Are you ready to dive into a world where technology meets sustainability? Welcome to the international faculty-wide minor "Robotic Production & Circular Materials." This minor is a multidisciplinary approach to critically investigate the value of Digital Production and Circular Materials towards a more sustainable future. 

In this minor, you'll join a dynamic team of tutors and experts who will guide you through every step of the process. Via lectures, online lessons, practical sessions at location, literature research, and individual/group week to week tutoring.

Together with other students from a wide range of backgrounds you will explore – hands on – an iterative design process involving computational design and robotic production. Functional requirements, user needs and available materials will be considered into the design, as well as the specifics of the context. You will investigate innovative means of design to production and make impactful circular applications. In this research, you will learn and explore how these material streams can encourage more sustainable design and production solutions, leading to new business models for a circular economy, and/or other ways of addressing contemporary societal challenges.

We hope you can develop – in a collaborative way – the skills, attitudes, and knowledge to analyze choices, act on purpose, and reflect on the outcomes; face opportunities and challenges with confidence, creativity, critical reflection, and clarity of intent and values; and work well with others.

Within the theme of the minor, there is room for your own input and expertise from your own study or background, so that you can make your own unique contribution to solving a socially relevant problem. You will be challenged to research topics that surprise, fascinate or inspire you in order to further increase your knowledge and skills.

KEYWORDS Robotic Fabrication, Parametric Design, Circular Materials, Digital Production Technology, Design, Business Modelling, Circular economy, Sustainability, Co-operation and Co production.

Because of the multidisciplinary approach, the minor consists of different lines of research, which are all integrated within the development of a final circular application.

• You will explore progressively and hands-on the possibilities of rethinking and altering the characteristics and performance of existing (waste) material and investigate innovative means of digital production to design and make entirely new circular applications.
• Challenges will be brought by external stakeholders with the current need of rethinking their own models.
• You will learn and explore how these “circular materials” can encourage more sustainable ideas via “robotic production” solutions, leading to new business models for a circular economy, and/or other ways of addressing contemporary societal challenges.

Admission rules of the Teaching and Examination Regulations (OER) of your own study programme apply.
Proficient in English.

In order to facilitate the accelerated learning process of the students in an interactive blended way, the AUAS Robotlab has set up an online open-source platform.

Imagine an online platform interface were teachers and students can build up knowledge, a place where you can find all the information you need, inspiration and reflect on this, a platform that can support the specialization and in-depth online learning tools to facilitate active learning and a place for you and teaches to share ideas and much more.  

Based on the Blended Learning Wave for accelerated learning we have setup an updated version of the wiki where you can find:

• In depth online courses and resources that you can follow by yourself and that complements the group activities; 
• Practical examples and detailed instructions on assignments, learning goals, rubrics, etc;
• Some online lectures and practical classes are recorded an uploaded here to use as a reference for your development.

Access to the platform will be shared at the beginning of the program.

Week(s)/Module/Title/Day(s)/Location
week 1 to week 4 / module 1 / Digital Production / Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays / JMH Robotlab

week 5 to week 7 / module 2 / Vision On Circularity / Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays / JMH Robotlab

week 8 / module 3 / Makeathon / All week / JMH Robotlab

week 10 to week 15 / module 4.1 / Circular Applications / Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays / JMH Robotlab

week 16 to week 17 / module 4.2 / All week / JMH Robotlab 

week 18 / module 4 / Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays / JMH Robotlab

week 19 / Documentation and Repair / Final submission and grading /  / Online

This minor is a hand-on experimental course, therefore the program is live and hosted at the JHM Robotlab, this means that contact hours and development time will be at location, and individual learning and assignments developments will be online/live based on the needs of each students. 

This a full-time program and we expect students to participate actively in it during the whole week. 
Weekly contact time will be averagely 12 hours.

30 ECTS. The final grade (100%) is built based on the Individual learnings along the minor (40%) and the group challenges developed along the course (60%).

BLOCK 1
DIGITAL PRODUCTION / 4 weeks / Digital Production / 4 main lectures, 2 lab courses, 2 online course, weekly coaching

VISION ON  CIRCULARITY / 3 weeks / Vision on Circularity / excursion, 2 intensive courses, 1 online course, weekly coaching

MAKEATHON / 2 weeks / Makeathon / intensive hands-on 1:1 group prototyping

BLOCK 2
CIRCULAR APPLICATION / 8 weeks / Circular Production Application / 3 main lectures, 2 intensive courses, 1 online course, external challenge, weekly coaching

DOC & REPAIR / 1 week / Project Documentation & Repair / student feedback, grading, repair

The individual learnings are progressively assed via the Interactive Portfolio. This is a flexible tool that engages you in a process of continuous knowledge building, application, integration, reflection and collaboration focused on selective evidence of learning. The portfolio provides a critical opportunity for purposeful, mentored reflections and analysis of evidence for both improvement and assessment of your learnings. This assessment process is a rich, convincing, and adaptable method of documenting intellectual growth and involving you in a critically reflective, collaborative process that activates the learning.

The group-work development is accessed via Public Presentations and the Lab Journal. The Studio Journal facilitates active learning, by utilizing the advantages of collaboration and mentoring in making learning community. The journal documents the group development, promotes continuous interaction between the stakeholders and ensures trustworthy decision-making within the team and their peers. Public Presentations is a setup where the teams present their outcomes and reflections, in an interactive and clear way, to a broader audience. 

STUDENT COMMENTS 

This minor gives insight on how robotic production and circularity can and will change the world. It taught me to think and design in a different way. It also challenges us to implement all that we learn in the real world, by working together with cool companies/startups. – Year 3, AUAS, Built Environment student

For me it was more special because I have absolutely 0 technical background. So anything that happened during minor was new for me. So if someone asked me what did you learn it was everything. And also I enjoyed the makeathon a lot because we all worked as a one big team towards a group goal of building a 1 to 1 outdoor structure. – Year 3, Saxion University of Applied Sciences International Business Student

Costs: Maximum €200

Questions about the minor?
Contact Marco Galli: m.r.galli@hva.nl

Questions about the Kies Op Maat procedure?
Contact: Monique Ax-Bervoets, Christian van Dokkum  minoren-techniek@hva.nl

Applications will be processed in the order of receipt of signed learning agreements. There are 20 places available for Kies op Maat students.