New robotics center, bridge receive grants

ROGERS -- A new center to teach Northwest Arkansas workers to program, operate and fix advanced industrial robots will open this fall in the former headquarters of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber's project was one of three recipients of a combined $1.4 million in grants announced Friday in Rogers by the regional director of the federal Economic Development Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

A $551,000 grant to replace Spanker Creek bridge in northern Benton County and $400,000 to the World Trade Center in Rogers, which helps Arkansas businesses find export markets, were also announced.

The grant for the bridge replacement was the largest of the three, and it will pay half the project's estimated cost. The bridge spans the creek on Spanker Road just before that road intersects Benton County Road 40.

"Half is way better than all," Benton County Judge Bob Clinard said of how much the county would have to pay, saying the new bridge will ride 3 feet higher than the old one and be more durable. The bridge is still in the design stage, and no completion date was announced.

The robotics center will be the only place between Birmingham, Ala., and Houston that will be able to train operators certified by two of the largest robotics firms in the world, said Steve Clark, director of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

The two firms that will set the curriculum and certify those who graduate are ABB Robotics and Fanuc Robotics, he said. ABB Robotics is primarily a Swedish company, but its headquarters is in Zurich. Fanuc Robotics is based in Oshino, Japan.

Properly programmed, the machines can perform tasks as delicate as picking out a certain color of M&M's candy from a pile and sorting the colors in any order, Clark said.

"The machines we'll be using are small enough to fit in our building, but if you learn to program them correctly, the same skill will work on the same type of machine that can lift up a car body on an assembly line and put it where it needs to be," he said.

The $450,000 grant to the center will go to buy the equipment, Clark said.

"There are 2,000 robots working within 100 miles of where we are today," he said.

Arkansas' food processing companies are among those interested in expanding into robotics. Workers packaging poultry products, for instance, often have to work in freezing temperatures to keep the food fresh. Robots can do such work without concern of exposure.

A robotics center in Northwest Arkansas will attract industry, so there's no danger that companies investing in robots will cut workers out of the job market, Clark said. A high school graduate can complete the needed training in 90 days or less, he said. Also, the center will be able to stay open weekends and nights, depending on demand. Clark said he expects the facility to certify its first technicians in October.

The old chamber headquarters is at 123 Mountain St. on the town square in Fayetteville, near City Hall.

Much of the grant money came from federal funds left over from disaster relief appropriations, said Jorge Ayala of Austin, Texas, the regional director of the development administration. He said that much of the money had to be spent for emergency-related purposes, and the bridge project qualified because the structure was so damaged by repeated flooding that it often requires extensive repairs. Also, having that portion of road flooded blocks a major route between Bella Vista and Bentonville, Ayala said.

The grant for promoting exports will help businesses throughout the state hurt by recent weather-related flooding and other disasters, Ayala said.

The Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, based in Harrison, applied for the grants.

Metro on 08/14/2016

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