Not a month goes by without hearing about a new robotics or artificial intelligence initiative at Carnegie Mellon University or the University of Pittsburgh. 

While these two institutions continue to break barriers in both areas and create a number of careers in them, if you keep your eyes only on them, you might miss a big opportunity for a broader set of robotics and tech jobs in Pittsburgh and the region.

City’s manufacturing heritage spurs broad robotics and AI needs

As of August 2024, there are 13,000 manufacturers in Western Pennsylvania, including large entities like U.S. Steel and PPG and small specialty manufacturers. These companies need a large number of people looking for jobs, even if they’re not trying to change the tech landscape as many software developers are. They’re people who know how to use technologies in manufacturing, distribution, sales and other roles.

As expected, Pittsburgh area organizations have risen to the challenge by helping create this skilled workforce and match them with jobs.

First stop: RoboticsCareer.org

There are three pathways to jobs at manufacturers that require robotics and related tech skills, but often not a college degree, according to John Zappa, director of product management at ARM Institute. The Hazelwood-based nonprofit was founded to strengthen U.S. manufacturing through advanced technology and workforce development.

The first path — robotics technician — requires someone who understands what is happening on the manufacturing floor and can troubleshoot. Another, automation engineer, is in charge of determining where robotics or advanced technology fits into a company’s manufacturing or business environment. The third leads to a role as an integrator, who asks more advanced questions such as, “How can we take advantage of automation and where does it fit into our realm?”

Zappa, a Pittsburgh native whose career sent him to Chicago, came back to Pittsburgh when ARM Institute asked him to create a resource for workforce development for individuals who need jobs and manufacturers who need workers.

At ARM, he created RoboticsCareer.org, a sort of matchmaker for these types of jobs with the added benefit of skills training opportunities for employers and future employees.

Manufacturers from the region and around the country can post jobs and their related requirements. If job seekers don’t have the desired skills, they can use the website to find how to get them.

ARM, which averages around 2,000 up-to-date job listings at any time, also conducts a certification/endorsement program. Prospective employers can then discover if applicants have completed any education programs and have certain skills. Job seekers can use the certification(s) on their resumes to prove they have skills for a specific job.

Higher education focused on ‘mechatronics‘

Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) offers such a mechatronics program that has already earned its ARM Institute endorsement. Its one-year and a two-year programs are offered at its North Side campus. Justin Starr, CCAC endowed professor of advanced technology, who heads the program, calls it a “world-class mechatronics program” that provides the latest robots and technology to prepare students for jobs in advanced manufacturing.

(Mechatronics is a word derived from German that is catching on with other technical schools around the world, too.)

Starr says CCAC’s rate of local employment is close to 100% for graduates because they have designed their curriculum with input from leaders of over 80 local manufacturing companies.

While some of his students start their careers immediately after finishing their CCAC program, others continue their education at CMU, Pitt and elsewhere. Unlike students who go straight from high school to a four-year university, though, Starr says an initial stint at CCAC gives them an opportunity to work in the robotics field while studying at these universities. “They have more money in their pockets and, by the time they graduate with their undergraduate degree, they also have career experience that gives them an upper hand in being chosen by an employer.”

Preparing at all ages

Some school districts in the region start this type of training early, providing hands-on education to their students in conjunction with the National Tooling Machining Association (NTMA). The Pittsburgh chapter of this organization has seven people focused on workforce development. Their primary program for this is called BotsIQ.

Michel Conklin, the Pittsburgh chapter executive at NTMA, says that more than 20,000 K-12 students have finished the program, 3,000 just last year. Programming differs by grade level to meet the needs of the age group.

“We’ve introduced manufacturing and basic coding to students as young as kindergarten, including showing them how to do 3D printing and helping them build LEGO robot,” says Conklin. “We guide them that if they see something wrong with what they’re building, they have to fix it.”

While the elementary level exposes them to concepts to grab their interest, at the middle school level, it’s all hands-on. The actual programs differ from district to district. Bentworth School District, for instance, has a manufacturing explorer program that introduces a career through interactive activity. It involves creating a catapult, from designing a blueprint to creating via 3-D printing, to modifying it, to doing a presentation at the end.

Franklin Regional’s take is a bit more intense — a “Shark Tank” type of “robot recharge.” In April, students will build a robotics solution to a problem then pitch it to a panel of “sharks,” a.k.a. industry professionals.

BotsIQ’s flagship program at the high school level, called Combat Robotics, allows the students to create robots and enter them into a competition against other builders.

BotsIQ has also earned the ARM Institute endorsement and lists its programs on RoboticsCareer.org.

No more failure to launch

With these programs and others at colleges and independent schools, Pittsburgh organizations are preparing local students and adult job seekers for careers that are likely to grow in the future. The growth rate for robotics jobs is projected to be 10% through 2032, and the average wage in Southwestern Pennsylvania for advanced manufacturing jobs is $91,815 as of 2023, according TEQ’s State of Industry Report  — so there’s a lot of opportunity.

The local resources are focusing on jobs in the region, but the services also offer help for those who want to spread their wings into other geographies.

“Every manufacturer is trying to find skilled talent,” says Conklin, “and it’s harder than ever to recruit out of high schools.” So these and other Pittsburgh resources are making it just a bit easier for recruiters and job seekers to get the right robotics match.