Attendees to IMTS 2022 in Chicago, September 12-17, will of course include thousands of machinists, programmers, shop managers and owners, and product designers – but there is another visitor profile that many exhibitors want to reach: students, trainees, … future customers and colleagues.
The Smartforce Student Summit being developed AMT’s Smartforce Development team, is planned to draw students from the elementary school through college levels, along with Scout troops and clubs that engage in robotics projects and STEM studies. The organizers are appealing to young people enrolled in standard public and private school curricula, as well as home-schooled students. Educators from elementary to undergraduate levels are invited, too, to explore the latest production, automation, and digital technologies driving manufacturing.
The most recent staging of the Smartforce Student Summit, at IMTS 2018, drew 24,000 students and other young people interested in the opportunities available to them in manufacturing.
According to AMT, Smartforce Student Summit 2022 attendees will learn about manufacturing technologies to understand better how advanced machinery and software synchronize to build the equipment and infrastructure necessary for a wide spectrum of products and programs. An example of this will include an exhibit from the NASA Artemis project, which relies on advanced manufacturing for long-term space exploration and the upcoming return to the moon. Another presenter, Boston Dynamics will demonstrate its Spot the Robot Dog system that combines automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence for terrain navigation, safety, inspection, and manufacturing.
In 2022, Smartforce Student Summit exhibitors will emphasize fun, interactivity, and engagement with their visitors, as producers and suppliers demonstrate technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, generative design, and digital twinning, among other high-concept ideas that are available to define current and future manufacturing.
The Smartforce Student Summit will offer educators a chance to match their curricula with the current and emerging standards of the manufacturing workplace – including critical subjects like shop safety, skills development, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Also, for the first time, the Smartforce Student Summit will offer visitors an opportunity to initiate career connections: Smartforce Career Connections will allow exhibitors at the summit to display QR codes that, when scanned, link students directly with job opportunities in manufacturing technology.
