Tuesday, May 12, 2026
The Industrial Automation Department at Bakersfield College recently hosted their
Senior Project Open House. The event took place in the robotics lab in the Science
and Engineering building on BC’s Panorama Campus. The students proudly displayed their
projects and were ready to answer questions while putting their projects into action.
The senior projects are part of the requirements to receive a bachelor’s degree in
the Industrial Automation program.
The public event attracted students, staff, and community members eager to see the
senior projects. The projects focused on a wide variety of subject areas including
agriculture, robotics, industrial processes, and more. There were more than a dozen
projects on display and each one represented a culmination of an entire semester of
planning, preparation, and work.
One project titled ‘Pegasus Robot Modernization’ was coordinated by Industrial Automation
students Timothy Espinoza, Reginald Ramirez, and Chadrick Simpao. Their project focused
on refurbishing an outdated Pegasus 5-Axis Servo Robot to ‘improve usability, performance
and accessibility for students and instructors.’ They were all excited to talk about
the results of their project.
“Our project here is that we’re actually getting an old piece of legacy equipment
– a robotic arm that was originally made in 1995,” said Timothy Espinoza, “so what
we’re trying to do is modernize it the best we can.” Reginald Ramirez also added,
“Essentially what we’re trying to do is give this robot another life, and its going
to give students an opportunity to get their hands on a piece of legacy equipment
that’s been updated,” he said, “so its going to give them some familiarity with the
newer robot systems they have been using in class.” Their goal was not only to refurbish
the robot, but also to make it easy to use for future students and users. Mr. Espinoza
talked about future usage of the robot, “We were especially trying make it as friendly
and simplistic as possible for everyone,” he said, “when our project is fully completed
next semester, we want to be able to hand the HMI panel to anyone – and they would
be able to use it.”
Other projects included a rebuild of the Kern County Sheriff Department robot car,
a re-purposed industrial process trainer, a laser guided vehicle, and several others.
Attendees were welcome to preview the projects, interact with the students, and even
operate a few of the items. Congratulations to all the students who participated,
and good luck with completing your bachelor’s degree at Bakersfield College.
