Education/training
Conestoga College students go roboticCanada's technology triangle is a world leader in advanced manufacturing, and wants to stay that way. Conestoga College is preparing for its first degree program in integrated advanced manufacturing. Students in the current Robotics and Automation program were ready and eager to show their stuff. |
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 [ 2002-08-21 ] |
These students, who complete their three-year co-op program at the end of August, held an open house for faculty, college officials, co-op sponsors and potential employers last week. At the open house, they presented and demonstrated their third-year projects -- robotic assembly lines entirely student-designed and student-built.
Three systems were on display. The first was a line to sort and package Lego-like products. It selects and packages parts for three different project models, seals the bag, then boxes it, along with an informational CD and assembly instructions for the project model.
The second was a line to count and bottle pills. Once the bottle is filled, it is capped and induction sealed to prevent contamination, then tamper sealed and labeled, and finally boxed for shipping.
The third was a rotary system to assemble and package a set for a game of checkers. The flexible checkerboard is rolled, then placed in a tube, along with an appropriate number of game pieces, followed by installation of a lid for the tube.
Final year student teams (about 10 students per team) selected the projects and were responsible for all elements -- design, fabrication, computer programming, project management - as well as integration of appropriate mechanical, electrical and pneumatic engineering elements.
One of Conestoga's most demanding programs, Robotics and Automation is also one of its most successful, both in terms of graduate employment and earnings, and in terms of industry demand.
The Robotics and Automation Open House is located at the Woodworking Centre of Ontario, at Conestoga's Doon campus in Kitchener.
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Ontario's first community college is celebrating the inception of one of the oldest and most reputable programs that teaches correctional workers, the men and women who staff the province's adult correctional and young-offender justice system institutions and community agencies.
The Correctional Worker program at Centennial College is marking 30 years of program success with a big alumni reunion at its Warden Woods Campus on Thursday, Sept. 26 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The college is appealing to all graduates to call in and register for the celebration, since records of previous decades of alumni are outdated.
Centennial's program began in 1972, designed to address some of the specific hiring needs of the Ministry of Correctional Services. At the time, graduates of the two-year college program were guaranteed full-time employment with the ministry -- provided they were willing to relocate outside of Toronto.
Since its humble beginnings, the program has undergone numerous curriculum changes and has expanded its field and job placement opportunities to include the young-offender justice system in both institutional and community care. Many graduates have since moved into management and administrative positions in the correctional field.
The popular program accepts 90 selected applicants every fall.
Centennial's Correctional Worker can contact faculty member Stan Cameron -- a program graduate himself -- at 416-289-5000 ext. 617, or by e-mail at scameron@centennialcollege.ca.
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