paper presents a historical synthesis of the Advanced School of Mechatronics Engineering (in Portuguese, ‘Escola Avançada de Engenharia Mecatrônica’), a project carried out by the PET - Automação e Sistemas, group from the Engineering School of the University of São Paulo (in Portuguese, ‘Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo’). To this end, the project is initially described, by relating its characteristics, in order to meet two main objectives: to reduce the dropout of newcomers in mechatronics engineering and to serve as a graduate laboratory, that is, as a space for testing new teaching-learning methods. Finally, a historical analysis of the incrementally implemented improvements, over the 13 years of the project's existence, to its current form is made.