My name is Caleb Lundahl and my project was the Fanuc Palletizer. My desire towards this project was to become more acquainted with advanced systems of automation. The cognex camera, Fanuc Robot arm, and Allen Bradley PLC are all a part of advanced automation. I learned a lot by integrating these different systems together for this small project. I plan on using this knowledge to advance my career in utilizing and implementing these systems efficiently. I learned a lot with this project for this semester. I hope you can enjoy my project as much as I did learning and doing it!

Hello! My name is Halley Rencher and I was born and raised in Utah County. I will be graduating with High Honors in Electrical Automation and Robotics Technology this spring. I have had an avid interest in electronics my whole life and the EART program allowed that interest to flourish. I especially enjoy programming PLCs. Outside of the the classroom, I’m a retro game collector and I personally maintain and repair my own consoles.           My goal when creating this pinball machine was to create something that not only showed off the skills I have learned from the EART program, but could also be something I was engaged in creating through the whole process. I spend more time in arcades than the average person and I’m very passionate about many different styles of electronic games. Doing this project seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine my chosen career path and my favorite hobby.            Pinball machines seem simple when you play them but they are actually very complex systems built to manage an unpredictable variable. I learned this very quickly, even before beginning this project. I spent quite a bit of time visiting and playing pinball machine at local arcades. I also studied manuals for several pinball machines.           I had to design almost every part of my machine. I designed and modeled the board pieces and solenoid brackets to be cut out on the school’s CNC mill. Additionally, the frame needed to hold the board at the proper angle so the ball rolls around fairly. Every component that wasn’t an official pinball part had to be adapted and tinkered with to work just right.           My pinball machine contains a pneumatic actuator that acts as a ball launcher. There are four solenoids, two that act as drop traps for the ball and two that operate the flippers. I used six inductive sensors that track the location of the ball as it travels around the board, so other parts can react accordingly.           I used an Allen Bradley PLC and programmed in Studio 5000. Most of the operations were programmed with ladder logic. However, the scoring system was programmed in structured text. I felt that was the style that was best suited to handle the calculations needed.            The HMI displays your current score as well as a remaining ball count. It also displays if the ball saver is on, a system that doesn’t reduce your ball count if the ball is returned soon after launching. There is a retentive high scoring system along with an options menu where you can test the inputs and reset the current game or high score list.            Ultimately, I wanted to make playing my machine feel as authentic as possible. I wanted it to be as fun to play for others as it was for me to build it. Even if it was difficult at times and there were many challenges to overcome, I loved working on this project. It was truly a wonderful experience.

My name is Tyler Mecham I am from Santaquin, Utah. From a young age I have been interested in Electrical Automation. In elementary and jr high I participated in several after school clubs that taught me how to design and program the Lego Mindstorms. In high school I took a Robotics class that taught me more advanced  coding and set up for mechanical designs. As an adult I have been working at Rocky Mountain ATV for the last 2 years where I have worked around the conveyor system in their warehouse. I was fascinated with the mechanics, programming, and engineering of these machines. This is the inspiration for my project.  My project is designed to bring bins with items/product needed for a certain station to be delivered to that station. All other bins will be either set aside or sent to another station according to it’s assignment. These bins are programmed to go to a specific location and have a specific action to be performed by a worker once there. Each bin’s action and location is determined before it is placed on the conveyor. Once the bin is on the conveyor it will proceed through to each of the stops (this project demonstrates one location, but others can be added).  As a bin comes to a location the bin number is scanned, the PLC decides if it needs to stay or move on.  If it stays it has two options to move to the right, until an action is made to it or move to the left, which means the bin is done or empty. Once the bin has completed it’s run through the system it can be cleared and reused for the next job.  The purpose for this project design is to eliminate the additional movement of workers to complete a job. This allows them to stay at one station and work on jobs one right after another. With this system it will speed up production and improve productivity.

Hello, my name is Jessica Higuera. I am in the Electrical Automation and Robotics Technology program. I currently work at ATL Technology as a Quality Control Inspector. I ensure the quality of each wire as it goes through me. What got me interested in this program was a company that I used to work for, Computrol Inc. I would build PCB boards as well as soldered hand-load components. Technology has come a long way in the last couple of decades and it is extremely fascinating to me. Being able to build/program a project and watch it function properly gives me a huge satisfaction. I am very thankful for this program, it is amazing. I have gained a lot of knowledge on wiring, programming, and troubleshooting. I sincerely hope you like my project just as much as I loved building it and learning from it. Thank you so much.