Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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FireAntz Show Appreciation for the Military by BRITTNEY NOE After returning from a road trip consisting of three games in three days, the FireAntz are hosting a Military Appreciation Night. Saturday, Feb. 4, will be the second Military Appreciation Night of the FireAntz season. We would like to show our apprecia- tion for all the military does by honoring them at the game. Local businesses such as Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union, Thee Car Lot, USAA and Picerne Military Housing have re- ceived tickets to give out to service men and women and their families. At the game on Feb. 4, 2005. Two of the batteries, Delta Battery and Charlie Battery, have recently redeployed from Afghanistan in November and December respectively, after successfully completing their missions. Currently, Alpha Battery is de- ployed to Afghanistan to continue the mission and will return in June. The FireAntz host the Augusta RiverHawks with a puck drop at 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 4. There will be a specialty jersey worn for Military Appreciation Night. After the game, fans have the opportunity to meet their favorite FireAntz players, and bid on the game jerseys. The FireAntz would like to thank the following local businesses that are a part of the Military Appreciation Night: USAA, CenturyLink, Dex Knows, Pierro's, All American Homes, Black's Tire, Stanley Steemer, Hurst Annaho, Pierne Military Housing, Thee Car Lot, Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union, Heritage Jewelers, Systel, Quizno's, 4G Communications and First Class Property. These local business help make our Military Appreciation Nights such a big success. The FireAntz return to action at the Crown on Tuesday, Feb. 14, to face the same opponent, the Augusta RiverHawks, for a Valentines' Day meeting. For future games and times, you can find a full 2011-2012 FireAntz FireAntz host military appreciation night on Feb. 4. one of the large group- sin attendance is the 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment. The soldiers within the unit have continuously deployed to Afghanistan to support both conventional and special-operations forces with long-range rocket and missile fire since schedule at www.fireantzhockey.com. Do not forget to contact the FireAntz office by phone at 321-0123 if you have questions. Gather your friends and family to come out and enjoy Fayetteville FireAntz Hockey where fire and ice unite! BRITTANY NOE Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com Robotics Comes Alive at Fayetteville Technical Community College by BEYMER BEVILL, JR. Robotics has not only become an integral part of manufacturing processes but is also now sneaking into our homes. Everyone has seen the iRobot Roomba, the vacuum cleaning robot that moves around the room sucking any dirt in its path. You may have even seen demonstrations of robot lawn mowers, such as the Robotics RoboMower. The prices really aren't that high. About $400 will take care of your dirty floor and another $1,700 will take care of your overgrown lawn. Who would have thought that the dirty floor and overgrown lawn would be the "killer" applications for robotics in the home? The sci-fi shows have led us to believe that robotic servants, dogs, or children would have been the first instances of home robots. What jobs involve robotics? Well, there's mechanical design; there's electri- cal design; there's electronics design; there's software design; and then there's AI (Artificial Intelligence). All of this robot research, design and development is performed by engineers, both hardware and software types. What about engineering technicians? Well, someone has to build, test and maintain these robots during the development, manufacturing and lifetime phases of these robots and that's the job of the electri- cal, electronics, computer and mechanical engi- neering technicians. What kind of salaries are we talking about? According to the U.S. Department of Labor WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary of electrical and com- puter engineers is about $90,000, and the salary for engineering technicians is about $53,000. Note these are median salaries for experienced engineers and technicians. How do I get into robotics? Well, right here at Fayetteville Technical Community College. The Electronics Engineering Technology Program at FTCC has evolved from a typical electronics program into one that covers many of the different aspects of robotics. There are courses in the C, C#, assembly and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) programming languages, all of which can be used to pro- gram a robot. There are courses in microprocessors and PLCs, which serve as the brain of a robot. There is a course in control theory, which covers feedback and motor control. You have to make sure the robot has all the right moves. There's a course in AI, which covers finite state machines, fuzzy logic, neural networks and genetic algorithms. So what about robots? Well, we have robotic arms and those wonderful Robotis Bioloid Robots to apply all this knowledge in the above courses. We also have the PLCs and have used the Microchip PICs to make our own versions. In addition to our Electronics Engineering Technology Program, we are currently working to get a Pre-Engineering Program (Associate of Science) at FTCC. With this program, you would be able to get the first two years of an engineering degree at FTCC and then finish with a bachelor's of engineering degree at the university of your choice. Call me (Beymer Bevill, FTCC Department Chair) at 678-8216 to schedule a tour of the facilities and discuss what opportunities await you in the exciting field of robotics and other electronics-related areas. I'll be waiting for your call. BEYMER BEVILL, JR, Contributing Writer. FTCC Department Chair, Engineering Technologies. COMMENTS? editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. FEBRUARY 1-7, 2012 UCW 17