A new opportunity for students: Autotech delivered an industrial robot to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Zenica

The Slovenian company Autotech, which was founded by former employees of Gorenje Gaio, and has its representative office in Ilijaš, today delivered the first industrial robot to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zenica.

Malik Čabaravdić, vice-rector for international cooperation and quality assurance at the University of Zenica and professor in the field of automation and robotics at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zenica, told Akta.ba that they are very happy that their Faculty received such a robot that will improve their offer when is education, but above all practical work in the field of mechatronics in question.

"Our goal is to enable current and future students to get the best possible knowledge through practical application and programming with the help of modern equipment, such as this robot," says Čabaravdić.

It is a robot of the renowned German manufacturer Kuka, which has a load capacity of 150 kg and a height of 2 meters, and which was delivered for the needs of the Faculty by the company Autotech.

Čabaravdić says that this is a standard industrial robot that is used in the automotive industry for welding certain parts, transferring some material, assembly, but it is also used in other similar areas. On it, the student will have the opportunity to learn his programming, which is widely used in the industry. In this way, they will be trained for their future work.

"Although automation is gaining momentum in Europe, it is still in its infancy here, but new opportunities are created every day. With this robot, we are opening a new chapter when it comes to process automation. Students and companies who want to improve their knowledge will have the opportunity to do so through our education. "Automation is the goal we all have to strive for," he said.

Seudin Softić, the director of the Autotech company, said that their company, with the outpost of such a robot, offers Bosnia and Herzegovina the opportunity to create new professional staff, who will remain working in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Our company offers staff scholarships, which have proven to be a great success. We now have workers in our company who came as students and even high school students, and thanks to practical education, they got knowledge that they now apply in the constant work processes of our company. That's the future. I hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will companies to recognize this path as the right one, so with the help of such investments and projects, they will enable, those who want it, to be educated in the field of automation, without which almost all processes are unthinkable today", said Softić.

Softić agrees that young people should be given the opportunity to go outside, but to educate themselves, to gather certain practices and knowledge, but above all they should be given the opportunity and create an opportunity to use that knowledge in BiH. Employers should recognize this as an investment in the future.

Almost two years ago at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zenica, a master's course in the field of mechatronics was launched, which deals directly with automation processes.

Čabaravdić hopes that with this robot, he will popularize this course and interest new students in education in the field of mechatronics, because it is the future of all work processes.

"Until now, our students have been training on a small robot that we have and whose load capacity is 2 kg. Now they will get a new opportunity to acquire knowledge on a real machine that can be transferred immediately to a factory where there is a need for such work processes", says Čabaravdić.

Softić says that the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zenica, by owning such a robot, can be the main "producer" of a new workforce, ready for the domestic labor market.

"There is an increasing demand for educated workers, our goal is to train the workforce for the domestic market and to have them stay there in order to provide their knowledge to domestic companies that will appreciate their work. Employers are increasingly beginning to recognize the importance of a quality employee in all segments of work," explains Softić, and adds that many fear that robotics will replace the human workforce, but that is completely wrong, because robots are the ones that increase productivity, which brings savings on other fields but also higher profit.

Softić says that this is just the beginning when it comes to the cooperation between the Faculty and their company. They hope that this investment will be an investment in the future of young people and the creation of new opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That education through the application of the new robot will be a good opportunity for the development of new jobs as well as training.

Text: akta.ba

Photo: UNZE