October 2024

The SIEGENIA technology camp enters its 2nd round – about marble runs and MINT

From July 8 to 11, 2024, the 2nd SIEGENIA Technology Camp took place at the SIEGENIA GRUPPE in Wilnsdorf-Niederdielfen. 8 pupils from Niederdielfen secondary school worked with trainees from the SIEGENIA GROUP, Team Fab Lab from the University of Siegen and FRids e.V. built and 3D-printed marble runs. The low-threshold activity was designed to get children interested in STEM subjects and introduce them to technical professions.

Elon Musk’s laptops, 3D printers and satellite internet were brought from the Fab Lab in Siegen to the training center to provide the necessary infrastructure. This concept proved to be very successful at the 1st SIEGENIA Technology Camp during the Easter vacations. Over four days, the children were taken from 0 to 100 – they became experts in topics relating to additive manufacturing, reverse engineering and design. The whole thing revolved around the construction of marble runs – what to do if parts of the run are suddenly missing? Measurements had to be taken with calipers – accurate to two decimal places. The measurements were then recorded on paper sketches. In the final step, the sketches were converted into digital drawings and printed out using the 3D printer.

© SIEGENIA GRUPPE

FRids e.V. once again provided support with its many years of experience in youth work. Four energetic trainees from the SIEGENIA GROUP looked after the children and provided guidance at the training center. Machines such as the band saw in particular need to be looked after, because it’s not just about 3D printing. The entire training center could be used to solve the tasks. As part of the “EnvironMINT” project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Fab Lab team at the University of Siegen investigated the conditions for the success of good STEM education. “We want to enable cool STEM formats in the region that provide low-threshold access to technical topics and at least do not obviously have to do with “learning”. “Kids are already learning enough at school,” says Marios Mouratidis, Head of the Fab Lab at the University of Siegen. In this format, the partners placed great emphasis on self-determined, problem-solving and creative action on the part of the participants. While the basics were taught after just 1-2 days, the young people were then able to use the remaining time creatively and produce their own components for the marble runs.

On the last day of the technology camp, a closing event was held to which the parents of the participants were invited. Here, the young people had the opportunity to present their results.

© SIEGENIA GRUPPE

The technology camp is organized in cooperation with Nina Herter and Sven Wiechmann from the SIEGENIA GROUP, Marios Mouratidis, head of the Fab Lab at the University of Siegen and Ulrike Monreal from FRids e.V.. The partners plan to continue promoting STEM in Siegen-Wittgenstein in the future.

On Thursday, July 11, the parents of the participants were invited to a presentation of the results.

By Michelle Harwart, ago

Transfer Tech Entrepreneurship Summer School: International guests at Fab Lab Siegen

At the beginning of August, we once again welcomed a large international group to the Fab Lab: 35 students and professors from Palestine and Tunisia took part in our TRANSFER Tech Entrepreneurship Summer School. Over 14 days, the participants received a comprehensive introduction to our Fab Lab, creative methods and basics for start-ups.

The first week included a crash course on how to use 3D printers, laser cutters and thermoforming machines. They used CAD programs to develop their own projects with a great deal of creativity, including chocolate molds. Our laser cutters were also put to intensive use. The participants used Adobe Illustrator, inkscape and other vector-based graphics programs to create their own designs, which they then cut and engraved from wood and acrylic sheets. The results included earrings, pictures, cell phone holders, bookmarks and decorative caskets.

In addition to the technical workshops in the Fab Lab, we went to the areas of our neighbors, the Entrepreneurship Center and Startpunkt 57, where we tried out soft skills and ideation methods, and completed the theoretical part with pitch training and business model canvas development. Finally, business ideas and corresponding pitch decks were developed and presented.

“It’s always exciting to have international guests here, most of the guests have left their home country for the first time or are in Germany for the first time, so we are naturally proud to make a first impression,” explains Marios Mouratidis. The Transfer Tech Entrepreneurship Summer School not only offered participants the chance to get to know modern manufacturing technologies, but also to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. The 4th Summer School took place as part of the “TRANSFER” project funded by the European Union and served as the project conclusion.

By Michelle Harwart, ago

Children’s University 2024 with “Rubens to touch” in the Siegerlandmuseum

On September 24, Marios Mouratidis from the Fab Lab together with Dr. Philip Bojahr and Johannes Bade from the Siegerland Museum presented “A Touch of Rubens”, a transfer project funded by the Vice-Rectorate for International and Lifelong Learning.

While you are not allowed to touch most things in a museum, “A Touch of Rubens” is made for exactly that: it is primarily intended for people whose ability to see is limited. For them, there must be other ways to experience a museum exhibition. The painting “The Opportunity” by the painter Peter Paul Rubens was transformed by a 3D artist into a relief that can also speak. In this way, it tells its story without having to be seen. As part of this year’s fall season of the Siegen Children’s University, the children will learn how and with what the relief was made and can then try out the “talking picture” for themselves.

The barrier-free, inclusive communication of cultural education poses a particular challenge in the field of visual arts, as this genre is inherently subject to the primacy of sight and therefore excludes people with visual impairments. With the help of tactile interfaces and multimodal systems, visual works can be made accessible. Such systems are an important subject of research in the field of museum mediation and business informatics. Against this background, the Fab Lab has been conducting research in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) for years, particularly in a museum context; for example, as part of the Zeit.Raum Siegen project (2016-2018) in the development of the interactive city model or, most recently, in a model test for the production of touch-sensitive facsimiles of archaeological finds for the Ginsburg in Hilchenbach.

In cooperation with the Siegerland Museum, these findings were incorporated into the development of a model application for the multimodal communication of paintings. The tactile relief for Peter Paul Ruben’s painting “The Favorable Opportunity” is intended to open up the wealth of symbols in the large-format work interactively and barrier-free. Individual pictorial elements (figures/objects) can be selected by pressing them, whereby audio content is output for explanation (text and sounds). Visitors will thus gain access to the painting in terms of content, narrative and atmosphere beyond mere touch, while retaining the spatiality of the pictorial composition (in contrast to an audio guide). Building on this, the aim of the project proposed here is to implement a model application for testing in visitor operations. This project will open up a further branch of research in the Fab Lab to investigate the barrier-free, inclusive communication of cultural education. Marcel Barion is responsible for the target group-specific and professional conception and production of the content (narrative and auditory processing of the painting). The 3-dimensional model was developed by Matthias Meyer. The exhibit was created by Philip Bojahr, Johannes Bade, Jonas Kosiahn and Marios Mouratidis. “This project clearly stands for the sustainable transfer of knowledge from the university to urban society,” explains Philip Bojahr, curator of the Siegerlandmuseum.

By Michelle Harwart, ago