Meeting Human Needs While Reducing Human Drudgery

Abstract

In the late 1400’s, Leonardo da Vinci advised his future readers to study the science of machines to reduce the burden (drudgery) on humanity. Today, the question remains—what technologies can best meet the needs of mankind? This paper will outline the ability of the discipline of mechanical engineering to satisfy a spectrum of these needs and its potential to match the excitement and vitality of its neighboring disciplines (electronics, computer science, etc.). First, a representative selection of needs will be described along with a listing of technologies (present and future) that may be associated with the discipline of mechanical engineering. Then, a matrix of these needs and technologies will be used to establish the relative importance of the discipline’s development capacity and to prioritize five possible future areas for development of multi-disciplinary programs. Having done so, an example of a near-term utilization of these technologies (fully integrated and cost effective fettling cells) will be described which could dramatically reduce human drudgery associated with value-added manufacturing.