ABSTRACT
Design of machine systems could be a very demanding task both with respect to complexity and resources and because many engineering and nonengineering disciplines are often involved. Traditionally machine systems may be assembled from subassemblies in several levels all the way to bolts and nuts. A machine will almost always have constrained motion between moving parts, be it between crankshaft and pistons in an engine, between parts in a suspension system for a car or an aircraft, or between the parts of handling equipment like a linkage or a robot. These systems with constrained motion are named mechanisms where the moving parts are called links and the motion of the links is constrained by joints that couple the links together. A large set of joint types is available for constraining link relative motion (for more details refer to comprehensive literature on mechanisms and mechanism joints). Other issues that need to be considered when designing machines are cost analysis, environmental issues, electronics and instrumentation and, last but not least, aesthetics, especially if the machine is a consumer product and to a lesser extent if it is a production tool.
