VGCC to offer new Robotics certificate to adult and high school students

A new certificate program in “Robotics and Machine Design” will be offered by Vance-Granville Community College when the fall semester begins on Aug. 17. The certificate is part of the Mechatronics Engineering Technology degree program, based at VGCC’s South Campus. Students who complete the certificate can also apply those credits to the two-year degree.

“The focus of the certificate is to design and repair robotic machines,” said Keith Shearon, the VGCC Mechatronics Engineering Technology program head and instructor. “Younger students may find the certificate particularly appealing because it combines current motor control and programming technology with a good deal of student creativity to solve real-world problems that apply to the fields of robotic construction and industrial applications.”

The program is not only open to adults but also to eligible high school students, because it will be one of VGCC’s pathways under the Career and College Promise (CCP) program.

Five courses are required to complete the 17-credit-hour Robotics and Machine Design certificate: Robotic Fundamentals, Introduction to Solid Modeling, Circuit Analysis I, Hydraulics/Pneumatics I, and Mechanisms. Three of those, Circuit Analysis I, Hydraulics/Pneumatics I and Mechanisms, are on the fall schedule.

The college is the first in North Carolina to offer this particular certificate, according to Shearon. VGCC is one of only 14 community colleges in the state that offers the Mechatronics degree program, and the only one in the Research Triangle area.

State-of-the-art robotic training equipment has been purchased by VGCC through grants from the U.S. Department of Labor’s TAACCCT program, the Duke Energy Foundation and the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Orientation and advising of new students is going on throughout the summer.

For more information about the certificate or about Mechatronics, contact program head Keith Shearon at shearonj@vgcc.edu  or (252) 738-3541.

 

Above: From left, VGCC Electronics Engineering Technology program head Wesley Williams, Mechatronics Engineering Technology program head Keith Shearon and Roger Giddens, a consultant from Moultrie Technical College in Georgia, examine the specifications on new equipment in VGCC's Mechatronics Lab. The Fanuc robot (featuring a bright yellow arm) and SMC electro-pneumatic manufacturing training system are used by students to troubleshoot automation system problems. (VGCC photo)