OREM, Utah -- Robots that can assemble toy cars, make a smoothie, cook a hot dog and even add the ketchup when it’s done--all were part of the line up at the Annual Electrical Automation and Robotic Technology Fair at Utah Valley University.
"They put a lot of work into these projects, and they’ve taken a lot of time to do these and it shows what they can do with just a two-year degree," said David Adams, Department Chair of UVU Engineering Technology.
Students take a mess of wires to create impressive stuff.
"We have about three months of work into this project, it’s been a really good experience just fabricating, learning how a lot of different parts work together," said Brandon Hyer, a UVU senior studying electrical automation and robotic technology.
“Here in class you get to play around with it and make program changes and see how that affects things… school is the best way to learn this kind of stuff," said Daren Fanz, a UVU senior studying electrical automation and robotics technology.
These final projects not only get students a grade, but in some cases could even land them a job.
“Our students have approximately 98 percent hire rate, almost 100 percent they start off with very good salaries from 60 to 80K a year, and so we have people come from all over the state to hire these students," Adams said.
Already, UVU has seen this program come full circle.
"It gave me the skills I needed to get a good paying job to be able to move out and get in the industry," said Justin Hayes, who is an instrumentation and electronics specialist for Anadarko Petroleum.
Justin Hayes is a graduate of UVU and met his employer at this fair, now he’s back. But this time he’s doing the hiring.
“They’ve been doing this for three years now, and this is by far the best one I’ve ever seen," Hayes said.
Directors at UVU said they hope to see the program grow more each year.
