LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — A new partnership between an Ohio welding robot company and Lorain County JVS is preparing students for the technology they will be using in their future jobs.
Senior Tyler Pilarczyk is learning to use the new welding robot at the JVS in Lorain County.
He wants to be a welder, just like his stepfather.
"Me watching him has pushed me to do what he does cause I want to be like him," said Pilarczyk.
Tyler's stepfather graduated from the Lorain JVS program back in 2002, almost 20 years ago.
"He comes home from work every day and we have a shop on our property that he does his work in, and I feel like me being able to be out there with him, experiencing that has pushed me to be what he does," said Pilarczyk.
Welding has changed with the times, and that's why the JVS has added a new collaborative robot to their tech lab.
Welding instructor Anthony Tyree said the co-bot was designed to work in tandem with a human operator.
"We can teach basic programming and positioning, can learn and understand the automated form of welding. So, with doing all the manual welding in the booths here in the lab, they can take that basic knowledge that they already have and they can apply it to the automated portion of this," said Anthony Tyree, a welding instructor at the JVS.
Weldbot and JVS have partnered to allow students to begin their future tech training.
"Working with partnerships like "Weldbot" that come in, donate, teach our students, help work with our staff teach them the latest and greatest. So they can be very competitive when they enter into the workforce," said Dr. Glenn Faircloth, superintendent of the Lorain JVS.
Tyler will be graduating from Lorain JVS and will find a job because, as he said, "Welding is in my blood."