Partnership Brings Robots to Community College and Local Businesses

Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) has partnered with a local startup to help bring collaborative robots, or cobots, to businesses in the area.

Cobots are designed to work with human beings on a range of repetitive or dangerous tasks, such as screw driving, painting or manufacturing tasks. The devices are also designed to be relatively inexpensive and to be repurposed from one task to another without complicated coding.

The move is a collaboration between CNM Ingenuity, an enterprise arm of the college, and Build with Robots, a startup based in Albuquerque that sells cobots. As part of the partnership, Build with Robots is housed in CNM Ingenuity's Fuse Makerspace and CNM Ingenuity is managing training related to the robots, including classes, seminars and informational sessions.

In return, Build with Robots is providing the college with access to robots for students, internships and other opportunities for students and other makerspace members, regular robot demonstrations and pilot applications and assistance to CNM with curriculum development for robot technology courses.

"This partnership is helping us provide a whole new level of support and expertise to small businesses that are trying to find cost-effective manufacturing solutions to advance their businesses," said Kyle Lee, CNM Ingenuity executive director, in a prepared statement. "We're also introducing robot technology to our community through workshops that will help more people understand how human skills and robot technology can coexist in the workforce of the future."

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Two autonomous AI figures performing tasks in a tech environment; one interacts with floating holographic screens, while the other manipulates digital components

    Agentic AI Named Top Tech Trend for 2025

    Agentic AI will be the top tech trend for 2025, according to research firm Gartner. The term describes autonomous machine "agents" that move beyond query-and-response generative chatbots to do enterprise-related tasks without human guidance.

  • sleek fishing hook with a translucent email icon hanging from it

    Report Identifies Rise in Phishing-as-a-Service Attacks

    Cybersecurity researchers at Trustwave are warning about a surge in malicious e-mail campaigns leveraging Rockstar 2FA, a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit designed to steal Microsoft 365 credentials.

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • abstract technology icons connected by lines and dots

    Digital Layers and Human Ties: Navigating the CIO's Dilemma in Higher Education

    As technology permeates every aspect of life on campus, efficiency and convenience may come at the cost of human connection and professional identity.