Upcoming Engineering Technology Forum
Fall, 2021 ET Forum – Changed to Hybrid!
October 26th – 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
Register in advance for these meetings:
- Click here to register in-person for the Fall 2021 ET Forum
- Click here to register virtually for the Fall 2021 ET Forum
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you are attending in-person, the event will be held at the
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
1 Grand Cypress Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32836
Hotel Room Block Details:
Registration Code: FCF2
Hotel Website
FloridaMakes is providing tickets for the MakeMore Manufacturing Summit, at no cost, to all ET Forum members. The Summit will take at the same hotel in-person after our meeting starting at 12pm with lunch. If you plan to attend the MakeMore summit following the ET Forum, please register at www.floridamakemore.com and use code ETFORUM
ET Forum Tech Talks
Robots and Automation – What’s next with Cobots
November 18, 2021 / 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (EST)
Speaker: Dr. Gloria J. Wiens, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Recent advancements in sensing, computational intelligence, and big data analytics have been rapidly transforming and revolutionizing the manufacturing industry towards robot-rich and digitally connected factories. However, effective, efficient and safe coordination between humans and robots on the factory floor has remained a significant challenge. Further complicating matters, the robot is co-operating within a heterogeneous manufacturing environment (robots, humans, equipment). In response, the market has seen the introduction of a new category of robots – collaborative robots, commonly referred to as “cobots” – designed to physically interact with humans in a shared ‘fenceless’ environment. To enable safe and effective human-robot collaboration, seamless integration of sensing, cognition and prediction into the robot controller is critical for real-time awareness, response and communication.
This Tech Talk will provide a view of the cobots technology landscape and future trends, highlighting state-of-the-art capabilities and gaps in providing collaboration between humans and cobots as a promising way to achieve increases in productivity while decreasing production costs. A demonstration will also be given by the “Action” Team on their research being conducted in the Space, Automation and Manufacturing Mechanisms (SAMM) Laboratory at the University of Florida as part of the National Science Foundation – National Robotics Initiative 2.0 program’s funded international collaboration on Intelligent Human-Robot Collaboration for Smart Factory.
SAMM Cobot Research “Action” Team:
- Gloria J. Wiens – Associate Professor & Director of SAMM Laboratory
- Jared Flowers – Ph.D. Student
- Callia Bast – Undergraduate Student
- Zariq George – Undergraduate Student
More about our speaker:
Dr. Gloria Wiens is an associate professor and director of the Space, Automation and Manufacturing Mechanisms (SAMM) Laboratory at the University of Florida. She has held key leadership roles as the FloridaMakes Director of Advanced Manufacturing at BRIDG, Bridging the Innovation Development Gap; Assistant Director for Research Partnerships and ASME Foundation Swanson Fellow at the NIST/Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office; and as a National Research Council – Senior Research Associate at AFRL/RVSV-Kirtland. She serves on a number of ASME manufacturing and robotics committees and task forces, and chairs the ASME Robotics Technology Group.
For the past 35 years, Professor Wiens has been conducting research in the areas of intelligent and autonomous robotic systems, innovative mechanisms and controls for automation, space robotics/small satellites, manufacturing and micro-electro-mechanical systems. Her research has been supported by Lockheed Martin Corporation, DARPA, NSF, NASA, SNL, Hammond Machinery, Inc., Harris Corporation, PhaseSpace Corp., and others.
The Florida Forum on Engineering Technology (E.T. Forum) is an important vehicle to bring together the diverse and geographically dispersed colleges with common issues and challenges. The Forum is a semiannual 2-day meeting of community college engineering technologies faculty in Florida. FLATE utilizes the Forum to strengthen its Technology Consortium; share its activities and projects; provide professional development; bring industry and academics together; engage faculty and administrators in statewide curriculum reform; and keep in touch with new and ongoing college program issues and concerns.
E.T. Forum Impacts
- Led curriculum reform for statewide associate degree programs
- Provided a foundation for strong partnerships between colleges
- Started reform and reorganization of common course numbering for relevant courses
- Unified input to Perkins IV state implementation plan
- Supported CAPE and other CTE legislation
Need More Information?
The ET Forum has met thirty-nine times since 1996 at 21 different colleges around the state. You can find ET Forum presentations and resource files on FLATE’s Wiki, filed by year.
Previous E.T. Forum Meetings:
Date: March 19 and March 26, 2021 – Location: Virtual
Date: April 2-3, 2020- Eastern Florida State College
Date: October 17-18, 2019 – Seminole State College, Central Florida
Date: March 28-29, 2019 – Suncoast Technical College, Sarasota, FL
Date: November 1-2, 2018 – St Petersburg College, St Petersburg, FL
April 12-13, 2018 – South Florida State College, Avon Park, FL
September 21-22, 2017 – College of Central Florida (www.cf.edu)
March 30-31, 2017 – Chipola College
Sept 22-23, 2016 – Daytona State College
Mar 31-April 1, 2016 – Lake Sumter State College
Learn more about Chipola College in the video below.
Chipola College
More information, presentations files, handouts, etc can be found on FLATE’s wiki filed by year behind the presentation button.
