Abstract Digitalization of products and production systems requires a fusion of mechatronic disciplines, where interfaces between mechanical, electrical, and software engineering are inevitable. The increasingly rapid pace of innovations in mechatronic systems triggers decisions being taken under time and cost pressure. At times, compromises in technical solutions are made, neglecting their long-term damage to the system. Technical debt (TD), a concept from software engineering, refers to short-term benefits that lead to long-term negative consequences, e.g., in the form of more difficult maintainability or evolvability. This also applies to mechatronic systems, yet the knowledge of TD characteristics and correlations in the interdisciplinary life cycle has only received little attention. This first comprehensive survey investigates TD in mechatronics systematically and across sectors. 50 experts, of whom 42% hold positions as department heads, from 21 renowned companies and 10 sectors in the German-speaking region supported this study with real scenarios where TD caused damage to their system. 94 informative TD incidents that were classified into twelve TD types were recorded, of which 2/3 have not yet been eliminated and posed a potential risk to the system. TD emerges most frequently in the first three stages of the life cycle, where the consequences rarely remain isolated at their source but are forwarded to later phases and disciplines in the life cycle. In contrast to the research focus in software engineering, the multi-domain analysis of mechatronic TD issues reveals that software engineers are most burdened by Requirements TD and Infrastructure TD in the interdisciplinary environment.

中文翻译：

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技术债务对机电产品公司的跨学科影响——一项定性研究

摘要 产品和生产系统的数字化需要机电一体化学科的融合，其中机械、电气和软件工程之间的接口是不可避免的。机电系统创新步伐越来越快，促使人们在时间和成本压力下做出决策。有时，会在技术解决方案中做出妥协，而忽略了它们对系统的长期损害。技术债务 (TD) 是软件工程的一个概念，是指导致长期负面后果的短期收益，例如，以更难维护或可进化性的形式。这也适用于机电系统，但跨学科生命周期中的 TD 特性和相关性知识很少受到关注。第一次全面调查系统地跨部门调查机电一体化中的 TD。来自德语区 21 家知名公司和 10 个行业的 50 位专家（其中 42% 担任部门负责人）以 TD 对其系统造成损害的真实场景支持这项研究。共记录了 94 起信息性 TD 事件，分为 12 种 TD 类型，其中 2/3 尚未消除，对系统构成潜在风险。TD 最常出现在生命周期的前三个阶段，其后果很少在源头保持孤立，而是被转发到生命周期的后期阶段和学科。与软件工程的研究重点相比，