Ohio State University has filled their training lab with Tormach CNC machine equipment to meet the challenges of educating future engineers.

I love STEM events. Students huddling around chemistry experiments, buzzing machines, and the buzzing of learning makes me giddy; all of these bright young minds are going to be our future, and, with our help, our legacy as STEM professionals.

Letting students take control of the CNC machine for the first time each semester can be terrifying enough if they were paying attention to your wise words of caution, but we all know some of them weren’t taking studious notes. An easy way to save your machine and nerves is to give your students forgiving workpieces, like machinist wax, wood, or plastic, but that’s not always the best solution.

Earlier this week, we visited a local technical school, Madison College, to see what they were up to with their PCNC 440. As part of the automation integration program, an array of students have had the opportunity to use Fanuc robots for different programming and automation challenges. Students did everything from packaging candy to unpacking a CD. But, we’re biased, and our favorite took blank

We love STEM, and not just because we’re a company full of engineers and machinists. Our marketing and logistics departments are just as geeky as the tech crew. That’s why we played host to a Family STEM Day that was put on by the local library, here in Waunakee, WI. Everything from community members showing off an FRC competition robot from Badger Bots and retro electronics to building spaghetti-marshmallow towers to creating miniature marble rollercoasters. Sector 67, a local makerspace, even had an array of projects showing off their wares.

Here at Tormach, we love getting involved in education and giving students a chance to get hands-on experience with real tools. That’s why we spent last weekend at the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, in Milwaukee, WI, cheering on kids who built robots to compete for a place at the national event. Also during the event, the State of Wisconsin signed a new law that commits $250k in general purpose revenue to grants to help high-school teams participate in robotics events, like FIRST.