By Mikayla van Loon
Yarra Ranges Tech School (YRTS) will be able to inspire more students with new additions and upgrades to its robot collection.
Having received funding from the State Government, YRTS was able to improve the equipment it had on hand for students to use and become familiar with, something director Ashley Van Krieken said would only help students in the industry.
“So one of the key aims of the tech schools is that we have leading edge technology and that we are constantly introducing students to what the trends and changes are in industry,” he said.
Among the collection are robo master robots, an automated farm bot and do bots that have robot arms, as well as upgraded 3D printers and virtual reality headsets.
“I guess the robo masters, for instance, allow us to expand and enhance some of our existing programs,” Mr Van Krieken said.
“We also have robots here that are now getting over four years old. So they’re still quite current in terms of how they work, but they’re just getting a little bit old, a lot of maintenance so the robo masters will allow us to replace those.
“It also allows us to start moving more into that area of artificial intelligence and automation.”
Having a human centred design teaching technique, Mr Van Krieken said the new robots will allow students to understand an array of technologies which they can apply to different areas of focus, whether it be arts, nursing or farming.
“It gets them thinking about the fact that the one technology may have to be applied in a whole variety of different ways depending on the use.”
While the flexibility and ease of these technologies means students can become well versed in all areas of upcoming technology, the teachers will also need to learn how these robots function.
Mr Van Krieken said it can be really empowering for students to learn alongside their teachers rather than just from them.
“The other really good thing about the tech that we have is it’s accessible at different levels of understanding.
“It’s also very much about getting students to be comfortable to explore and to think about different career pathways, education pathways and maybe look at industry in a different way.”
Updating these robots, Mr Van Krieken said, is as much about learning how these devices can be used in conjunction with other technologies like green screens, filming equipment, gaming and social media as it is about inspiring students five or 10 years into the future.
“I’m really hoping that it continues to inspire them, that it makes them realise that technology can be an enabler, but it doesn’t have to be the silver bullet.
“It’s not the be all and end all, that you can use different technologies to help enable someone to do something or to help yourself enable it.”
