The FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 Digital Animation Award
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The FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 Digital Animation Award

View Results Here: <link> This award sponsored by AutomationDirect celebrates the art of digital animation and its close relationship to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics). The 2019 Digital Animation Award is offered to help encourage students to cultivate skills in design and creation of animation including, but not limited to, storytelling, creativity, use…
Copley High School Student Project and Update
Automation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 41 - 2019Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueStudent Spotlight

Copley High School Student Project and Update

We’ve covered the engineering students at Copley High School twice in recent years here in the Student Spotlight. Copley HS is a suburban, public high school just west of Akron, Ohio.  The school’s engineering program works closely with local industry and with their disabled employees to help automate various processes to achieve additional productivity for…
Student Spotlight: Droid Names, Faraway Galaxies or Automation Components?
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Student Spotlight: Droid Names, Faraway Galaxies or Automation Components?

VFDs, RS485, PLCs — these terms may seem like names of droids or faraway galaxies and planets in a “Star Wars” movie. However, they really refer to earthly based components that Vermont Technical College engineering student Dan Rapoza learned about when he set out to help a dairy farmer save time and money by automating…
Copley High School's Automation Success
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Copley High School's Automation Success

The Innovator team at Copley High School in Akron, Ohio needed to design a piece of equipment to snap caps together for Weaver Industries ProPak, a company that has been employing people with disabilities for about 40 years. With the existing assembly method, Weaver was struggling to meet production and contract requirements for component assembly.
Robotics Is So Much More Than Robots
AutomationDirect SpotlightCompany TopicsIssue 38 - 2017Learning ResourcesNewsNotebook IssueOnline BlogOnline OnlyStudent Spotlight

Robotics Is So Much More Than Robots

If you subscribe to any of our media channels then I’m sure you know about our involvement with after-school robotics programs in our community. These programs prepare students for careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields by getting them excited and engaged when it comes to not only learning new skills, but…
Beam Testing at Portland State
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Beam Testing at Portland State

For their undergraduate senior capstone project, a team of Mechanical Engineering students at Portland State University (PSU) recently designed an electronic system upgrade for the control system of a 100-year-old beam testing machine. Using a range of AutomationDirect parts, the purpose of the project was to make the operator experience comparable to modern machines.
Machine Produces Nanofibers for Biomedical Research
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Machine Produces Nanofibers for Biomedical Research

If you can’t buy it, you have to build it. This was the situation our group of engineering students encountered when we needed to grow vascular tissue for a bioengineering project at Walla Walla University, and found existing solutions were not acceptable.
It’s a Wrap! Automated Taping Machine
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It’s a Wrap! Automated Taping Machine

The capstone senior design project is the crowning achievement for seniors at the University of Connecticut School of Engineering.  In this two-semester course, senior students are mentored by faculty and industry engineers as they work to solve real-world engineering problems for their corporate sponsor. Students learn about the principles of design, how ethics affect engineering…
Raising the Curtain on STEM Education
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Raising the Curtain on STEM Education

STEM education is becoming more important in today’s fast-paced technical world. But some kids may have a difficult time with traditional STEM classes especially when a student doesn’t think they’re a “math or science type.” One way to encourage an awareness of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) is to look for activities that already attract…