Innovation Studio offering training, programming on next-gen robots

Since its founding in 2015, Nebraska Innovation Studio has served the university community, entrepreneurs and businesses in the state. The makerspace is now catalyzing Nebraska’s robotics ecosystem.

Since November 2023, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s makerspace has offered training for programming and operation of collaborative and welding robots. The workshops are open to anyone.

“We have these machines open to anybody and everybody, which is unlike anything else in the country,” said John Strope, program coordinator for Innovation Studio and a Nebraska mechanical engineering graduate. “We can teach them how to use these machines, and we’ll have a workforce that has these skills, and I think that’s going to be transformative for the region.”

The effort is part of the Heartland Robotics Cluster, which was established following a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration in 2022. The cluster is a collaboration of the university, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Engineering, Invest Nebraska, the Combine, Nebraska Manufacturing Council, Nebraska Extension, Northeast Community College and Metro Community College to expand training, research and implementation of robotics and grow Nebraska’s economy.