Because of inhospitable living conditions in outer space, some of the galaxy’s next explorers will be robots. To ascertain the caliber of the world’s robotics experts, the Centennial Challenges Program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) teamed with the Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, for the Space Robotics Challenge. A team led by Byung-Cheol “B.C.” Min, associate professor in Purdue Polytechnic’s Department of Computer and Information Technology, is a finalist in NASA’s robotics challenge.

Knowing the types of machines available at Bechtel Innovation Design Center and being familiar with how they work is fundamental to Purdue students’ projects; however, becoming an expert in a machine’s use in order to create only one piece for a class project seemed a bit excessive. Matthew Swabey, Bechtel’s director, needed a happy medium, so he enlisted Bechtel’s student employees, led by Anirudh Pal, to devise a solution.

Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute has teamed with leading technology and manufacturing corporations, including Rockwell Automation, Caterpillar, General Mills and Microsoft, to launch the Smart Manufacturing Industrial Infomatics program. Additional partners include the Foundry Educational Foundation, International Society of Automation and the US-DoE Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII).

Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute is receiving support from major technology companies for the college's Smart Manufacturing program and facilities. Microsoft, Rockwell Automation, PTC, Endress+Hauser, Foundry Educational Foundation, International Society of Automation, and the US-DoE Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) are collaborating to support the Polytechnic’s faculty and staff as they transform learning to prepare the next generation of graduates specializing in 21st-century manufacturing technologies.

Students Matthew Fitzgerald and Shiv Patel used the laser engraver at Bechtel Innovation Design Center to inscribe railroad tracks once buried under State Street with Purdue emblems.

The Bechtel Innovation Design Center is a makerspace on the Purdue campus that provides students with training and access to high-end equipment with which to build prototypes of their design ideas. Students from any Purdue major can use the waterjet, computer-aided design software, 3D printers or laser engravers.

Students, faculty and staff have been settling in to the Bechtel Innovation Design Center (BIDC), a state-of-the-art collaborative learning facility which opened in September 2017.

Student teams in CGT 22600 (Introduction to Constraint Based Modeling) designed and built 3D-printed prosthetics for a dog born with a malformed front leg and paw.

A team of students from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) visited Purdue University for a week during a semester-long collaboration with students in AT 49000, an international capstone course in Purdue Polytechnic’s School of Aviation and Transportation Technology.

Purdue Polytechnic’s School of Aviation and Transportation Technology has joined Mesa Airlines as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) Cadet Program partner.