PITTSBURGH -- Several area schools are going high-tech, thanks to a two-year robotics training program being offered at many colleges in association with Carnegie Mellon University.

The program is aimed at training people to be robotic technicians and to provide skills used in a number of industries like mining and construction.

Students will also be trained at making products like automobiles and medical equipment.

Those who support it said the purpose of the program is to provide more training so that people can be more efficient on the job.

"We hope in the next four or five years that we'll be at a point where we are building projects in this region robotics products and we'll have a work force that's high tech," said John Bares of the National Robotics Engineering Center.

The University of Pittsburgh, California University and several area community colleges will begin offering the program in the fall.

Coursework will be offered beginning this fall at California University, Butler County Community College and Westmoreland County Community College and in 2010 at the Community College of Beaver County.

"I think this will open some doors in a wide range of employment," said Denton Dailey, a professor at Butler County Community College.

For more information, visit www.rec.ri.cmu.edu.