January 2024 – Fab Lab Siegen

The Fab Lab Team is grieving…

It is with deep sadness that we had to say goodbye to our long-time friend and professor Dr Volkmar Pipek, who passed away far too early on 6 January 2024 at the age of 56 after a long illness.

Volkmar founded our Fab Lab in Siegen in 2015 as an interface between university, industry, art and culture.

With the Fab Lab, the broad society in the Siegen-Wittgenstein area was able to experience low-threshold research for the first time at the University of Siegen, from which our lively community has developed over the past 9 years. Open, low-threshold and free access to technology and the knowledge about it has always been a matter close to his heart.

With Volkmar, the Fab Lab has been able to make a major contribution to strengthening regional innovation, with numerous companies and start-ups working and learning with the Fab Lab in the field of digital technologies.

As an out-of-school educational space, the Fab Lab has been able to inspire many young people and grow their interest in technology.

The Fab Lab has also been involved in the fields of culture and the history of the city, which has led to friendly collaborations with regional institutions.

We are losing a valued colleague and friend. We will miss him and his down-to-earth, visionary and creative nature very much. Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife, his sister and his friends.

Team Fab Lab

DRK x Fab Lab Siegen: 3D-Printing and Robotic Workshops for young people!

Fab Lab Siegen is not only a space for creation, but also for knowledge transfer. In our Fab Lab, we want to give everyone access to technology and knowledge. Since mid January 2023, we have been welcoming young refugees from Ukraine once a week (fridays from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm).

Together we try out different technologies. So far, we were able to get to know 3D printing, laser cutting and robotics as well as programming with the Calliope Mini. We also held a PC-builder workshop where the participants were taught how to dis- and reassemble a computer. Through hands-on activities including play-doh modeling, Tinkercad design sessions and 3D printing projects, participants can bring their ideas to life. The creations span from protective cases for the Calliope mini microcontroller, Batman-themed rings and stylish key chains, all the way to meticulously crafted miniature cars.

Using a digital hangman game, developed by Hina Firdaus, we were able to teach the children fundamental programming skills. These first experiences paved the way to showing them further programming concepts like loops, conditional statements and variables.
With this knowledge we were able to realize exciting projects, e.g., a light sensor-equipped scooter, a functional traffic light simulation and even a miniature piano that responds to its programming inputs.

Thanks to funding from the Bürgerstiftung Siegen, we were able to organize and run this series of workshops in close cooperation with the DRK Kreisverband Siegen-Wittgenstein e.V.. So far, we have held more than 35 sessions, teaching more than 20 enthusiastic participants about the technologies in our Fab Lab.

The workshops are led by our team, especially Hina Firdaus and Marios Mouratidis. In addition, we have dedicated volunteers, including among others the honorary translators Anastasiya Nazarava, Gkiorgki Tataridis and Sonal Seth as well as technical support from Florian Anderes and Mallikarjuna Reddy. All of them support our workshops, ensuring that participants have an enjoyable and inclusive learning experience.

In our Fab Lab, we are committed to creating a safe environment where people can learn and grow together with us.
We’re looking forward to the upcoming weeks! If you are interested in helping, feel free to contact Sara Schneider via E-Mail (). We are still looking for more helpers who would like to shape the program with us.