"Electrical trumps mechanical"

[MysterE]

Hi all -

I was reading an comment/article on Slashdot today, http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/05...n-key-just-die, in which the author is discussing whether or not the ignition key for cars are going out of style.

While the article is interesting in general, one quote stood out to me: " The push-button ignition isn't perfect, but we know electrical trumps mechanical more often than not."

This peaked my curiosity. As robot builders, engineers, designers, etc, do you agree or disagree with the authors statement? Why or why not?

[Billfred]

(Full disclosure, I work at a GM dealer and have driven more than my fair share of push-button start cars.)

The way I see it, the purpose of a car key (or fob) is to authenticate that the holder should be able to start it. If we can eliminate other related aspects that create undesirable conditions (say, having to keep the key where a heavy key fob can twist the ignition to off), it's worth a look.

[Michael Hill]

Electronics help mechanical stuff to move, but without mechanical stuff, electrical stuff just blinks.

[JohnFogarty]

I'll say this since I was the victim of a rarer mechanical failure in the ignition of my Avalon. I would bet that it would have been cheaper to fix if it was only an electrical problem.

(By mechanical failure I mean that the key got stuck in the ignition and no one could get it out.)

[Gdeaver]

From my experience repairing things mechanical is usually nicer. It's visibly broken. Electronics on the other hand don't just fail, they get psychotic.

[FrankJ]

Of course your old fashion mechanical key can be copied for a figurative dollar anywhere keys are made. Your key fob can cost upwards of a couple hundred dollars to have a copy.

Another example of mechanical verses electrical is carburetors verses fuel electronic fuel injection. A simple carburetor is cheaper & more reliable than fuel injection. As you add demands to the control scheme eventually electronic fuel injection becomes a better choice.

Ultimately this is a chicken or the egg question.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

Of course your old fashion mechanical key can be copied for a figurative dollar anywhere keys are made. Your key fob can cost upwards of a couple hundred dollars to have a copy.

Another example of mechanical verses electrical is carburetors verses fuel electronic fuel injection. A simple carburetor is cheaper & more reliable than fuel injection. As you add demands to the control scheme eventually electronic fuel injection becomes a better choice.

Ultimately this is a chicken or the egg question.

(Bold added).

While I have to agree mostly with the "apples trump oranges" comment, and also agree with the fact that a carb is simpler than fuel injection, I've driven my minivan 120,000km and never had to touch the fuel injection. Related to that I've never had to change the spark plugs, either. I don't know if I've ever got a carburated vehicle to go a decade without needing either new plugs (from the inefficient fuel mixture) or simply tuning. And don't even get me started about carbs gunking up when they sit around unused for a while.

But aside from giving a shout-out to those who design the awesome engines we get to enjoy in modern vehicles, let me suggest that the reason that we get so excited about advancements in electronics and controls is not because they in any way "trump" mechanical technologies, but because they are newer. The many brilliant mechanical solutions we have for problems, from cams to transmissions, have evolved over -- in many cases -- centuries. We're used to seeing them and thus tend to take them for granted, while newer developments that make them more efficient or precise are considered more exciting.

I love the technology in the Tesla cars... but they'd kind of suck if it weren't for ball bearings, eh?

Jason

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Electronics help mechanical stuff to move, but without mechanical stuff, electrical stuff just blinks.

It can also overheat, smoke, and burst into flames.

[RunawayEngineer]

Starting with such generalizations (i.e. electrical vs. mechanical control) makes for very bad design decisions. Discounting a whole set of solutions or approaches because another type is assumed to be better is fundamentally flawed thinking.

[m1506m]

Just start with the thinking, that if your electrical is half a##, then you will have to fix it at some point. Be demanding of the electrical team, and insist on perfection.

[E Dawg]

Programming is obviously the best! But honestly, electrical and mechanical are too co-dependent for one to trump the other.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by E Dawg

Programming is obviously the best!

Pssssh. Who needs programming?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Pssssh. Who needs programming?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

This is awesome! I'm going to make all my mechanical kids watch this next year.

[jijiglobe]

Mechanical solutions can come in 1 of 2 categories:
1)actuated: These are basically the same as electrical solutions but a human moves the part instead of an electrical thing that adds an additional layer of complexity.
2)passive: Passive is always better.

the difference is wether code does the logic or a human does. Users tend to find 'electrical' solutions which are really electro-mechanical to be more appealing but a pure mechanical solution has one less part that can fail.

This isn't true in all situation and I do have an engineering bias but yeah...

[Christopher149]

"Electrical trumps programming"

- I say this because, would you rather have a simple set of switches / simple circuit for something like your range hood, or have to reboot the thing when the OS crashes? There are certain things programmers should be kept away from.

*I say this as a programmer.