New Scale Robotics Deploys Education Kits at Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center

Hands-on training in robotics and automated metrology for manufacturing

Published: Thursday, September 8, 2022 - 12:01

(New Scale Robotics: Rochester, NY) -- New Scale Robotics has deployed six Q-Span Workstation EDU kits at the Finger Lakes Workforce Development (FWD) Center at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, New York. The ready-to-use kits help colleges and universities add hands-on robotics and metrology courses to their workforce development programs targeting advanced manufacturing.

“U.S. manufacturers are seeking employees with experience in collaborative robots and a basic understanding of metrology for quality control and process improvement,” says New Scale Robotics marketing manager Stefan Friedrich. “By adding these courses, the FWD Center continues to give job seekers a competitive edge through hands-on training with the latest and best technologies for advanced manufacturing.”

One system, two robotics courses

The Q-Span Workstation EDU kits give educational program directors an easy way to offer two complementary courses—the UR Program for Education and the New Scale Robotics Intro to Metrology course—with no need to remove the robot from its secure position on the mobile workstation table. The UR Program for Education covers the fundamentals of controlling the collaborative robot and includes labs for manipulating objects, using conveyors, palletizing, and other common robotics use cases in advanced manufacturing.

The Intro to Metrology course covers the basics of metrology and includes labs for automated gauging using robotic calipers. Together, the programs comprise 40 hours of course work.

Ready to implement for technical workforce development

“We focus on rapid training, retraining and upskilling of technical workers in demand by local employers,” says Robin Cole, vice president of economic and workforce development and career technical education at MCC. “New Scale Robotics and Universal Robots made it easy for us to expand our FWD Center course offerings with these educational kits, ready to implement and tailored to the needs of technical training programs like ours.”

The Q-Span EDU kits feature a Universal Robots UR3e collaborative robot mounted on a sturdy mobile workstation table. They also include additional hardware, software, and course materials for hands-on training in both collaborative robots and basic metrology. Hardware components, such as a conveyor, part trays, and reference gauges, are easily added to or removed from the table for different lab exercises.

Q-Span EDU kits feature a Universal Robots UR3e collaborative robot mounted on a sturdy mobile workstation table. Kits include additional hardware, software and course materials for hands-on training in both collaborative robots and basic metrology. Hardware components in the kit, such as a conveyor, part trays, and reference gauges, are easily added to or removed from the table for different lab exercises.

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