AMM #171: Bike-Sharing, Bubbles & More

This month's Aachen Maker Meetup was a great mixture of highly technical, 3D-printed, and very ambitious projects. We had many interesting discussions while enjoying the pizza and some fun games.

At this meeting, we had two guests presenting esel.ac. Lukas and Gero told us about their vision of a free, communal bike-sharing system in Aachen, and what they have accomplished over the last few years. We had a great time discussing technical, organizational, and legal challenges that the student initiative currently faces. Also, they are looking for volunteers to help maintain and repair the bikes, which is the biggest bottleneck at the moment!

Martin brought some obscure-looking 3D prints, which turned out to create amazing soap bubbles. On our roof terrace, we really enjoyed this print and let some bubbles fly over Aachen.

Jan brought his ZX Spectrum Next, a home computer aimed at making retro technology accessible on newer hardware. It allowed us to play some cool retro games without the need for a laggy emulator!

Andreas thought about what the simplest screen would look like. With two Servo motors, an LED, and some glow foil, he created this amazing screen, that works by moving the LED over the glow foil, leaving a glowing trail. It is not only possible to draw static images, but you can even play pong (with approximately half a frame per second)!

As always, Birgit brought several 3D-printed projects: a laptop stand (Plexiglas version coming soon?), a small carousel, and a very pretty lamp.

Fabio presented the 3D-printed inlet he designed for his GoPro case to keep all the equipment organized.

Additionally,  we had the opportunity to try out some of the games that were created in the practical lab Multimodal Media Madness of the summer semester 2025. With the objective of creating screenless games, the students planned and constructed amazing interactive exhibits in the FabLab. Find more information on the project and watch the game trailers here.