ABB Robotics training lab, Vincennes University: $9 million of industrial training

ABB - VU partnership is touted as a model for industrial robotic and advanced manufacturing training, with opening of the $9 million the Indiana Center for Applied Technology at Vincennes University. The new robotic training lab features 29 ABB robots and related work cells, software and controllers, and will allow students to gain training in applications that include robotic welding and plasma cutting; picking, packing and palletizing; machine tending, material handling and product assembly; and advanced vision related programming. The first training class in the new lab is “IRC5 Basic Programming (US420)”, an introductory robotic programming course beginning at 9 a.m. Nov. 8, concluding at noon on Friday, Nov. 12. It is currently open for registration.

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ABB Robotics and Vincennes University (VU) hosts an open house on Oct. 27, 2010, to celebrate the grand opening of the ABB Robotics training lab at VU’s $9 million industrial training facility, the Indiana Center for Applied Technology (ICAT). The event marks the official opening of the training lab, a partnership formed between ABB and VU in fall 2009 to enhance VU’s vocational and technical robotic training, and provide ABB with an authorized training facility in the central Midwest. 

The 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EDT) event will include a short presentation, robotic demonstrations and tours of the ICAT, also home to the Haas Technical Education Center. The event is open to all parties interested in learning more about VU and its industrial robotic and advanced manufacturing training. The ICAT opened in March 2009 as a workforce development and college-level manufacturing training center.   

The new robotic training lab features 29 ABB robots and related work cells, software and controllers, and will allow students to gain training in applications that include robotic welding and plasma cutting; picking, packing and palletizing; machine tending, material handling and product assembly; and advanced vision related programming. The first training class in the new lab is “IRC5 Basic Programming (US420)”, an introductory robotic programming course beginning at 9 a.m. Nov.  8, concluding at noon on Friday, Nov. 12. It is currently open for registration.

“Industry and education must work together to provide the best trained and most skilled workforce to reach the next level of productivity and profitability in advanced manufacturing companies,” said Mike Richards, VU director of business and industry training.  “Industrial robots are now being installed in a wide range of industries and the demand for robotic training has never been higher.”

VU offers a two-year associate degree in Computer Integrated Manufacturing & Robotics, and a series of robotic training courses in its Workforce Development program.  “The new robotics lab will offer robotic programming at the introductory and advanced levels, and is open to qualified VU degree students, incumbent workers and others seeking to increase their skills,” added Richards.

“The ABB Robotics training lab at Vincennes is truly a collaborative effort, the result of great vision and very thorough planning on the part of both the school and ABB,” said Joe Campbell, vice president of the ABB Robot Products Group in the United States.  “It will provide the best available robotic training in Indiana and the Midwest, and it gives us an ideal model for establishing similar relationships in other regions.”

For more information on VU programs and the open house, contact Pama Limbach at 812-888-4309 or visit www.vinu.edu/businessandindustry.

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