Ocyan donates machines to Innovation Laboratory

Ocyan, through its social responsibility program Escola Em Ação, held an event on Monday (19) to formally donate a 3D printer and laser cutter to the Management and Research Center of the #inovareaprender Project, located in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro.

The event showcased various prototypes fabricated by students using the machines. “This is yet another phase of the project in which we have made good progress. It’s fascinating to watch the students advance in a field such as robotics,” said Marco Túlio Barbosa, head of sustainability at Ocyan’s drilling unit.

Tiago Rangel, a former young apprentice and now a monitor of the project, explained why the acquisition of these machines is so important. “Now we can fabricate objects that before we only dreamed of. We can model anything we want, any prototype. It’s really nice to see the students this excited,” he said.

The donation of the machines led to a partnership with the Medical School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), which also is located on the Macaé campus. According to undergraduate student Larissa Senna, the printer and cutter will make a big difference. “The machines not make it possible to share experiences with students in the Engineering program, but also to create some organs and body parts, which the Medical School can use to teach certain practical classes non-invasively. This project is really important for the Macaé complex, and we have been able to train procedures using parts fabricated by the students,” she explained.

Ocyan invested around R$40,000 in the donation of the machines to the #inovareaprender Program. The event was attended by Marco Aurélio Fonseca, sustainability director at Ocyan, Hélcio Colodete, contract director at Ocyan’s drilling unit (UNP), and Jocelina Valle, Kátia Santos and Vera Lúcia dos Santos from Ocyan’s social responsibility team.

The Management and Research Center operates on UFRJ’s Macaé Campus, which is located at Av. Aloísio da Silva Gomes, n° 50, Anexo Polo de Macaé – Granja dos Cavaleiros.

#inovareaprender

Created in 2014, this project consists of implementing extracurricular courses on robotics for elementary students at 10 makerspaces of schools in the city of Macaé. Since the courses were implemented, over 2,400 students from eight to 16 years old have benefited either directly or through actions to train teachers (66 students trained in technology). The project already has directly benefitted over 12,000 people. The program is the product of a partnership with the Municipal Education Department of Macaé and is supported by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Students in the Engineering program were selected to act as monitors. After one year, the university recognized the project as a university extension course.