Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

Applied Robotics
March 26, 2008

LSSU students (underwater) pursuing an engineering degree with a specialization in robotics.

WHERE DO ENGINEERS COME FROM?
Jim Devaprasad - Professor, School of Engineering and Technology; Director, LSSU Robotics Center, Lake Superior State University says his students arrive at LSSU because a family member, teacher, a coach, or other mentor suggested that they would be a good engineer. Once at LSSU, the students who do best are the ones who think about their future. It is a 4:40 ratio, four years of school leading to a forty-year career that can support a family comfortably. Starting salaries are typically $55K. Placement is 100%. Industry is suffering from a shortage of engineers yet seats at the school go unfilled. Have you encouraged a young person today to become an engineer or scientist? We should try to come up with a catchy bumper sticker slogan that would remind us to invite young people to join us. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"...perhaps a shorter version "Share the Magic".... more later.

SELF TEST FOR STUDENTS
Do my interests indicate that I might be a good candidates to become engineer?  Am I good at math?  Do I want to work in a field with a secure future?  Am I interested in the use of technology and am I curious about how things work?  Am I looking for a good return on my education investment? Do I feel compelled to understand what makes a clock tick? (this question is nearing the end of its usefulness as fewer and fewer clocks actually tick and is soon to join the abandoned questions about the inner workings of steam locomotives from earlier self tests).

WHERE THEY CAN GET THE TRAINING
LSSU and Florida International University are the only two public universities in the nation to offer a robotics specialization in the undergraduate engineering programs. Five private universities: Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Clarkson, Polytechnic University of NY http://www.poly.edu/, Princeton, and Tulane also offer the robotics specialization as part of undergraduate degrees.     


LSSU classroom

COMPANIES HIRING ENGINEERS
While massive layoffs are the lead story almost every night on the Evening News here in Michigan, what is going unsaid is that there is a scramble going on to find and hire the engineers, that the companies need, to be competitive in the world market. Good paying jobs, with benefits, are going unfilled because there are no people qualified to fill them. LSSU prides itself in being the school with the focus on practical applications of engineering aimed at sending its graduates into high demand occupations that are unaffected by the "OO" trend (Outsourcing Oversees). Small companies that have not yet automated are looking at the cost of having the work done cheaply overseas and when they factor in the expenses of trying to operate at a great distance, suddenly the addition of automation to the existing US operation becomes an affordable option. 


LSSU classroom

LEANER, MEANER, HUNGRIER, SURVIVORS
Here in Michigan we have the unique opportunity to see the demand for robotics and automation engineers increasing as part of the shakeup that every company is going through.  Job postings for research engineers needed at GM are going up the same time that unskilled workers are being given early retirement.  Areas outside of the automotive business, such as the defense industry (which can not be outsourced), and the greening of every industry requires talented people.  With the cost of energy rising, people who know how to control energy are worth their weight in gold.  (gold just hit $1,000 per ounce in case you were wondering).  Almost every tour group that comes through the AIM Team's workshop has one person in it that wants to know why we just don't a motor on one wheel and a generator on another and have the vehicle power itself.   I thank them for their suggestion and their interest in our project while wondering to myself where the schooling of these highly educated people went wrong. In the past I have tried to answer the question but it always ends badly. Companies that survive the business downturn will emerge on the other side with a new respect for what works and what did not work. They will be better at what they do and ready to solve real world problems.


Photo: Siemens USA 

I WANT "CORNERS" FOR MY CAR
Siemens has produced an x-by-wire "corner module" for BMW that is an electric wedge brake, wheel, tire, electric drive motor, steering, and suspension all in one unit. To build a car just put one on each corner of your vehicle.

GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org  
http://aimagic.org  
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/  
http://www.controleng.com/blog/1180000318.html

Posted by Paul Grayson on March 26, 2008 | Comments (3)