I have a deep passion for building Robotics, resulting in many robot(related) projects inside and outside University. In 2004 I finished an internship at the ' Shadow Robot Company' in London, working on air-muscle control of their famous humanoid hand and an eight-legged walking robot. After my graduation work on 'Dribbel' in 2005, a powered 'passive dynamic' walking robot, I continued to work on energy-efficient actuation of (walking) robots. I have been a member of the Dutch Robotics team participating in the RoboCup in 2008 and 2009. In 2014 I completed my PhD research on the development of a pipe inspection robot for life gas Mains in which rapid manufacturing (3D printing) plays a major role. More info can be found in the thesis. Currently I am involved in a number of research projects related to social robotics, wearables (soft robotics) WEAFING and inspection robots TISCALI and Smart Tooling.
I am involved as a researcher and educator in the bachelor programme ' Creative Technology' teaching courses on Programming and Physical Computing, Sensors and a creative hackathon. In the I-Tech programme I give two design-oriented courses: Mastering Tinkering and Social Robot Design. Other contributions are the CuriousU summerschool on Robot Interaction Design and an introduction into robotics in the 'Smart Cities' HTHT module.
Furthermore, I try to maintain a blog on personal DIY projects at retrointerfacing.com, a central site on my activities at edwindertien.nl and a site on technical activities for art and theatre at kunstentechniekwerk.nl. Since 2013 I am co-founder of the ASSortiMENS foundation running a FabLab inspired workshop for people with autism.
Expertise
Computer Science
- Robot
- Design
- Human Robot Interaction
- Communication
- Participatory Design
- Reinforcement Learning
- Programs
- Building-Blocks
Organisations
Publications
2024
2023
2022
2021
Other contributions
- Make Magazine # 50 featured our work on pneumatic wearables
Research profiles
I teach mainly in the BSc program Creative Technology and in the I-Tech MSc program. A short introduction to my MSc courses can be found in this video.
I like to use a hands-on approach, always linking theory to practical (tangible) experience. By building things for real, as quickly and as realistic as possible, you can discover so many interesting aspects of your design problem, that simply don't show up on the whiteboard or in calculation.
Affiliated study programs
Courses academic year 2024/2025
Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
- 191211208 - Internship EE
- 191211219 - Master Thesis Project
- 191211650 - Multi-Disciplinary Design Project
- 201100179 - Graduation Project
- 201400462 - Internship S&C
- 201600187 - Individual Project
- 201600227 - Internship for CreaTe
- 201800207 - Capita Selecta RaM
- 201800524 - Research Topics EIT
- 201900194 - Research Topics I-Tech
- 201900195 - Final Project I-Tech
- 201900223 - Capita Selecta Electrical Engineering
- 201900234 - Internship I-Tech
- 202000980 - Smart Technology Core
- 202001162 - Bachelor Thesis EE
- 202001434 - Internship EMSYS
- 202100240 - Smart Environments Core
- 202200102 - Human-Robot Communication
- 202200116 - Capita Selecta Robotics
- 202200119 - Academic Skills Project
- 202200120 - Internship ROB
- 202200122 - MSc-Thesis Project
- 202300070 - Final Project EMSYS
- 202400318 - M12 BSc Assignment BMT
- 202400425 - Graduation Project II
- 202400431 - Smart Technology Core
- 202400432 - Hackathon
- 202400433 - Sensors
Courses academic year 2023/2024
- 191211208 - Internship EE
- 191211219 - Master Thesis Project
- 191211650 - Multi-Disciplinary Design Project
- 201100179 - Graduation Project
- 201400462 - Internship S&C
- 201600017 - Final Project Preparation
- 201600187 - Individual Project
- 201600227 - Internship for CreaTe
- 201800207 - Capita Selecta RaM
- 201800228 - Mastering Tinkering
- 201800235 - Social Robot Design
- 201800524 - Research Topics EIT
- 201900194 - Research Topics I-Tech
- 201900195 - Final Project I-Tech
- 201900200 - Final Project EMSYS
- 201900223 - Capita Selecta Electrical Engineering
- 201900234 - Internship I-Tech
- 202000880 - M12 BSc Assignment BMT
- 202000980 - Smart Technology Core
- 202000981 - Sensors
- 202001162 - Bachelor Thesis EE
- 202001434 - Internship EMSYS
- 202001500 - Smart Tech Hackathon
- 202100161 - Graduation Project Part II
- 202100240 - Smart Environments Core
- 202200102 - Human-Robot Communication
- 202200116 - Capita Selecta Robotics
- 202200119 - Academic Skills Project
- 202200120 - Internship ROB
- 202200122 - MSc-Thesis Project
- 202300070 - Final Project EMSYS
- 202300342 - Internship ROB/I-TECH
- 202300349 - Internship ROB/I-TECH
I am (part-time) employed as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Twente. I teach mostly in the Creative Technology BSc program and the Interaction Technology MSc program. As a researcher, I am affiliated with the Robotics and Mechatronics group and with the DesignLab. I work on research projects involving social robotics and wearables ā and industrial robots for service and maintenance.
