LIMA, OH (WLIO) -Â Paul Long got interested in robotics while he was at Apollo Career Center, and that landed him an apprenticeship at GROB Systems in Bluffton, which is helping pay for his education at Rhodes State College. When he is done, Long is ready to put what he learned into practice.
"I plan on going on right back to work at GROB Systems and spending our time there working in our universal department, just working with our universal machines, and robot collaboration detection.," says Paul Long, Rhodes State Robotics Student. "The education will really go to use there."
People with Robotics training are in demand, especially with more manufacturers going automated.
"Well Automation is to the level that companies, manufacturing companies, manufacturing plants, and facilities, they need more than one robotics engineer," says Ron Leonard, Program Coordinator for the Engineering Technology Department. "They need more than one controls engineer. So, they have openings, they can't get enough of these skills."
There are four different groups of students going through classes right now, and before some are done with their education, they have a job waiting for them.
"They have a job before they graduate," adds Leonard. "We have companies that want to talk to our students before they graduate."
It is not just manufacturing, robotics can span from medical to space exploration and another big industry in our area.
"You don't think of robots in the terms of agriculture, but they are there," says Ron Leonard, Program Coordinator for the Engineering Technology Department. "There are automatic guided vehicles and machinery and drones that are robots. They are things that move by themselves."
Rhodes is looking at creating a bigger space for the robotics department this summer because the demand for this skill set is high.
