![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
Clarksville, TN<\/strong> – Madalyn Mercer, Ushma Patel, Joshua Schlensker and Grayson Phillips recently took control of a $300,000 mechatronics training system unpackaged and set up this summer at Austin Peay State University.<\/p>\n![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Austin-Peay-State-University-to-offer-Mechatronics-Bachelor\u2019s-Degree-3.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
<\/a>Austin Peay State University is on track to be the second university in North America to award a bachelor\u2019s-level Siemens Mechatronic Systems Certification Program, and the University hopes to launch the program as early as fall 2019.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The state-of-the-art equipment with a Fanuc robot comes from Amatrol\u2019s 870 series of mechatronic learning systems and will be an integral step in the students\u2019 lives as they pursue bachelor\u2019s degrees in mechatronics engineering technology.<\/p>\n
The eight-module system also is integral in Austin Peay\u2019s goal to launch a Siemens-backed mechatronics program with its associate and bachelor\u2019s degrees in fall 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a must-have to teach mechatronics,\u201d Matthew Anderson, interim chair of the APSU Department of Engineering Technology, said. \u201cThis sort of equipment has become pretty much industry standard, and it will give students a feel for what kind of conditions they\u2019ll encounter when they begin their career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learning Mechatronics<\/h3>\n
The new mechatronics system integrates several components manufacturing disciplines: mechanical, electrical, electronics, fluid power and programming, said Dr. Chin-Zue Chen, who teaches in the Engineering Technology Department.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Austin Peay State University sophomore Grayson Phillips of Cheatham County gets a crack at APSU’s new mechatronics system.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cIn the past, the mechanical was the mechanical, and the electrical was the electrical,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in today\u2019s industry, if you want to be a more advanced technician or engineer, you\u2019ve got to know both.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our students have knowledge in the electrical and mechanical, it will be easier to understand the system, easier to operate the system, easier to maintain the system,\u201d Chen said. \u201cMechatronics offers essential knowledge of these parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Do Students Think?<\/h3>\n
Joshua Schlensker, an Austin Peay sophomore from Clarksville, described the new mechatronics system as a model-sized assembly line.<\/p>\n
[320left]\u201cWhen I was doing paperwork to get into college, mechatronics sounded like the future, newer than electrical or mechanical engineering,\u201d Schlensker said. \u201cI can see the equipment teaching me how each part works and how multiple parts work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added sophomore and Cheatham County native Grayson Phillips: \u201cThis system will really help me train for my career because this is what they use in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future is key, of course, for all college students. But Madalyn Mercer, a sophomore from Humphreys County, has one day in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I go for an interview and they ask me what this mechatronics equipment is, I\u2019ll know the answer, and if they ask if I know how to use it, I\u2019ll say, \u2018Yes, I do. They taught me at Austin Peay,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Austin Peay State University and The Region<\/h3>\n
Dr. Russ Longhurst, associate professor in the APSU Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy, said the equipment and the Siemens program will help Austin Peay students land jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just out to Hankook this summer and took a tour of their training facilities as well as their plant, and everything they have in there, which is a modern manufacturing facility, is all high-tech automation,\u201d he said. \u201cYou see robotics. You see equipment that when you walk up, you hit a panel, enter in some data, and it takes off running on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin Peay will start integrating the mechatronics equipment into classes as early as the spring semester, Anderson said.<\/p>\n
The funding for the equipment and Siemens training (about $60,000) comes from a U.S. Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment grant awarded to the Pennyrile Area Development District to administer Fort Campbell Strong, an initiative to support the economic health of counties near the Army post.<\/p>\n
Austin Peay is on track to be the second university in North America to offer the Siemens certification with a bachelor\u2019s degree, Anderson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think once the program gets off the ground, it will draw a large enrollment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
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Want To Learn More?<\/h3>\n
Learn more about Austin Peay\u2019s efforts to align what we teach with industry needs at www.apsu.edu\/industry<\/a><\/p>\n Learn more about the mechatronics equipment at www.tech-labs.com\/products\/amatrol-mechatronics-learning-system<\/a><\/p>\n