19
PHOTOS BY PHIL FREE
'TRANS
FORM
ATIVE'
FUNDING GIVES JSU STUDENTS
EXPERIENCE IN ROBOTICS
BY GILBERT NICHOLSON
It's been a slow go spending a $300,000 grant the Alabama
Power Foundation gave Jacksonville State University two
years ago to develop a robotic manufacturing training
center. But that's how it was intended.
In most universities, teaching the use of robots in
manufacturing involves setting up a workstation, called a
"cell," where students learn to execute industrial functions
like painting, spraying, welding, scanning or assembling
parts.
But at JSU, the grant to create the Alabama Power
Robotics Education Center is allowing students to go a
big step farther: to actually design cells from the ground
up. This crucial
dimension is why
the first cell won't
be finished until
this summer.
"Alabama Power
was very gracious
in allowing JSU to
take the road less traveled and provide our students with
great design experiences, even though it meant the center
would not be entirely completed for several years," said
Terry Marbut, director of the school's Applied Engineering
Department.
