Robo- careers open new doors for workers in skilled trades
Don’t let the fact that Adrian Schut, owner of Almonte Laser Engraving near Ottawa, does carpentry work fool you. He’s also a hard- core robotics aficionado.
It’s a skill he started developing in earnest in Grade 9, when he began entering Skills Canada competitions. Over time, he entered world- level competitions and continues to help up- and- coming competitors today.
Robotics has been a passion for Schut since he was a child. “I used to play around with Lego Mindstorms ( robots) when I was little. When I got to high school, I spent every lunch hour working in the technology room. I was always late for class.”
The connection between robotics and his carpentry business makes perfect sense, since he designs his own computer numerical control ( CNC) systems for his shop. And CNC machining happens to be one of the areas where robotics skills have a role to play.
Schut says he loves the fact robotics brings together so many moving parts — literally. “You get to work on so many different aspects — design, wiring and manufacturing. And there are so many different career paths you can go down. CNC is one because it involves control systems and programming.”
It’s not unusual to see a skilled worker from another discipline move into robotics, says Neil Wenger, electronics technologist with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology ( NAIT) Shell Manufacturing Centre in Edmonton. Its continuing- education course in robotics automation control draws many people who already have a designation in a related field, such as electronics, mechanical or instrumentation engineering.
The certificate course introduces 12 different areas of robotics automation control studies, including pneumatics, hydraulics and control systems. The idea, Wenger says, is to fill in the missing pieces that are in high demand in Alberta.
Further east, it’s the automotive industry that tends to be the biggest employer in the robotics field, says Diogo Barco, a professor at Humber College School of Applied Technology in Toronto. Many graduates from its program take up jobs in the U. S.
Humber’s electromechanical engineering technology program offers both a two- year technician and a three- year technologist course. “Technicians work in maintenance and are usually not responsible for design,” Barco explains.