Using Robots to Teach Manufacturing Automation

The Manufacturing Automation course is offered as part of the Electrical Engineering Technology curriculum. This course covers computer integrated manufacturing systems primarily from a hardware and control point of views. It also covers robotic applications to Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) cells. The course includes lab experiments utilizing a robot and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines. The robot was designed to emulate an industrial robot. The open structure of the robot arm allows students to observe and learn about its internal mechanisms. The robot is a vertical articulated robot, with five revolute joints. With a gripper attached, the robot has six degrees of freedom. This design permits the end effector to be positioned and oriented arbitrarily within a large workspace. This paper describes the Manufacturing Automation course as well as the use of the robot to teach the course.