Mechatronics 101 Workshop

On March 1, 2024, thirteen (13) high school and community college educators attended the all-day FLATE Mechatronics 101 workshop at St. Petersburg College Clearwater Campus.  This workshop uses the Independent Mechatronics Education Curriculum (iMEC)2.0 and the Independent Remote Experiment Automation Lab (iREAL) trainers designed and developed over ten years ago by Mr. Doug Laven of the Mechatronics Department of South Central College (SSC) in Mankato, MN. The Florida educators assembled their own trainer from the ground up, assembling and wiring components to demonstrate simple logic circuits with several input and output devices. At the end of the day, all attendees took home their built iREAL trainers, small assembly tools, and the various input and output devices. Many of the attendees had never wired electronic components and were excited to have the well guided instruction. In a post-workshop survey, attendees gave the workshop high praise for the all-day hands-on, step by step instruction.

This was the second Mechatronics 101 workshop supported by FLATE and its NSF award, 2148138, which is enhancing the state’s AS Engineering Technology degree with industry 4.0 skills. Dr. Barger says, “it’s very important to provide rigorous, hands-on educator professional development in conjunction with curriculum changes so they can, in turn, share the new technologies with students in their classrooms. The next steps for the attendees of this workshop will be at least two (2) virtual sessions with more advanced challenges and a shared folder with the advanced activities and videos.

Mr. Laven developed the iMEC2 and iREAL trainers originally to meet the needs of industry in his region with a small, compact, affordable, and flexible training platform that students could borrow from the college to do the required hands-on labs for the mechatronics courses. This effort was funded by the National Science Foundation through grant 1304835. A more recent NSF SSC award, 2037491, expanded the use of the iREAL electronic trainers and added three additional mechatronics-related trainers, Programable Logic Controllers (PLC), Sensors, and Process Control to support dual enrollment programs in Minnesota and Nebraska.

Florida Manufacturing Days in Tallahassee

Florida Manufacturing Days in Tallahassee took place on February 13-14, 2024. Coordinated by the Florida Manufacturing & Supply Chain Advocacy Council, this annual event brings together manufacturing champions from across the state. The Council, composed of representatives from various associations, including FLATE and the regional manufacturers associations from across the state, works to strengthen local relationships and implement grassroots campaigns.

Florida Manufacturing Days is a time for manufacturers and other industry stakeholders to meet with legislators and statewide partners to discuss and advocate for manufacturing-related issues and to learn more about the legislative process. The events and meetings hosted during Florida Manufacturing Days allow participants to network and lend their voice in shaping Florida's manufacturing business environment. This year, more than 45 attendees actively engaged in over 50 meetings with legislative offices.

FLATE was represented at Florida Manufacturing Days by Ernie Friend, Executive Director of FLATE, along with educational partners Shera Gill from Northwest Florida State College, and Alan Harris and Stephen Stagon from the University of North Florida's School of Engineering. All ET Forum schools were represented in an exhibit with college posters around the rotunda of the Capital, allowing all state representatives to see manufacturing education programs in their districts.