Maria will certainly remember this special Easter vacation day fondly: On April 23, 2025, the 16-year-old was one of the participants in a robotics workshop offered at short notice by the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Applied Sciences for students from the 10th grade onwards who had stayed at home.
Instead of going on vacation, Maria went to Dortmund's Kreuzviertel district to spend a day gaining new knowledge and experience at the Fachhochschule Dortmund's Sonnenstraße location. "I'm very excited about all the things you can do with robots," said the comprehensive school pupil with a curious look on her face when she was greeted by the two research assistants Lennart Brakelmann and Aron Hemmis at the gatekeeper's desk in the morning. The two Master's students on the Biomedical Information Technology study program are very familiar with robots and were just the right people to lead the "Robotics in Action" vacation workshop in a way that was both knowledgeable and varied.
First contact with 3D printer
A few floors up and a few doors down, the students gave an overview of the university and the faculty in a short presentation. This was followed by the first contact with a device that is also a kind of robot: Maria was able to use the 3D printer to create a dainty dinosaur model, which she was allowed to select from a database. "I only knew 3D printers from TikTok before," commented the schoolgirl, impressed when she started up the device. Only to then realize that even a small object like her dinosaur requires patience until it is properly printed - almost two hours in fact.
Medical OR robot in view
Of course, the time until then was not to be wasted: During a guided tour, Maria looked over the shoulders of students who were working on experimental set-ups with medical surgical robots. Among other things, she gained insights into the principle of pattern recognition - and in addition to the real world of robots, she immersed herself in virtual worlds with special VR glasses.
Picture gallery
Dice stacking with robot
After the lunch break in the canteen, programming was the order of the day: a robot had to be made to recognize, grasp and then stack three cubes with a video camera. This worked so well after just a few explanations and assistance that not only the participants but also the two workshop leaders were amazed. Mohammed, who is already studying computer science at the UAS and would like to write his Bachelor's thesis this year, also discovered his love of robotics alongside Maria. "I could imagine continuing with a Master's degree here at this faculty afterwards," announced the 30-year-old.
Certificate and invitation
At the end, the participants received a workshop certificate, which they may be able to use for future job applications. They were bid farewell with an invitation to visit the UAS again soon. The next great opportunity to do so will be on Friday, June 13, 2025, at the "Open Day", where the entire university of applied sciences will present its diverse range of offers for prospective students.
