It was a day to celebrate at St. Clair College Wednesday, marking the two-year anniversary of a massive investment by the College into the state-of-the-art Robotics Lab in the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing.
"We really wanted to get everyone together and celebrate the birthday of this amazing space that we have here," said John Byng, the Chair of the School of Engineering Technologies at St. Clair College. "We have a teaching lab that is second-to-none in robotics, we think, of any other college around."
Six years ago, College faculty and administration embarked on a vision to increase capacity in the Robotics Lab to provide students with learning tools to make them "industry ready" upon graduation.
What happened next was a true collaborative effort between the College and its program advisory committee, made up of industry leaders, who were integral in designing and constructing replica workstations in the new-and-improved Robotics Lab.
In 2022, more than $3 million was invested in the Robotics Lab in the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing, which now features 36 new "manufacturing" robots, including 18 ABB robots and 18 Fanuc robots.
"These robots are used in industry and support the seamless transition for our students to enter the manufacturing sector upon graduation from St. Clair College," said Monica Staley Liang, the College's Senior Vice President of Academic and Career Supports.
The robots, capable of teaching vision, material handling, and welding, have created more capacity in the program to keep pace with growing student enrolment since the program began in 2015.
Today, 260 students are enrolled in Robotics programs including the two-year Electromechanical Engineering Technician program, and three-year Electromechanical Engineering Technology program.
"You are not stepping into an educational facility. Here, you are stepping into a real-world, designed-with-safeties integrated classroom," said Robotics program coordinator, T.J. Forget. "Our students learn by that, and that's very important to us and our entire team. It allows us to establish a very well-rounded and desirable graduate."
Kamsi Bona, a third-year student in the Electromechanical Engineering Robotics technology program, is very close to that milestone and feels ready to enter the working world.
"This is not just a facility, it's a gateway to discovery, innovation, and creativity. As someone who has had the opportunity to work with these robots, I can confidently say that this experience has transformed my learning journey," said Bona. "When I first started working programming robots, I realized how much more I could learn by doing, rather than just reading or watching videos."
When Bona graduates, faculty members say his working experience with robots combined with cooperative education experiences with local industry will make him an asset to prospective employers.
"The thrill of seeing a robot come to life after countless hours of working and programming, it ignites a passion for learning that traditional classrooms sometimes struggle to create," Bona said. "This lab has opened a world of possibilities for all of us and encourages us to think outside the box and explore new ideas."
Larry Koscielski is the Vice President of Process and Technology Development at CenterLine Windsor Ltd., and also serves as a member of the program advisory committee (PAC) for the Robotics programs.
"We're proud at CenterLine to be a partner with St. Clair College," Koscielski said. "Those of us in the automation industry in the area understand how much of a powerhouse Windsor-Essex is in automation. It's the cherry on top to say we're here and we're not going anywhere."
"St. Clair is the place to learn hands-on skills, and there's industry partners helping," he said. "This is what we can do as a community, to build the community, not just build one company or another, or one school or another, but we're trying to build a whole community."
To enroll in one of the College's Robotics programs, click here or here.
