Teaching, Experiments and Explorations

MINDSTORMS workshops
Making failing fun.

I developed and used course material for a 6-week LEGO Mindstorms course, where every week had a new creative challenge, and I also ran several one-day workshops.

Workshop Arduino and 3D printing for teachers
Inspire current teachers to be makers

I have been teaching 3D printing and Arduino to high-school IT teachers for five years at education conferences.

Building 3D printers together with students
Making the future

I have been building several 3D printers together with high-school students.

Initiating a FabLab in Goes

Within the youth council of the municipality of Goes, I led the initiative to build a FabLab in the local library.

Setting up a repair cafe in Berlin

I joined a colleague at Teufel in starting a repair cafe in Neukoln, small but welcoming, with a great community.

Robowars and Powertoolracing

As a student, and in between my master's and bachelor's, I co-organized powertool drag racing and robowars. Both events had the goal of bringing together a community of makers from different backgrounds, countries, and studies.

ESP32 Web flasher with config

ESP32 Web flasher that allows setting string variables such as Wi-Fi name and password, including a customizable wizard.

This project is published on Hackster

Using OLED display as external monitor

Creating content for small screen displays involves quite some steps. With this tool you can start creating the content as easily as drawing.

This project is published on Hackster

Let Arduino Control Your Browser

Google Chrome now supports communication with serial devices from the browser. Build interactive experiences easily.

This project is published on Hackster.io

From Pixel to Neopixel (2020)

Use the cursor to change the colour of NeoPixels. Create light experiences using visual software like Photoshop or After Effects.

This project is published on Arduino project hub

Pixel to servo (2020)

This same idea can be used to control other outputs using graphical software, such as using after effects to control servo motion.

Keyboard to control the world (2015-2020)

With a keyboard, you can control anything, from your phone, iPad, laptop. This gives Arduino the power it needs to control any screen.

This project is published on Hackster.io

User-Centred PCB Design

PCB design is often treated purely as engineering, while people still need to read, debug, repair, and learn from these boards. I explored how UX principles like labelling, layout, typography, and colour can reduce accidental complexity in PCB design.

I shared this exploration in a medium article.

Figmata

This open-source plugin allows designers to directly work with data in Figma. I designed and developed this tool with the support of Jonas Oesch (journalist at NZZ). It adds a Processing-like IDE to Figma that allows programmatic design with libraries like d3.js.

I shared this tool and workflow in a medium article.

Tools for interactive specification

Within Teufel and Accenture we sometimes struggled with communicating exact product behavior with developers and partners. To improve this process I built sets of tools that could communicate, compare and measure interactions.

I shared these tutorials on medium: Exploded GIF animations and On-screen keyboard simulations.

Deep Finger, Your Silly AI Assistant (2019)

In this project we explored prototyping with machine learning in the context of design. This design piece makes fun of the AI hype and our obsession with finger-first interfaces.

The prototype shown in the video is fully functional (if wired up to a laptop).

How does Spotify see you? (2019)

How does Spotify quantify 'emotional' features of songs? Variables like danceability and valence were communicated as values from 0 to 1. I thought it would be interesting to make an application that explores your music library in a more explorative way by visualising these music features on the X and Y axis.

Build with Framer X using the Spotify API. I wrote an article about this project in the context of fluid assembly course.

Search outside your bubble (2019)

In this course on video prototyping, we made a VR app that helps you see other perspectives on topics. You literally step into someone else's context.

Check out the video

3D printing glass (2013)

I wanted to explore if and how it would be possible to print with glass, so I went to a glass blower and talked with him about different types of glass, temperatures, and techniques. He gave me some glass powder to experiment with. I tried to use a laser cutter to melt the glass powder to show that it is possible to melt glass using a laser. After that, I visited the Direct Manufacturing Research Center in Paderborn. They were interested in the glass printing experiments, but didn’t think there was a big market for such a thing.

Using 3D printing to make textile structures (2014)

I explored how to combine textiles and 3D printing. By doing this, I was able to constrain clothing in various directions, make parts of clothing tactile, and make the material bend in a certain direction when stretched. 3D printing on clothes can constrain people’s movement in certain directions, which might help people who have problems moving. This technology can also add safety to ‘normal’ clothes by constraining movements in certain directions.

G-code generator for 3D printing braille (2014)

I experimented more with 3D printing on textile and made a technology to 3D print braille directly on textile. So I developed a new way of using 3D printers to print dots instead of objects and published this technology online. The G-code is generated by this PHP webpage.

This project is published on Thingiverse

Egg engraving (2013)

This experiment explored what happens when lasers meet organic material, like an eggshell. At first they thought I was crazy, but it now has a place in the FabLab showcase to encourage exploration.

Milling Duplo bricks (2015)

To learn CAD and CAM, I went to FabLab Eindhoven to mill a functional Duplo brick.

Laser origami

Together with Gerke van Garderen we tried to make a product using LaserOrigami, a technique developed at Hasso Plattner Institut. It uses the laser cutter to not only cut the object, but also bend it into the desired shape.

In this YouTube video we describe our experience.

fLight (2013)

fLight makes the waiting room a place where people have a shared experience. By having a playful shared experience, they can become more social, get distracted from the purpose of their visit, and smile.

Check out the concept video

Color Makes Sense (2014)

Losing the idea of color is an emotional part of becoming blind. Blind people can use only words to describe colors. By using words, they get a discrete idea of color instead of the continuous spectrum that it is in reality. ‘Color Makes Sense’ enables people to feel color in a tactile way. By doing this, they become more independent and confident about color decisions.

If you want to read more check out report

W-esp (2015)

The w-esp is a toolkit that enables the first and second year students of secondary education to connect sensors and actuators to the internet and create interactive systems that use the internet of things. Together with the toolkit I created course material for the students that learn them about design thinking, in this way the children become aware of the possibilities of the 21st century and become more confident in using technology.

If you want to read more check out report