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Brick by brick\u2026.Summer camps using LEGO\u00ae construction toys are helping to change the face of engineering<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A fun programme designed to encourage young people \u2014 especially females \u2014 into engineering is using LEGO\u00ae bricks to help participants develop their engineering talents.<\/span><\/p>\n The ECubers summer camps are for 13 \u2013 15 year olds and aim to show secondary school students what it is like to work within a manufacturing environment as well as develop their creative and technical skills.<\/span><\/p>\n The first camp, Build and Program, took place at the University of Limerick (UL) at the end of June and saw students use LEGO\u00ae Technic Sets for building and LEGO\u00ae MINDSTORMS for programming.<\/span><\/p>\n The follow-on camp, ECubers Inventor, will take place from Monday, July 24 \u2013 Friday, July 28. This will see students build a Great Ball Contraption \u2014 a machine which receives balls from one module and passes them to another \u2014 using LEGO\u00ae Technic Sets.<\/span><\/p>\n Mentors on the programme include experienced industrial experts, UL Mechatronics students as well as Transition Year students.<\/span><\/p>\n The ECubers programme is run by the ESE Academy, an industry-led, not-for-profit initiative to advance the delivery of Equipment Systems Engineering (ESE) education.<\/span><\/p>\n The ESE Academy was set up by Irish-owned software engineering company, SL Controls, in conjunction with the University of Limerick. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The aim of the ESE Academy is to educate students to the level required for Industry 4.0 as well as encourage young people to study and pursue careers in engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the ways the academy is educating young people is by supporting the new Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at UL and the second is the roll out of ECubers in schools across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n Shane Loughlin, CTO and co-founder of SL Controls,<\/strong> established the ECubers programme in 2016 to increase awareness of the benefits and opportunities of engineering as a career for young men and women and to help address the shortage of young people pursuing careers in the sector. He said:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cVery little has been done to explain to young people \u2013 especially young girls \u2014 how much engineering has evolved over the last 20 years. ECubers was set up by the ESE Academy to try and reverse that and promote excellence in Equipment Systems Engineering. We want to get young people excited about, and interested in, engineering \u2013 and what could be a more fun way to do that than by using LEGO\u00ae to help children relate to engineering. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe also want to show them the range of exciting career opportunities that now exist for both men and women in the field. By working with key academic partners \u2014\u00a0such as UL, IT Sligo, Limerick IT and DIT \u2014\u00a0and leveraging their facilities during the summer months when second-level students are available, we can introduce students to college life and the working environment in a very efficient fashion. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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