Current projects
tinkering
A topic I am much interested in, from the perspective as maker and educator, is ātinkeringā. Together with Angelika Mader, we try to find a place to -fit- tinkering into academia, both in (co)design methods for artefacts, tangibles and embodiment as well as a method for teaching and education. We teach an MSc level course āMastering Tinkeringā, not in the least for ourselves to increase our understanding. We have been developing and piloting a number of tinkering toolkits for wearable technology.
WEAFING
Wearable Electroactive Fabrics Integrated in Garments
Goal of the EU funded project WEAFING is to develop actuated haptic wearables powered by woven or knitted electroactive polymers. At the University of Twente two parts of this project are researched: the haptics (in the HMI group) and modelling and simulation (in the RaM group)
Finished projects
PIRATE
Pipe Inspection Robot for Autonomous Exploration
From 2006 to 2014 I have been working on a Pipe Inspection Robot for Autonomous Exploration as part of a PhD research at the University of Twente. The thesis has been downloaded more than 2000 times. Recently, development has continued in the project SmartTooling.
As an invited speaker I really enjoy sharing my enthusiasm as maker and designer, I think it is very important that IF we continue to use technology in a sustainable way, we should be able to take it apart, repair it, improve it and make it our own.
From the listed media appearances below I'm most fond of contributing to an episode of 'Het Klokhuis' - I remember watching this program as a child, so it felt really special to be on the other side of the camera for once. I seriously enjoy the medium television, and due to covid-19 have been enthusiastically recording my own lectures.
In the press
- Tubantia about 'We Gaan Het Maken'
- We Gaan Het Maken (BNN/VARA) (2021)
- Proefkonijnen (BNN/VARA), social robots (2020)
- MENS#31 (VN), social robots, autism, podcast (2020)
- De Volkskrant, LEGO and creativity (2020)
- Tubantia, furbies and social robots (2020)
- Het Klokhuis (NTR), humanoids (2019)
- Focus (NPO), social robots, autism (2019)
- De Wereld Draait Door (BNN/VARA), humanoid robot (2018)
- Het Lab (National Geographic) building robots, social robots (2017)
- De Ingenieur, 'de zorgende robotknutselaar' (2016)
- De Buitendienst, a robot as pet (2016)
- Hart van Nederland, laser sword student workshop (2016)
- Dagelijkse Dosis Design, wearables (2016)
- Vrij Nederland - Nerd 101 (2015)
- Tijd voor Meldpunt (MAX) pipe inspection robot (2015)
- De Wereld Leert Door (BNN/VARA), social robots - with Vanessa Evers (2013)
- TEDx Zwolle, technology and autism (2013)
- TEDx Amsterdam, the dancing white man (2012)
News on utwente.nl
- shaping2030 stories (2021)
- u-today, utwente.nl we gaan het maken (2021)
- interview in Utoday (2017)
- Dutch Design Week, flexo project (2019)
- art piece 'squarewave' in the DesignLab (2017)
- video on Social Robots (2017)
- Student battle - nerf modification workshop (2017)
- artwork in Hal B (main entrance building) (2015)
- lecture series in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe (2015)
- MakerFaire Twente (2015)
- VN Nerd 101 list nomination
- 3D printing technology (2014)
- UT education award (2013)
- Exhibition at Gogbot (2012)
- UT education award (2012)
- EEMCS education award (2012)
- Solo Exhibition in 'the Vrijhof' (2011)
- concept design for Hal B artwork (2010)
- 'fietstaxi' art project (2010)
- exhibition at Gogbot (2010)
- exhibition at Gogbot (2009)
- inspection robot for gas distribution mains (2007)
- Dynamic Walking conference (2006)
Address
University of Twente
Carré (building no. 15), room C3413
Hallenweg 23
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands
University of Twente
Carré C3413
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
Netherlands
Organisations
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