The University of Stuttgart is an exhibitor this year at the new fair “Modell und Technik 2017” that was designed by the Stuttgart Fair by amalgamating the traditional fairs “Hobby & Electronics” and “Model South” that used to be two separate events. The new fair design is to stay abreast of the trend of amalgamating the fields of models and electronics. The events fair is taking place during the “Stuttgart Fair Autumn 2017” from 23rd until 26th November. Young visitors in particular will have the opportunity at the “Model and Technology” to experience and test the latest model building and electronic trends from many areas. The University of Stuttgart is represented in the fair area “Maker Space“ (Hall 7, No. E 52). Attractive hands-on activities organised by the university will show visitor the funs side of natural science, research and technology. The fair concept also includes information about studying and careers in the MINT fields as well as educational opportunities at the university.
In the past fair years the University of Stuttgart attracted a great deal of attention and great interest among young visitors at the “Hobby & Electronics“ fair with exhibits and fair activities. The university is building on this success at the fair and with this year’s appearance at the new fair would like to convey to the young fair visitors the fascination of science at an early stage and at the same time convince potential students about the attraction of studying at the University of Stuttgart.
The fair team of the university, to which representatives of vocational training and the centre for equal opportunities belong, will be showing a colourful technology program during the fair days: from automated table football to biological experiments.
The event offers at glance:
Starkick
The starkick, an automated table football game, was developed at the Institute for Automation and Software Technology at the University of Stuttgart through several student projects. A human team can compete here against an automated system. The system comprises various hardware and software components that for example carry out the ball detection, control the movement of the bars or visualise the current happenings. The entire system comprises a playing field and the mechanics, a pair of motors for rotation and translation of the game bars with associated micro-controller boards, two goal sensors, infrared light diodes and a camera for capturing the image as well as a PC with monitor for image processing and visualisation.
Green Team University of Stuttgart
The Green Team University of Stuttgart is a student association that has developed electrically driven racing cars since 2009 and thereby takes part in the international construction competition Formula Student. The Green Team competes at events in Hockenheim, Spielberg or Barcelona against other universities from all over the world and in so doing has been driving alongside world leaders for years. With the current vehicle E0711-8, that can be admired at the stand, the Green Team has now even succeeded in making the leap to first place in the world rankings.
iGEM Team Stuttgart
iGEM (“International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition”) is the most renowned competition internationally for synthetic biology that is hosted annually at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge (USA). The first iGEM team from the University of Stuttgart will be presenting its research work: a significant tool of biology is the PCR Cycler, which is used to replicate DNA. The PCR Cycler was also used in the iGEM project in which the team experimented on the development of a biological pipe cleaner. Visitors are allowed to adjust the heating blocks and heating times under guidance and will be able to see how a robot arm transports small vessels (called eppis) from one heating block to another. The “mini bio-reactor“ illustrates the structure and the principle building parts of a reactor used for industrial purposes. The visitors have the opportunity here to adjust the agitator speed that, among other things is decisive for successful fermentation.
Vocational training at the University of Stuttgart
Of the 15 occupations on offer, four are on the starting grid: electronics technicians test the skills of the visitors. They trace a wire moving in a circle using a sensor handle. An error signal is triggered upon touch. Industrial mechanics will present their trainee projects: Stirling engine, racing car, television tower. Interested parties can explore the secret of the devil’s knots (an object made up of six individual parts interlocked three-dimensionally). A joint trainee project can also be seen in which various vocational professions work together and led to the success of the project.
Pupils’ projects organised by the Equal Opportunities Department (Thursday, 23rd November & Friday, 24th November)
Young fair visitors can test their knowledge about everything to do with natural sciences and technology by doing a small quiz. The questions show how greatly our everyday life is based on technology. Those who discover how exciting and diverse these topics are will receive an invitation to the pupils’ projects TryScience and to Girls‘ Day in order to plunge deeper into science.
Central Student Advisory Service (Saturday, 25th November)
The Central Student Advisory Service is the professional counselling centre at the University of Stuttgart dealing with all concerns of prospective and existing students. Consultants provide information on the choice of university course, accompany the students when they start studying and help them to stay with and conclude their courses.
Further information:
Anja Hardekopf, University of Stuttgart, Rector’s Office,Tel. 0711/685-81409, email: anja.hardekopf@rektorat.uni-stuttgart.de