TL;DR

The 2025 occurrence of a one-month residency in Asia to scale research with mass manufacturing for affordability or unprecedented magnitudes.
=> General page about this yearly research residency.

 ★ The 10 MIT residents:

Alan Han (Center for Bits & Atoms), Andy Kong (Fluid Interfaces af.), Cedric Honnet (Responsive Environments), Francisco Ramirez (Center for Bits & Atoms / EECS), Jason Hou (Conformable Decoders), Lingdong Huang (Future Sketches), Patrick Chwalek (Responsive Environments), Thomas Sanchez (City Science), Vineet Padia (Mech E.), Yuhan Wang  (Tangible Media / Harvard).

 ★ The 5 affiliate residents:

Amitabh Shrivastava (NYU ITP / TinkerHouse), Eli Silver (Brown Uni), Joey Verbeke (Conscious Tech Co), Liz Dorman (Humane / HP), Oliver Child (Bristol Uni)

 ★ Organizers:

• Research Program Manager: Cedric Honnet (Responsive Environments)
• Residency Curator: Zinn / Ziyin Liu (SciArt Co-lab, AIRS)

 ★ Sponsors:

• Seeed Studio / Chaihuo
• SciArt CoLab / AIRS

 ★ Full reports and  residents repositories:

> > > https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT​ < < <

Context

About 15 years ago, hackers and makers started flocking to “make in Shenzhen” for speed and cost (example). A few years later, “design in Shenzhen” became an obvious evolution following the local ecosystem’s needs (example). Today, “research in Shenzhen” seems to be the next step, inviting us to co-create scientific knowledge, at Shenzhen speed!

Organizing a new implementation of the month-long Research-at-Scale with MIT colleagues, the new residency is now amplified by a yearly symposium for everyone, welcoming hundreds of artists, hackers, academic/industry researchers, entrepreneurs, factory workers, and engineers from everywhere.

=> What happens when this cyberpunk city becomes a living laboratory?

- Speed is multiplied: The HuaQiangBei market (HQB) can also empower academics or artists with uniquely fast prototype iterations (down to one-hour circuits fab + assembly).

- Scaling becomes affordable: local factories make customization and replication cheaper, amplifying impact beyond the publication.

This page summarizes the research residents explorations:

Alan Han

Keywords: Discrete Assembly, Modular Computing

🧱 Modular Wall Hacking: Alan spent his time at the hackathon developing a modular, electronic wall system with Samy Kamkar designed to replace traditional drywall with functional, discrete surface tiles. This project involved experimenting with 2.5D geometry and a 2D sandwich approach using flexures.

🛍️ Huaqiangbei Deep Dive: He explored the vast electronics markets of Huaqiangbei, sourcing new soldering equipment, precision tools, and a variety of specialty components, including unique solder paste alloys and batteries. Alan noted that for specific items like electromechanical switches, Huaqiangbei offers a wider selection than online retailers.

🏭 Manufacturing Process Learnings: Alan gained valuable insights from visiting FPC, PCB assembly, MicroLED display, and motor factories. He observed that most factories utilized semi-automated systems and learned about the importance of rate matching in industrial engineering.

🗺️ An Idea for a Better HQB: He proposed the creation of a searchable index for Huaqiangbei's resources, which would make it easier for makers to locate specific vendors and components within the sprawling marketplace.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Alan
Personal website: https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.23/CBA/people/Alan/ 

Andy Kong

Keywords: Ultra-Low Power Wearables, Interactive Implants

🔬 Hotel Room Laboratory: Andy transformed his hotel room into a personal lab, complete with a full soldering setup, to work on his solar harvesting board. This allowed him to conduct multiple rounds of testing, and by the end of his trip, the board was functioning successfully.

🛒 Sourcing the Unsourcable: At Huaqiangbei, he managed to find and purchase specialized components like ring-shaped batteries and miniature solar panels in person, items that are typically difficult and expensive to acquire in the United States.

🏭 From Raw Materials to Final Products: Andy was particularly captivated by factories that handled the entire production process, from raw materials to finished goods, such as a facility that manufactured batteries from scratch, starting with punching the cases out of steel panels.

