A gap in training
During a holiday in Ethiopia 16 months ago, John had a chance meeting with a former student, Fasil Woldegabriel, who introduced him to one of the STEMpower centres that was already working with microcontrollers and robotics. However, their discussion identified a gap in the automation training, sparking the idea of a collaborative project on PLCs, the default choice for automation in the industry.
John comments:
“In autumn of 2022, some Zoom lectures were conducted. Later, the project received a significant boost when Routeco, the UK supplier for Rockwell Automation, donated four Micro-850 PLCs, one of the leading names in the automation sector”.
The Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) were transported by air to the capital of Ethiopia. Colleagues from Ethiopian STEM worked diligently to clear the Controllers from the notoriously strict Ethiopian customs, so they could be made available by Thursday of the first training week and throughout the second week. The first group of trainees, consisting of STEM Lab coordinators from various universities across the country, raced to get the PLCs connected and operational.
