FANUC America Awards Great Oaks Career Campuses Second Place in Advanced Automation Challenge

FANUC America names Great Oaks second-place winner in Advanced Automation Challenge, recognizing STEM skills applied to robotic innovation.

Published
Reading Time
2 min
Share Facebook X LinkedIn Email

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Dec. 13, 2016 – FANUC America is pleased to announce that Great Oaks Career Campuses is the second-place winner of its Advanced Automation Challenge, which required participating schools to design a new Project-Based Learning Kit (PBL) highlighting robotic automation and technology.  FANUC launched the challenge to encourage students to use their STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) skills and apply them in the real world.  

Jesse Potts, a recent graduate of Great Oaks Career Campuses (Cincinnati, OH) created a robotic palletizing PBL which included custom-made end-of-arm-tooling.  

“Our Engineering Technology and Robotics program incorporates FANUC simulation software, robots and curriculum,” said Mark Jackson, Certified Education Robot Training (CERT) instructor at Great Oaks.  “I would compare our training to FANUC’s robotic handling class (HandlingTool) which is quite advanced for the high school level.  Some students move on to even more advanced robot concepts, becoming specialists in programming FANUC robots.”

FANUC America introduced its CERT program in 2008 to help counter the increasing skills gap.  CERT prepares students to work with the same robotics and automation that are used in industry today. 

As the second-place winner, Great Oaks will receive two teach pendants and a PC Conversion kit.  FANUC will award the third-place team, Madison Area Technical College (Madison, WI) a license for its ROBOGUIDE simulation software. 

The first-place winner, Center Line Public Schools (Center Line, MI) received a new FANUC robot at a ceremony held at the school this month. 

About FANUC America Corporation

FANUC America Corporation is a subsidiary of FANUC CORPORATION in Japan and provides industry-leading CNC systems, robotics, and ROBOMACHINEs. FANUC’s innovative technologies help manufacturers maximize productivity, reliability, and profitability. Headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, FANUC America has facilities throughout North and South America. Learn more at www.fanucamerica.com or explore collaborative robots at crx.fanucamerica.com.

Connect with FANUC America on YouTube, X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.