-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- pcb007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueThe Fabricator’s Guide to IPC APEX EXPO
This issue previews many of the important events taking place at this year's show and highlights some changes and opportunities. So, buckle up. We are counting down to IPC APEX EXPO 2024.
Getting to Know Your Designer
In this issue, we examine how fabs work with their design customers, educating them on the critical elements of fabrication needed to be successful, as well as the many tradeoffs involved. How well do you really know your customer? What makes for a closer, more synchronized working relationship?
Economic Headwinds
In this issue, the biggest names in PCB manufacturing share their economic outlook for the upcoming year and beyond. As you will see, they were all bullish on our industry, but there was some apprehension as well. No one wants to get burned by another the supply chain disruption.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - pcb007 Magazine
FIRST: Endorsed by Teachers and Students Alike
May 11, 2022 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) is a robotics program at Oregon’s West Linn High School led by computer science and engineering teacher Tim Manes. Barry Matties caught up with Tim and his student team, 2BDetermined, at the FIRST Pacific Northwest District robotics event in Salem, Oregon. The team has excelled at the local and regional levels and was invited to participate in the world competition in April, held in Houston, Texas.
Barry Matties: I’m here with Tim Manes at the FIRST district event. How is it going?
Tim Manes: It’s getting close to the finals. This is the fourth week, a lot of teams have had time to refine their robot, and the competition’s getting stronger.
Matties: You teach at West Linn High School and you’re in charge of the school’s robotics team. Tell me what that experience is like for you.
Manes: Coaching students in robotics is extremely rewarding. I started as a math teacher and slowly started to build an engineering program during the day, which grew into FIRST Robotics Competition. Now we have a substantial number of students who are getting experience they wouldn’t get in a normal classroom environment. It’s very rewarding.
Matties: What is the biggest takeaway for students who are participating in this event or with their FIRST program?
Manes: Every student who walks through the classroom door for the first time has never seen a machine. They’ve probably never riveted, or used CAD or CAM. So, between the time they first walk through the door, and when they show up at an event, most of these students have experienced things they’d never imagined they would have an opportunity to, especially in high school.
Matties: Now, one of the students was talking to me about how this has really helped him learn to problem solve and think logically.
Manes: I say it all the time that we’re all problem solvers. We get up in the morning, and all day long we are solving problems. Some problems we can solve one time, like how to tie our shoes. But new problems always come up, so it’s such an important skill. Students are capable of being great problem solvers, they just need the commitment and perseverance to understand the problem and find a resolution.
Matties: What is your role in terms of actually building the unit? Are you hands-on?
Manes: I teach each one of those kids and they build the robot. There’s also a lot of “off season” training that we do with students. We find opportunities to ensure that every student, even the ones up in the bleachers right now, have touched robots. For example, we started trying to create a powder coat oven about three years ago, before the pandemic, because the robots are powder-coated black. Because I have a lot of students, this was an opportunity for some of them to get their hands on a part of the robot. They took ownership by finishing the powder coat oven and learned how to powder coat.
Matties: I was talking to your student Dylan, and he was so excited that they were designing, CNCing machine parts, and powder coating. These are the kinds of things that you don’t think about in a program like this, but it really does create opportunity for everybody.
Manes: Absolutely. Students are scouting so that we can make the right decisions when it comes to alliance selection. Another example is when students become specialists of individual components. They design, prototype, and test it, then they install them on the robot. If something breaks on that robot, there’s a certain person or group of students who know how to deal with that.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the April 2022 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
AI-equipped Robots Help Logistics Industry to Fight Labor Shortages
03/13/2024 | IFRThe global logistics industry serves as a backbone of international trade - representing about 10 percent of the world´s GDP.
LG Makes Strategic Investment in Bear Robotics
03/12/2024 | PRNewswireLG Electronics (LG) is making a strategic investment move to expedite the advancement of its capabilities in service robotics, a key new business area of the company.
Top 5 Robot Trends 2024
02/15/2024 | IFRThe stock of operational robots around the globe hit a new record of about 3.9 million units. This demand is driven by a number of exciting technological innovations. The International Federation of Robotics reports about the top 5 automation trends in 2024:
Global Robotics Race: Korea, Singapore and Germany in the Lead
01/10/2024 | IFRDriven by the high volume of industrial robot installations, the world hit a new record of 3.9 million operational robots in 2022.
Yamaha Robotics Names Ai Nagakubo Branch Manager
01/09/2024 | Yamaha RoboticsYamaha Robotics is exicted to announce that it has appointed Ms Ai Nagakubo as Branch Manager at the company’s European headquarters in Neuss, near Duesseldorf, Germany from 1st January 2024.