Source: Balluff
With a goal of educating engineering and technical students about manufacturing and automation, the Balluff Automation-In-Action demo van visited seven universities and colleges in five days during the week of April 11, 2016. Balluff's demo van is a mobile tradeshow demonstrating a variety of automation applications across many different technologies and industries.The Balluff Automation-In-Action demo van stopped for several hours at different engineering and technology schools in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana to give students the opportunity to learn about automation technologies and industries. More than 175 students from Gateway Community & Technical College, Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State, University of Dayton, Central State University and Purdue University participated in this event.
Students were encouraged to get hands-on with live demos, ask questions and see how sensors, actuators, industrial networks and RFID technologies are used to make manufacturers more successful with automation. Professors and faculty were also engaged in the visits, according to Morteza Sadat-Hossieny, Ph.D., director of engineering technology at Northern Kentucky University. She added: "they have an enthusiasm to utilize the kind of sensors they saw in their teaching curricula as well as in their automated manufacturing labs."
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"Students were inspired by what they saw and they enjoyed playing with the different sensors," said Janet Dong, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Dynamic Systems in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati. "Underclassman learned about sensors and their applications firsthand. For upperclassman, the demo van gave the opportunity for them to compare what they know of other company's products to Balluff's products, which opens the door for students to use sensors at a company in their backyard, for their future projects."
Balluff supports several STEM initiatives for students in the local community, provides career opportunity tours for high schools, participates in MFGDAY events each year and participates in TECHFIT (Teaching Engineering Concepts to Harness Future Innovators and Technologists) programs at Purdue University and The College of Charleston.
