Introduction

This book is all about mechanisms and machines, one of the most important core subjects of mechanical engineering. There are many ways a mechanism can be configured and there are many mechanisms in a machine, creating a tremendous opportunity to build better machines of our choice. To do so, however, one needs to understand the common thread present in the thousands of configurations and to break them down into a set of rules. This book does exactly that, using the same set of rules consistently to explain the design of any mechanism or machine.

Pedagogical Approach

Pedagogical tools and approaches have been utilized to make it easier and more interesting for the student—extensive illustrations, simple explanations, and exercise problems with useful hints have been included. The systematic use of a vector-based approach makes learning easier and helps extend the knowledge acquired in this book to applications in robotics.