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This thesis explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in mechatronic product development, focusing on the identification, utilization, and evaluation of AI-driven approaches. The increasing complexity of cross-domain collaboration, coupled with the demand for efficiency and reliability, necessitates structured methodologies to systematically integrate AI into engineering processes. While AI offers significant opportunities, challenges related to trustworthiness, robustness, and effective implementation remain critical considerations.

To address these challenges, this work introduces a generalized five-step methodology, providing a structured framework for assessing AI’s role in mechatronic development. The methodology enables the targeted identification of AI potential, structured integration into engineering workflows, and systematic evaluation of its impact. By applying this framework to real-world industrial case studies, the thesis demonstrates its practical applicability across different AI use cases, including translation, interpretation, and prediction.

As mechatronic product development continues to evolve, leveraging AI in a structured and validated manner ensures that organizations not only overcome current challenges but also enhance innovation, decision-making, and cross-domain collaboration. The findings of this thesis provide a scalable foundation for AI-driven advancements while maintaining a balance between AI potential and investment considerations.

The integration of artificial intelligence into the development and production of mechatronic products offers a substantial opportunity to enhance efficiency, adaptability, and system performance. This paper examines the utilization of reinforcement learning as a control strategy, with a particular focus on its deployment in pivotal stages of the product development lifecycle, specifically between system architecture and system integration and verification. A controller based on reinforcement learning was developed and evaluated in comparison to traditional proportional-integral controllers in dynamic and fault-prone environments. The results illustrate the superior adaptability, stability, and optimization potential of the reinforcement learning approach, particularly in addressing dynamic disturbances and ensuring robust performance. The study illustrates how reinforcement learning can facilitate the transition from conceptual design to implementation by automating optimization processes, enabling interface automation, and enhancing system-level testing. Based on the aforementioned findings, this paper presents future directions for research, which include the integration of domain-specific knowledge into the reinforcement learning process and the validation of this process in real-world environments. The results underscore the potential of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies to revolutionize the design and deployment of intelligent mechatronic systems.

This thesis explores the imperative of intelligent data and potential analysis in the realm of mechatronic product development. The persistent challenges of synchronization and efficiency underscore the need for advanced methodologies. Leveraging the substantial advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in generative AI, presents unprecedented opportunities. However, significant challenges, especially regarding robustness and trustworthiness, remain unaddressed.

In response to this critical need, a comprehensive methodology is introduced, examining the entire development process through the illustrative V-Model and striving to establish a robust AI landscape. The methodology explores acquiring suitable and efficient knowledge, along with methodical implementation, addressing diverse requirements for accuracy at various stages of development. 

As the landscape of mechatronic product development evolves, integrating intelligent data and harnessing the power of AI not only addresses current challenges but also positions organizations for greater innovation and competitiveness in the dynamic market landscape.

In today's digital era, we are experiencing a revolution due to the ongoing development and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in all areas of life. This article sheds light on this transformation by discussing the remarkable progress and increasing importance of AI for society and the economy, but also by highlighting options for managing the associated risks.

Mechatronic product development is a complex and multidisciplinary field that encompasses various domains, including, among others, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control theory and software engineering. The integration of artificial intelligence technologies is revolutionizing this domain, offering opportunities to enhance design processes, optimize performance, and leverage vast amounts of knowledge. However, human expertise remains essential in contextualizing information, considering trade-offs, and ensuring ethical and societal implications are taken into account. This paper therefore explores the existing literature regarding the application of artificial intelligence as a comprehensive database, decision support system, and modeling tool in mechatronic product development. It analyzes the benefits of artificial intelligence in enabling domain linking, replacing human expert knowledge, improving prediction quality, and enhancing intelligent control systems. For this purpose, a consideration of the V-cycle takes place, a standard in mechatronic product development. Along this, an initial assessment of the AI potential is shown and important categories of AI support are formed. This is followed by an examination of the literature with regard to these aspects. As a result, the integration of artificial intelligence in mechatronic product development opens new possibilities and transforms the way innovative mechatronic systems are conceived, designed, and deployed. However, the approaches are only taking place selectively, and a holistic view of the development processes and the potential for robust and context-sensitive artificial intelligence along them is still needed.

Steer-by-wire systems represent a key technology for highly automated and autonomous driving. In this context, robust steering control is a fundamental precondition for automated vehicle lateral control. However, there is a need for improvement due to degrees of freedom, signal delays, and nonlinear characteristics of the plant which are unconsidered in the design models for the design of current steering controls. To be able to design an extremely robust steering control, suitable optimal models of a steer-by-wire system are required. Therefore, this paper presents an innovative nonlinear detail model of a steer-by-wire system. The detail model represents all characteristics of a real steer-by-wire system. In the context of a dominance analysis of the detail model, all dominant characteristics of a steer-by-wire system, including parameter dependencies, are identified. Through model reduction, a reduced model of the steer-by-wire system is then developed that can be used for a subsequent robust control design. Furthermore, this paper compares the steer-by-wire system with a conventional electromechanical power steering and shows similarities as well as differences.

In the fast-paced world of automotive development, the need for effective information exchange between different domains is becoming increasingly critical. The parallelized and agile nature of development demands early and frequent access to accurate information across various departments. However, deviations and uncertainties in data can lead to costly disruptions in the development process. Artificial intelligence based prediction models offer a potential solution by providing estimates based on previous projects or analyzed products, even in the early stages of development. While rough estimates may suffice initially, it is important to understand the accuracy of such predictions. This study therefore aims to evaluate the performance characteristics of different uncertainty analysis methods and assess their applicability in agile automotive development processes. By considering the specific requirements and constraints of each method, a decision tree is proposed to recommend suitable and situation-appropriate methods for performing uncertainty analyses in network prediction. The goal is to enhance data exchange between departments, mitigate disruptions, and ensure informed decision-making throughout the development process.