Robotics and welding students at Texas State Technical College are getting better hands-on training thanks to a huge donation.
In a not-so-typical classroom, students in Mark Watson's robotics and automation class at TSTC have a new toy.
Watson said that "this robot pretty much takes the skill set out of the hands of the welder and puts it into an instrument we know is going to deliver a weld 100% of the time. We still have to have skilled technicians in order to run these robots, so that's what we train for in this class is to teach those kids how to program, repair, maintain and operate these systems in industry."
The welding robot is a $150,000 donation from Arc Specialties.
The instructor and students alike are excited for what they will be able to do with this new addition.
"Really just like huge structures like cactus or just different stuff that a lot of people wouldn't think you could make out of metal," Sadie Watson, a student at TSTC, said.
In a more demanding workforce and a society where technology is bringing about many advances, it is important to keep up with the changes.
"Our Students here are definitely going to be more prepared and have more of a competitive edge out there in the industry, thanks to this donation, because a lot of the industry is switching over to automation and robotics nowadays for welding," Watson assured.
Watson said that although some might believe robots like this one are removing jobs from the workforce, they're not. More jobs are actually being added.
"Robots create jobs. So, with every robot that I place, I need three people. One person per shift to operate it. I need one person per shift to be there to maintain them," Watson said.
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