SMART - Extended Reach (SMART-ER), Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy's initiative that involves several Pittsburgh community organizations to teach students core technician skills kicked off on Thursday, February 28th, 2019 at The Garfield Jubilee. SMART-ER works with organizations such as The Garfield Jubilee, Auberle, Rescare, Phase4 Learning Center, Digital Bridges, and the Will Allen Foundation to engage Pittsburgh youth to gain knowledge, skills, and attributes identified during technician interviews at Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing companies.

Participants of the Garfield Jubilee training are going through the Electrical Foundations Micro-Certification course, which focuses on concepts like wiring, series and parallel circuits, voltage, current, troubleshooting with a multimeter, and other circuits concepts. Learners will have to create end-of-unit projects like a Lightbox, a 2-wheeled cart, and then combining all of the concepts into an electronics panel, also known as an E-Panel. 

The Electrical Foundations Micro-Certification course is one of five that will be available as part of the Smart Manufacturing and Advanced Robotics Training (SMART) Project, a project funded by ARM's (www.arminstitute.org) Educational and Workforce Development division. 

Not only does the youth learn about the Electrical concepts, but they are also given the opportunity to visit local robotics companies like ARGO AI (the Pittsburgh-based autonomous car company), Bossa Nova, HEBI Robotics, SEEGRID, and more to come as companies learn about the project. 

To learn more about SMART-ER you can go to our Research Area. You can also learn about the parent project, SMART. You can also email us at cmra@nrec.ri.cmu.edu for more information about either of these projects. 

Garfield Jubilee Association, Inc. (GJA) is a non-profit, community development corporation formed to develop programs and activities which benefit and stabilize the welfare of low and moderate income families and the community. GJA was formally incorporated in 1983 and is the product of the cooperative efforts of local East End clergy and concerned city residents, with assistance from the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation and the Alcoa Foundation. Learn more at www.garfieldjubilee.org.