Aachen Maker Meetup
With support from
To come to a meetup, just sign up for the event on our Aachen Maker Meetup page!
This helps us order enough pizza and drinks when we meet in person, and to document attendance for our public funding agencies.
Next Meetups:
- #163 Wed, November 20, 2024
- See our Aachen Maker Meetup page on Meetup.com for additional dates and updates.
What?
We attract DIY makers, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, electronics hackers, artists, 3D printer builders, geek dads and their daughters—anybody from 9 to 99 doing strange things with electricity!
Our meetups are very informal. There's no membership, you can just show up, although we appreciate you registering via Meetup so we can order enough free food and drinks. 
:) We get most people from Germany, but also the Netherlands and Belgium, thanks to Aachen's unique location, plus frequently other nationalities. If you speak German or English you'll be fine!
We get together, bring out our projects, have some soft drinks, eat pizza, and start tinkering or chatting with each other. Occasionally there's a short 10–20 min talk if someone wants to share something with everybody (or ask for help!). We've had some cool special guests like Tom Igoe, Mitch Altman, and Burkhard Kainka.
To see what to expect, check out our excellent meetup reports.
Any questions? Just contact René Schäfer who will be happy to help!
Where?
For physical meetups, see our directions to the Media Computing Group (Lehrstuhl Informatik 10 / Medieninformatik und Mensch-Computer-Interaktion) at RWTH Aachen University to find us. We meet in the seminar room on the top floor. Building doors are locked around 7 pm. Enter the building on Im Süsterfeld 9; there will be a sign on the door with a number to call, otherwise call +49-241-80-21060 for the phone in our meeting room.
Parking: Normally, you need an RWTH parking permit to use the parking structure right next door at any time day or night. But we have negotiated a special deal with the university, so only during our Maker Meetups on the third Wednesday of each month, you can park there for free after 18:30 if the open street parking is full.
When?
We usually meet at 18:30 on the third Wednesday of each month. We sometimes shift things around for special events. See our Aachen Maker Meetup page on Meetup.com for updates.
Recent Meetups:
- #162 Wed, October 16, 2024: Aachen Maker Meetup #162: View of the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS - Full Event Report
- #161 Wed, September 18, 2024: Aachen Maker Meetup #161: 3D-Printed Train Parts, Bug Traps, and Creative Lighting Solutions - Full Event Report
- No meetups in July & August due to our move
- #160 Wed, June 19, 2024: Aachen Maker Meetup #160: Handcrafted Model, Bridge Timer, 3D Printing Surfaces, UPSTAIR.ME Transport Chair - Full Event Report
- #159 Wed, May 15, 2024: 3D-Printed Creations, UI Testing System, Traditional Japanese Steel Production, SLA Prints for Gaming - Full Event Report
- #158 Wed, Apr 17, 2024: A presentation on the creation of electronic circuits and various do it yourself projects - Full Event Report
- #157 Wed, Mar 20, 2024: Easter eggs from the EggBot, Mario chessboard, homemade soaps - Full Event Report
- #156 Wed, Feb 21, 2024: Floating Pen, Ergonomic Keyboard, Remote Controlled Mower - Full Event Report
- #155 Wed, Jan 17, 2024: Holobox, Shooting Range, Minicomputers and Magnetic Dipoles - Full Event Report
- #154 Wed, Dec 20, 2023: Wrapping Up 2023 with Innovation, Creativity and Christmas DIY Projects - Full Event Report
- #153 Wed, Nov 15, 2023: Lithophanes, new faces and other interesting projects - Full Event Report
- #152 Wed, Oct 18, 2023: Theremin concert, Arduino presentation and more - Full Event Report
- #151 Wed, Sep 20, 2023: Unfinished Projects - Full Event Report
- #150 Wed, July 12, 2023: Talks and idea collection - Full Event Report
- #149 Wed, June 14(!), 2023 : Theremin clinic, and regular get-together (2nd Wed of the month due to Summer holidays) - Theremin documentation - Full Event Report
- #148 Wed, May 17, 2023: Theremin Testing Party - Full Event Report
- #147 Wed, Apr 3, 2023: Theremin Soldering Party - Full Event Report
- #146 Wed, Apr 19, 2023: Self-made clocks and theremin - Full Event Report
- #145 Wed, Mar 15, 2023: 3D-printed art, a digital tube clock and more - Full Event Report
- #144 Wed, Feb 15, 2023: Vectrex, Influenzmaschine and more - Full Event Report
- #143 Wed, Jan 18, 2023: First Maker Meetup in-person after a long time - lots of talks, and many small projects - Full Event Report
- #142 Wed, Nov 16, 2022: Mannu Lambrichts: A Holistic View on Electronics Toolkits
See more excellent event reports of our previous Meetups.
Who?
Who is the Aachen Maker Meetup? Here are a few people who show up frequently. Prof. Jan Borchers conducted the interviews during one of our meetups.
Mailing List
We announce our meetups on the Aachen Maker Meetup page (usually in English) and on our own low-traffic mailing list (in German).
History
This meetup was originally started as Dorkbot Aachen, one of Germany's first Dorkbot groups, by Prof. Jan Borchers, his Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University, and an Arduino forum initiative. Our first meetup was on June 6, 2009. We have been meeting every month ever since, making us Germany's longest-running Dorkbot chapter. Dorkbot is an international network of people doing interactive art and electronic hacks. We ran Germany's first 3D printer construction master classes in 2011. In 2018, we renamed our event to the more self-explanatory Aachen Maker Meetup, and expanded the event format thanks to funding through our 3D Competence Center research project. After our 10-year anniversary in June 2019, meetups were funded through our BMBF Personal Photonics research project. Starting in 2020, funding was provided through our collaboration with the new Excellence Startup Center initiative at RWTH.
Media Coverage
- Maker Stories, Conrad Electronic, filmed on Feb 20, 2019, TV report on our Meetup for Conrad's YouTube channel, in production
- 3D-Druck, ZDF logo!, filmed on December 18, 2013, show for children on national TV
- Du bist die Fabrik, Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 10-11, 2010, national newspaper article
- Dorkbot on TV, WDR, Lokalzeit Aachen, September 3, 2009
More Great Local Maker Initiatives
There are a whole bunch of great projects and opportunities for DIY enthusiasts and makers to get together almost every day of the week. Here are some pointers:
- Freie Maker e.V. (regular open workshop nights, repair cafés, Discord, live streams)
- LabAix (makerspace, hardware coworking space, hosting the Freie Maker e.V.)
- DigitAC e.V. (repair café, hackerspace, music)
- Studiwerkstatt Aachen e.V.
- OecherLab (innovation space for a digital city organized by the City of Aachen)
- digitalHUB Aachen e.V. (coworking space, incubator)
- Repair Café Aachen Forst
Aachen Maker Meetup administrative pages (for registered organizers)