WPI lands $82K for robotics curriculum
Photo | Grant Welker
An announcement at Worcester Polytechnic Institute of new state funding for advanced manufacturing initiatives included Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito (fourth from right in back row), Executive Officer of Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy (third from right in back row) and WPI President Laurie Leshin (second from right in back row). Kneeling are local students taking part in a summer robotics program at WPI.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is receiving $82,000 for an initiative with Quinsigamond Community College to develop and run a curriculum for Greater Worcester public school students to learn robotics.
The funding, announced at WPI on Thursday, is part of nearly $900,000 in new grants from Gov. Charlie Baker's administration through the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, with officials saying such money supports the state's edge in advanced manufacturing jobs.
The WPI-led project will target summer and after-school programs where middle and high school students will learn hands-on experience and training in collaborative robotics. The initiative is meant to help prepare the next generation of advanced manufacturing workers.
Pittsburgh-based Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, an industry consortium, is supporting the program along with WPI.
WPI President Laurie Leshin praised such initiatives bringing together public and private partners along with higher education.
"When these three sectors can come together effectively, powerful things can happen," Leshin said.
Three other grants announced Thursday will go to UMass Lowell initiatives, including one aiming to develop printed sensors embedded in textiles, which will be run in partnership with Seattle-based Boeing and Saint-Gobain, a French manufacturer with a large presence in Worcester.
Others including developing drone technology with Maryland aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, and another to create flexible circuit boards.
The Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, known as M2I2, has been given more than $100 million in the past five years. Funding this year has included more than $2.3 million for Sheaumann Laser, a Marlborough firm designing and manufacturing lasers, to adapt new technology.
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