I’ve been to many community colleges on behalf of Parallax and while the mechatronics and electronics labs look quite familiar, it’s always the people who make the difference. Triton College Mechatronics Program is in River Grove, Illinois (just south of Chicago).
I met with Antigone Sharris, Chair of Engineering Technology (includes welding, fabrication, mechatronics, robotics, CAD), Andrea Blaylock, Faculty and Instructor, and Salvador Garcia, IT Department. These people grew up doing hands-on activities, and had strong influences from those closest to them (like a grandfather who fixed everything), writing their own educational programs, doing hands-on engineering work, and sharing with younger people through the Chicago Robots Club (ChiBots).
Like many of us, their backgrounds carry through to how they manage the program. They specialize in getting the low-level skills just right. They’ll use manual tools, rescue foam core boards from trade shows for repurposing in the classroom, use wood and drill presses – and show students how to make things before they move on to the automation with CNC, laser cutters, and 3D printing. In the rush to pacify and interest students, these important steps are often overlooked. Fitting the industry needs in the area, their outcome is on workforce development and higher-paid technical jobs in the Greater Chicago area, which has manufacturing, tool and die workshops, and industrial shops of all kinds. These jobs require an integrated technical proficiency with electronics, computers and programming, tools, problem-solving, and working with people.
The program uses the Boe-Bot and the instructors really appreciate PBASIC with the BASIC Stamp. When Andrea arrived at Triton College, they had five kits. Not knowing anything about them, she took one home and taught herself and now teaches the class. We spoke at length about the variety of microcontrollers and tools available today, and they see value in keeping the programming and circuit building “close to the metal” with the BASIC Stamp. There’s nothing hidden in abstracted libraries or hardware; what you program is what you see – and that’s why so many educators stick with the Boe-Bot after all of these years. More features, more speed, and more complexity is not always better. This kind of foundational learning is critical when it comes to programming chips and understanding time and program run times. It’s no wonder that Python is so popular now; the simplicity is what I appreciate with PBASIC.
Andrea and Antigone care closely for the students, matching their efforts with instruction and enthusiasm. They show up for even a few students, and focus on their needs, creating specialty summer programs that link together students from the regional feeder schools. This selfless approach is what makes the difference. Learning isn’t all about having the perfect lab — it takes a mentor who gives their time, the most valuable quality an educator can deliver. I saw this at Triton College, and if we handed out “best educator” awards these three would receive it!
We left a few Gripper 3.0s for their Boe-Bots to show the students how their CNC experience translates into a product.
Parallax is working with Triton to support a Robotics Build Summer Camp and an Educator’s Workshop for Chicagoland educators. More on that plan as we assemble the ideas into action!
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
