Spring 2027

Introduction to Mechatronics

Introduction to mechatronics covering DC/AC circuit analysis, active/passive linear circuit design, digital logic, and programming for embedded microcontrollers with lab exercises.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Wei Wang3.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Wei Wang

The course involved 3–5 reading assignments per week, and students reported spending significantly more time outside class preparing for exams than the required credit hours.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe and mathematically represent circuit element properties and their analogies to mechanical systems

  • Apply Kirchoff’s and Ohm’s laws to design and analyze AC and DC circuits

  • Design and apply active and passive AC and DC circuits for instrumentation or control systems

  • Design and analyze signal conditioning circuits utilized in instrumentation or control systems

  • Write software to configure hardware, drive state machines, and control algorithms

  • Utilize digital logic, computer interfaces, sensors, actuators, and programming approaches to solve mechanical engineering problems

  • Communicate with experts in the various disciplines associated with instrumentation of and computer control of machines and processes

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(M E 340 or concurrent enrollment), (MATH 320, 319, or 376), and (PHYSICS 202, 208, or 248), or graduate/professional standing

ME 376 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 1.00/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Wei Wang

Wei Wang taught ME 376 with frequent lecture errors, unclear explanations, and a strong accent that students found difficult to follow. Mandatory readings (3-5 per week) and disjointed labs often did not align with lecture content, leading students to rely heavily on outside resources. Several students reported that the grading criteria were unclear and that the overall workload exceeded the required credit hours.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.72 GPA, 86.7% A/AB (n=105 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.60 GPA, 79.7% A/AB (n=172 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Paul Milenkovic

Past feedback for Paul Milenkovic described a difficult teaching style, noting that in-class Moodle quizzes deducted points for wrongful attempts on all problem types. The student found the professor terrible at teaching and felt he made things unnecessarily difficult, resulting in a low quality rating.

WEI WANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1500
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LAB 308Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LAB 309Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Wei Wang

Students found lectures ineffective and unaligned with labs or homework, often relying on supplemental readings and self-study to understand the material.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 65.0% A/AB (n=163 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.43 GPA, 65.5% A/AB (n=119 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.60 GPA, 79.7% A/AB (n=172 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Wei Wang

The course involved 3–5 reading assignments per week, and students reported spending significantly more time outside class preparing for exams than the required credit hours.

Past student reviews · Wei Wang

Students cited Wei Wang’s heavy accent and frequent errors as major frustrations, noting that attendance was made mandatory mid-semester due to low engagement.

Topics

  • DC and AC circuit analysis and design
  • Active and passive linear circuits for buffering and filtering
  • Digital circuits, Boolean logic, and programming
  • Computer interface operations and embedded microcontrollers

Skills

  • Design and analyze AC and DC circuits using Kirchoff’s and Ohm’s laws
  • Design and apply active and passive circuits for instrumentation or control
  • Write software to configure hardware, drive state machines, and implement control algorithms
  • Utilize digital logic, computer interfaces, sensors, actuators, and programming to solve ME problems

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ME 376 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Mechatronics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:612:026524",
    "course_id": "ME 376",
    "course_uid": "course_34f87beaf42d9c5ae4559375",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "026524",
    "source_subject_id": "612",
    "title": "Introduction to Mechatronics",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "9cb085c44f82ba375a7f4bb2c3dac782a8e59747bc0d16b8cf76c18e49581edb",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}