Intellecta Technologies Pty Ltd

for PICAXE education, Roland CAM, Techsoft CAD, Intellecta control, Atmel, Arm and Microchip education

Clontarf PICAXE training - Special systems for teacher training

Following from the successful PICAXE training course at DeLaSalle College in Melbourne, a course was held at Clontarf State High in Queensland. This was arranged by Danny O’Kane and Corey Geiskens who teach systems in the Robotics room.

The course focussed on several main areas:

Interpretation and understanding the microcontroller interfacing to switches, leds etc. The schematics reflected the layout of the HomeBrew training boards that were developed at the DeLaSalle course

Planning and Software Design

Documentation

Use of PCB Design and Make with the Roland MDX20 mill

These resources allowed the teachers to design their own interface board with leds and a switch.

The course was conducted over two days and covered the a number of important subject areas.

Narangbar Valley State High School - Technology Expo

Andrew McIntyre sponsored a technology get-together with local teachers. This event is popular with teachers from the Caboolture area north of Brisbane.

The aim of the two day event was to show some interesting applications in CAD/CAM and give the teachers some hands on experience in using milling machines, new software and teaching strategies.

Topic covered:

• Use of the Vinyl cutters as a 2D CAD/CAM activity
• PICAXE and systems
• Soldering engraved boards
• Design your own system with PCB Design and Make
• Programming and planning activities

Teachers designed their own expansion board for the HB board that ran 4 leds and 1 switch. Boards were engraved with the Roland MDX20 mill.

Student  Day - Griifith University

The technology education program at Griffith University is one of the most visionary courses in Australia. Graduates are exposed to a wide number of resources such as CAD/CAM, PCB’s etc.

Griffith University is a strategic partner with Intellecta and we placed a MDX-40R at the University for a special student project based on testing the applications of the system and producing some teacher centric examples.

Four units are developed:

• Unit 1: Making a Sandwich Injection mould
• Unit 2 Making a 3D Puzzle
• Unit 3 Making a vehicle shell
• Unit 4: Making a 3D Photoengraving

Shared Electrotechnology at Victoria University

The aims of the VCE VET Electrotechnology (Shared Technology) program are to:

• provide participants with the knowledge and skills to achieve units of competence that will enhance

their employment prospects in the electrotechnology and related industries

• enable participants to gain a recognised credential and make a more informed choice of vocation and career paths.

The Certifi cate II in Electrotechnology (Shared Technology) provides a pathway into industries that are likely to combine different types of technologies. These industries include automotive, building and

construction, electrical, electronics, engineering, information technology and telecommunications.

Some of these aims are also embedded in the VCE Systems and Technology course.

An excellent information day was sponsored at Victoria University and hosted by Peter Averill, He discussed the aims of this program and demonstrated some PICAXE driven projects that address the aims of this course.

Intellecta has a small display with the MDX40 humming away.

Concept to Creation

Intellecta had the pleasure of working with Salisbury High School as part of the innovative Concept to Creation Program conducted by NAMIG ( Northen Area Manufacaturing Industries Group). We worked with students in the design of a PICAXE security system and were assisted by science teachers - Deb Turley and Jenny Stewart.

All the components - PCB were manufactured by rapid prototyping on the Roland centres.

On Wednesday 16 November more than 100 students fromf ive Northern Adelaide schools,along with seven advanced manufacturers, participated in the first C2C Expo hosted by DANA Australia at their Edinburgh ParkFacility.

The students from Para Hills HighSchool, Para West Adult Campus,St Columba College, Salisbury High School, and Valley View Secondary School have piloted the Concept 2 Creation Program which has been designed and initiated by a group of Advanced Manufacturers located in the Cities of Playford and Salisbury.

David Fawcett, Member for Wakefield, the key speaker on behalf of the Department of Transport and Regional Services and the Sustainable Regions Programme, said that he was gratified to see such splendid results actually being achieved by all involved in the Concept 2 Creation project.

Michael O’Brien, Member for Napier spoke on behalf of the Premier the Honorable Mike Rannand the Minister for Education JaneLomax-Smith. Both parties wished to be kept informed of the progress of Concept 2 Creation.

Senior executives from Air International, BAE Systems, DANA Australia, General Motors Holden, IMP Printed Circuits, NTS Global and Tenix Defence attended the Expo and were extremely impressed with the student projects.

Northern Advanced Manufacturing Industry Group(NAMIG) Chairperson and HR Manager at Tenix Annette Cinnamond commented from the Boards perspective.

We have been astounded by what the students and teachers have been able to accomplish in just three months and be able to proudly display their finished projects at the Expo”.

The Concept 2 Creation f me work provides a vehicle for industry and schools to work together by helping schools and students to develop the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of advanced manufacturing processes and possibilities through a product life cycle - problem based learning approach”.

The Industry partners to NAMIG have chosen to take a long term view to addressing the skills needs of industry by supplying encouragement and assistance to local students. We all hope to help the students discover the many career choices on offer in advanced manufacturing in Northern Adelaide and to encourage the study of science,maths and technology, vital knowledge they will need in the future.”

Launch of Intellirobot

Intellecta Technologies grew out of the University of  South Australia’s technology incubator programs and has always had a strong link with the alma mater. It was really positive to cooperate on the design of the new intellirobot platform that extends the Mechatronics kit.

Students assemble robot platform, solder their own control board and write the embedded code for a line following robot.

The new Intellirobot features:

• High torque DC motors with internal gear box
• Adjustable sensors
• Smooth wheels and tyres.