IONIA — FANUC is one of the world leaders in robotics and automation technology. The company is based in Japan, but makes its North American headquarters in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

To help prepare students for potential careers in robotics and automation, Ionia High School began a FANUC robot computer programming course last year, where students can earn a FANUC Robot Programmer and Operator Certification.

“This is a really unique, hands-on learning opportunity for high school students,” Ionia High School Principal Ben Gurk said. “What our students do is learn how to program and operate our FANUC robot. This really prepares students for immediate employability and success in a robot or automation career pathway.”

One student who has earned a certification, senior Ben Salyer, said it helped him line up a job after graduation.

“I’ve already got my whole life set up pretty much,” he said. “A company named Paragon D&E (of Grand Rapids), they’re offering me a job and a lot of money right off the start at the age of 18.”

Payton Stancil, another certified senior, says the certification give him a lot of options after high school.

“It makes it so I have a good choice of things that I can do,” Stancil said. “I’m planning on going on to computer programming and 3D printing and things like that. It’s good to have a certification because with that, I can definitely get in if I ever need to get into a place for robotics.”

Also earning certification at the end of the first semester were seniors Samuel Savage, Macey Quinn, Cole Cudney and Bryce Phelps.

To earn a certification, students have to meet classroom goals, complete an online course and pass a final exam and demonstration, said Andrew Keson, teacher of the Ionia FANUC class.

“To earn the certification, there’s three main components,” he said. “There’s in classroom learning opportunities where we go through the curriculum designed by FANUC. There’s also an online course the students have to pass with a ‘B’ or better to be able to earn certification.

“The final component is an examination of 50 questions and a demonstration piece to earn their certification. Their certifications are good globally; it’s not just within the state, it’s on any FANUC equipment.”

Salyer said that the robotics technology allows him a continuous learning experience and has endless possibilities.

“Every day you learn something new,” he said. “There are a lot of things to learn. You can pretty much do anything that your imagination does. I’ve had dreams and then made it happen the next day I came back.”

In addition to being great training for future jobs, the class is a lot of fun, too.

“It was always fun to operate the robot,” Stancil said. “I got to help other kids learn about the robot and that was one of my favorite parts.

“We create things in a design program called Sketchup where you can design anything you want pretty much from scratch and then you can upload that to the 3D printer and print it right there.”

Gurk said that the school offered one section of the FANUC class last year, but doubled to two sections this year. He and Keson hope the program continues to grow each year.

“The demand has doubled from year one to year two,” Gurk said. “It’s one of those emerging technologies. If we’re going to make sure our coursework and course offerings are relevant, what could be more relevant than offing students this education?”

“I’m looking forward to the program going farther,” Keson said. “We’ve applied for other grants where we can bring other robots to the program so we can offer a certification for multiple robots versus just one. We’ve done a lot of great things with the help of the school board, community and administration.”

— Follow this reporter on Twitter @boatlander_32.