🤖 A Glimpse into a Robotic Future: He observed the futuristic elements of Shenzhen, including drone food delivery and the "robotic development zone" at AiRS, which prompted him to reflect on the future of robotics and its impact on labor in China.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Andy
Personal website: https://andykong.org

Cedric Honnet

Keywords: HCI, Embedded Systems, Miniaturization, Conformable Wearables, Open Hardware

🎓 From Making to Researching: The report highlights Shenzhen's transformation from a hub for "making" and "designing" to a global center for "researching". This evolution is supercharged by the city's unique ability to rapidly iterate and scale projects, turning it into a living laboratory for academics, artists, and hackers alike.

🤝 Orchestrating the Ecosystem: The symposium preparation includes coordinating with local partners and welcoming early arrivals. This groundwork included many electronic market exploration sessions, and factory visits, but also ransom discoveries such as an AliExpress “home-office” selling custom iPad screen driver boards...

🔬 Exploring Miniaturization: Cedric's research focuses on miniaturizing electronics for wearable technology and it involves exploring advanced manufacturing techniques not typically accessible to academics, such as using bare dies and wire bonding processes, demonstrating how Shenzhen makes even highly specialized production more attainable.

🇯🇵 Extending Research to Japan: The journey extended to Japan, creating a bridge between the Shenzhen ecosystem and global tech leaders. The group visited the Murata factory in Kyoto, observing the manufacturing of some of the world's smallest electronic components, and met with the creative design studio Rhizomatiks in Tokyo.

Full report:

Personal website: https://honnet.eu

Francisco Ramirez

Keywords: Micro Robotics, Shenzhen Life Experience

🏆 Hackathon Victory: Francisco and his team won a prize at the Smart Space Hackathon for their innovative project on origami-based adaptive structures. This project was inspired by his research on pop-up MEMS devices.

🎓 University Tours and Robotics: He visited several universities in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, including SUSTech and HKUST, to learn about their latest research in robotics, AI, and micro-engineering. A demonstration of an origami robotic insect wing was a particular highlight of these visits.

🏭 Insights from Factory Visits: Francisco toured factories that produce smart rings, stepper motors, and e-paper displays, which gave him a firsthand look at their highly automated manufacturing processes and stringent quality control measures.

🏥 An Unexpected Medical Journey: During his trip, Francisco required unexpected surgery and was impressed by the speed and efficiency of the healthcare he received at the Southern University Hospital.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Francisco
Personal website: https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.24/people/FranciscoRamirezSerrano

Jason Hou

Keywords: Bio-Engineering, Artistic Exploration

🤖 Building "Little Brother": Jason was part of the team that developed "Little Brother," an AI-powered, room-scale, cable-driven gantry robot. He contributed to the project by building the robot and developing its natural language understanding speech-to-command core.

🔌 Custom PCBs for Ultrasound: He designed a battery-powered piezo driver and a SEPIC switching converter for ultrasound imaging applications. Additionally, he sourced curved piezoceramic disks from Taobao for his work.

🛒 Mastering Sourcing: Jason effectively used Taobao's image search feature to find and procure specialty materials for his research on printed electrodes, including custom piezoceramics and PEDOT:PSS.

🎨 The Intersection of Art and Technology: He explored the creative side of Shenzhen by visiting the AIRS art & tech studio and meeting with artist Shen Shaomin, which allowed him to delve into the intersection of art and technology.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Jason
Personal website: https://conformabledecoders.media.mit.edu/people/jasonhou.html

Lingdong Huang

Keywords: Creative Technology, Musical Interfaces, Serendipitous Prototyping

🤖 Collaborating on a Cell Bot: Lingdong collaborated with his colleague Yuhan on a self-assembling robot project, for which he designed a compact PCB.

🎶 Innovating Musical Instruments: He went shopping at Huaqiangbei for new switches to enhance his custom-made musical instrument, the "Lingcordion".

笛 Creating a Digital Flute: Inspired by a nose flute he encountered during an artist residency in Hainan, Lingdong designed and built a digital flute. He ingeniously used capacitive touch pads made from SIL headers for the instrument's holes and an electret microphone to detect blowing.

🏝️ Artist in Residence in Hainan: Lingdong participated in an artist-in-residency program in Hainan, where he engaged in computational embroidery and sampled ethnic instruments, most notably the nose flute.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Lingdong
Personal website: https://lingdong.works

Patrick Chwalek

Keywords: Embedded Hardware, Environmental Sensing, Animal Tracking 

🦁 The CollarID Project: Patrick's main focus during the residency was his CollarID project, a wearable device for dogs and lions that tracks their movements and environmental conditions. The goal is to better understand how animal behavior is influenced by external factors like wildfires and human activity.

