Over the past few years, RS has been collaborating on various proposals and initiatives, contributing part of its annual budget to sponsor the development of projects for young people, such as:
- The annual international Formula Student championship, sponsoring different teams from various universities in Spain and Portugal
- The ThinkBit Project, which aims to train young people at risk of social exclusion
- Robot design competitions among university students
- Training courses with free design software
On June 2nd, RS spent the day at the Public University of Navarre. As is customary, the School of Industrial and Telecommunications Engineering organized a competition among engineering students to foster the development of future technicians and allow them to put their acquired knowledge into practice. As in previous years, RS was pleased to participate and support them on this special end-of-year occasion.
Throughout the day, RS organized various activities. Virginia Fernández, Product Manager Semis/IP&E at RS Components Iberia, began with a presentation on the successful DesignSpark Community and its electronic design tools. This was followed by a success story: GM Vending presented its vending machines incorporating the Raspberry Pi board. Next came the Sumo-bot (robot) competition organized by the School, in which students used DesignSpark PCB, the award-winning rapid prototyping software for electronics, for their designs. RS awarded a certificate and a Raspberry Pi board to all participants. Subsequently, Carlos Cabezas, Technical and Development Sales Support Specialist at RS Components Iberia, presented 3D printing solutions and products, concluding with a series of workshops/demonstrations of the Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized board, Red Pitaya, an open-source test and measurement solution, and a wide range of 3D printing solutions and products. A raffle was also held for attendees, featuring bq PrintBot Evolution robots.
David Lacasta, R&D Director at GM Vending, commented: "With the incorporation of the Raspberry Pi in our machines, we have provided them with a more intuitive, easy-to-use and modern graphical and touch interface, but it has also allowed us to develop a communication system with our servers where we control the operation of the machine."
Carlos Ruiz, Professor at the School of Industrial and Telecommunications Engineering of the UPNA, commented: “The projects carried out by the students have allowed them to put into practice the theoretical knowledge acquired in the course and throughout their degree program. The students' efforts and extra hours are rewarded when they see how they are able to achieve a final result that works.”.
Ana Belda, Country Manager of RS Components in Iberia, added: “It is a pleasure for us to return to the University of Navarra, as in previous years, and to have the opportunity to participate in the technical training of future engineers in a practical and engaging way.” “These young people hold the technological progress and development of the region in their hands.”
RS remains firmly committed to supporting engineers worldwide through its extensive range of free tools on RS Online. These include a vast library of 3D CAD models, the DesignSpark PCB electronic design software, ModelSource (a library of approximately 80,000 schematic symbols and PCB models available for free download), and the innovative DS Mechanical 3D design package. All of this is designed to foster innovation and technological development within society because, for RS, "the future is NOW.".
