Robot Design – Theory Practice Philosophy

Is Technology only something that Scientists can do? At the University of Freiburg, students who have never had any experience with the fields of Science and Technology,  build their own robots. »Robot Design - Theory Practice Philosophy«is the name of the seminar offered by Dr. Reto Schölly at the Faculty of Philosophy. In his lecture at the ZKM, he talks about his new class.

During the seminar, existing kits  like »Lego Mindstorms« are not used to build the robots. The students learn to assemble the robots from standard industrial components. They design the mechanical parts, the electronic circuits and the control software independently. As final projects, they build a robot together as a team. One result so far has been a non-contact white cane made from parts of the automobile industry.

The seminar was accompanied by introductory lectures on the most important positions of leading philosophers of technology.

Discussions on Technology and Philosophy are based on the positions of philosophers such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Steinbuch, Heinz von Förster, Bernhard Irrgang and Bruno Latour. In the lecture at the ZKM a short overview of the contents and the results will be given.

Video documentary:

ZKM | Videostudio

Camera: Andy Koch, Christina Zartmann
Editing: Sabrina Bell, Tim Wenz