🔋 Custom Components on Demand: He was able to source custom-sized batteries for the CollarID from vendors in Shenzhen, who provided quotes for batteries matching his exact specifications at a remarkably low price of just $1 each.

🏨 Hacking in a Hotel Room: Patrick transformed his hotel room into a "quiet hacking oasis," where he spent his nights evaluating PCBAs that he had produced at nearby factories.

🏙️ Shenzhen, Five Years Later: This was Patrick's second visit to Shenzhen, and he was struck by the city's rapid development over the past five years, noting a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles and improved ease of virtual payments for foreigners.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Patrick
Personal website: https://patrickchwalek.com

Thomas Sanchez

Keywords: Urban Interfaces, Tangible Data, Art Collaborations

🏙️ Developing RoboScope: Thomas dedicated his time to advancing the RoboScope project, a tangible interface for the CityScope platform that enables users to manipulate and visualize urban data in three dimensions.

🤝 Collaborating with SUSTech: He worked with a research group at SUSTech University to create a more robust, compact, and scalable version of the RoboScope.

🏭 Harnessing the Power of Shenzhen's Ecosystem: Thomas leveraged Shenzhen's extensive hardware and manufacturing ecosystem to gain a deeper understanding of the local supply chain and the advantages of developing hardware in the region.

📖 Sharing Knowledge Through Open Source: The code and design files for the RoboScope project are openly available in a public repository for others to use and build upon.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Thomas
Personal website: https://codigogenerativo.com

Vineet

Keywords: Mechanical Engineering, Assistive Robotics, Tools Hacking 

🤖 Advancing Assistive Robotics: At the HCI Symposium, Vineet presented his lab's research on compliant twisted and winching tendon actuators, which are being developed for use in lightweight exoskeletons.

🛠️ A Tool Lover's Paradise: As a self-proclaimed tool enthusiast, Vineet was in his element at Huaqiangbei. He purchased a variety of specialized electronics tools, including precision tweezers, and admired a beautifully decaled microscope.

🐔 The "YOU ARE A CHICKEN" Project: For the hackathon, Vineet created an interactive installation called "YOU ARE A CHICKEN," which was inspired by B.F. Skinner's behavioral experiments. The project used a live chicken to draw humorous parallels between animal conditioning and human digital behaviors.

🗺️ A Future Project: Mapping HQB: Vineet has plans to create a Street View-style map of Huaqiangbei using an Insta360 helmet, with the goal of helping others navigate the complex market.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Vineet
Personal website: https://vineetpadia.github.io

Yuhan Wang

Keywords: Self-Assembly Robotics, Interactive Art

🤖 The Cellbot Concept: Yuhan developed a self-assembly robot inspired by the process of cell division. Each modular unit of the robot contains the "DNA" for the overall structure and can pass this information to other units upon connection.

🤝 A Fruitful Collaboration: He collaborated with Lingdong, who designed the PCB for the Cellbot units. These PCBs were equipped with a battery, a microprocessor, electromagnets, and a data port.

💡 Drawing Inspiration from AIRS: Yuhan found inspiration for his project in a similar magnetic modular robot at the AIRS Lab.

🔧 Rapid Prototyping in Shenzhen: He took full advantage of the resources available at Huaqiangbei to rapidly prototype custom PCBs and 3D-printed parts for the Cellbot.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2025-01-MIT/Yuhan
Personal website: https://yuhanwang.net

Conclusion

Back-to-back factory tours, electronic market scavenger hunts, workshops and hackathons, produced wearables, art Installations, start-up creations, and academic publications!

Huge thanks to those who made this possible:

• Seeed Studio / Chaihuo: Thank you so much Ellie and Eric for flying us all the way from Boston to Shenzhen, welcoming us in the factories, sharing so many tips, contacts, and the makerspace!
• SciArt CoLab / AIRS: Thank you so much Zinn and Shaomin for hosting us so well, showing us the art scene in Shenzhen, and welcoming us in your space for the residency and the symposium…
• Immersive Design Group / SUSTech: Thank you so much Seungwoo for being present since the beginning, co-creating this unique symposium, with the amazing organizing team!

Join us next January in turning the world’s makerspace into the world’s most open laboratory:

• MIT residency (4 weeks in January): https://media.mit.edu/posts/research-at-scale
• Symposium (1st week of January ~100 people): https://scalablehci.com