This page documents the 2026 occurrence of a 1-month residency in Asia to scale research with mass manufacturing for affordability or unprecedented magnitudes.

=> General page about this yearly research residency.

Video summary

 ★ The 10 MIT residents:

Ben Weiss (Responsive Environments), Char Stiles (Future Sketches), Jake Read (Center for Bits and Atoms), Jessica Stringham (Future Sketches), Jonny Cohen (City Science), Michelle Kim (Fluid Interfaces), Miranda Li (Personal Robots), Sam Chin (Responsive Environments), Shengtao Shen (Future Heritage, Arch), Yufeng Zhao (Future Sketches)

Reports => https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT​

 ★ Selected affiliate residents:

Arbor (University of Waterloo), CJ Pais (Handy Computer), Darcy Neal (Crow Supply), Ran Zhou (Royal Institute of Technology), Willa Yang (University of Chicago).

Reports => seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT#affiliate-cohort-reports

 ★ Organizers:

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

 ★ Main Hosts

• Chaihuo @ Seeed Studio
• SciArt CoLab @ AIRS
• Immersive Design @ SUSTech

CONTEXT

The 2026 cohort had a distinct focus on artistic integration, personal transformation, and tools for communities. The projects were more experimental, narrative-driven, and culturally immersed in the local scene.

• New Scopes: Deeply local and cultural, with residents participating in the Shenzhen Robot Theater, the UABB Biennale, and creating 3d maps of the Huaqiangbei markets, etc.
• New Project Types: Creative and narrative hardware (live-coding wearables, a 12-headed monster robot, etc), and tools for other makers (a new Xiao board, an HQB street-view search engine, etc).
• Live performance: Residents hacked consumer electronics to create live, interactive audio-visual art, blending the city's hardware resources with performance art.

The research residents explored a lot more, this page summarizes their reports:

Ben Weiss 

Keywords: Environmental Sensing, Climate Solutions, Restoration Ecology

• 🌱 Soil Node Project: Ben designed a scalable LoRa-enabled soil moisture sensing node for wetland restoration ecologists.
• 🔧 Factory Debugging: He gained a unique perspective by witnessing the manual PCB assembly process, alongside expert staff at Seeed, overcoming language barriers to debug errors in real-time.
• 📦 Enclosure Design: Concluded with a deep dive into enclosure design for outdoor deployment.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Ben

Char Stiles

Keywords: Laser cutting, DIY PCB, Wearable for performance

• 🎧 Robot Theater Performance: Hacked consumer headphones from Huaqiangbei to embed sensing and processing, and create a real-time MIDI-to-Neopixel visualizer for a live performance.
• ⚡ Lasing PCBs: Experimented with rapid PCB manufacturing using fiber lasers, iterating through failures and scientifically characterizing them, to eventually achieve a functional board.
• 🎹 Live Coding Integration: Focused on hardware that bridges the gap between digital music (strudel.cc) and physical performance.

Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Char

Jake Read

Keywords: Machine Control, Motor Control, Modular Embedded Systems

• 🦾 Knuckles & Accelerometers: Assembled the "Knuckles" accelerometer module at Seeed, a key component for his PhD thesis on accessible machine control systems.
• ⚙️ Motor Sausage Making: Took a deep dive into motor manufacturing factories to propose a new open interface for closed-loop stepper controllers.
• 👹 Labububot: Collaborated with Miranda to build a 12-headed "monster-ball" robot, balancing serious thesis work with whimsical side projects.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Jake

Jessica Stringham

Keywords: Realtime Visuals in Rust, Controllers, Birds

• ✋ Palm-Held Controller: Prototyped a wearable capacitive touch and accelerometer controller designed to fit in the palm for seamless switching between typing and live coding.
• 🐦 Birdwatching in Shenzhen: Contributed a unique ecological perspective by documenting the local birdlife amidst the urban hardware landscape.
• 🎨 PCB Art: Learned techniques for PCB art (removing solder mask for diffusion) to create visually expressive hardware.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Jessica

Jonny Cohen

Keywords: Robotics, HRI, Mobility

• 🐼 P.A.N.D.A. Logistics: Presented work on bio-inspired logistics robots and developed a "Servo Backpack" to make prototyping robot motion easier.
• 🏙️ Ecosystem Evolution: Compared Shenzhen's 2026 landscape to his 2018 visit, noting the massive evolution in robot deployment and public infrastructure.
• 🤖 Smart Servos: Designed a dev board to bridge the gap between low-cost servos and advanced control, aiming to "make motors fun."
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Jonny

Michelle Kim

Keywords: Wearable Sensing for Health and Wellness, HCI, Multimodal AI

• 💍 Smart Ring: Sourced components at the "Disney of Hardware" (HQB) to build a smart ring for behavior change, rapidly moving from concept to a manufactured FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) prototype.
• 💻 Soft-to-Hard Transition: Leveraged her software background to dive into hardware engineering, utilizing the Shenzhen ecosystem to bridge the gap between human sensing and physical sensors. (And made some great hardware friends!)
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Michelle

Miranda Li

Keywords: Critical HRI, Monster Theory

• 🐲 Labububot: Co-created a 12-headed spherical robot, focusing on the artistic and whimsical application of hardware.
• 🗺️ The Survivor’s Guide: Compiled an extensive logistical guide for future residents, covering everything from Visa applications and VPNs to navigating Shenzhen's digital payment ecosystem (WeChat/Alipay).
• 🚄 Cross-Border Exploration: Documented the ease of travel between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, providing practical tips for navigating customs and transport.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Miranda

Sam Chin

Keywords: Electronics, Interactive Ceramics, Haptics

• 🤏 Project Xiǎobāo: Designed "Xiǎobāo" (Small Package), a miniaturized version of the Xiao development board in the S3-Plus form factor, pushing the limits of PCB density.
• 🔋 Feature Packing: Successfully integrated battery charging and 0201 components into a tiny footprint, solving complex routing challenges for CSP packages.
• 🤝 Collaborative Review: Conducted a design review with the original creator of the Xiao ESP32-S3, closing the loop between user and creator.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Sam

Shengtao Shen

Keywords: Architecture, Generative AI Hardware, Context-Aware

• 🔮 Future Diary Phone: inspired by the anime Mirai Nikki, he built a retro-styled device that generates "future predictions" or fortunes based on GPS and time data via an LLM.
• 📟 Repair Culture Aesthetic: Drew design cues from the early 2000s phones found in Huaqiangbei's repair markets.
• 🗣️ Interaction Design: Experimented with voice and keypad interactions to create a device that "rewrites" its prediction based on the user's travel distance.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Shengtao

Yufeng Zhao

Keywords: Modular Camera Arrays, Lenticular Printing, 360° OCR

• 📷 Flexible Camera Array: Designed a modular, magnetic camera strip capable of synchronized recording for "scene collage" photography.
• 🖼️ Lenticular Revivals: Produced lenticular stickers bringing early internet banner ads to life, bridging digital history with physical artifacts.
• 📍 All Text in HQB: Created a Street View-style search engine for Huaqiangbei, capturing 360° panoramas to allow users to text-search the physical stalls of the electronics market.
• Full report: https://seeed-studio.github.io/MakerCamp/2026-01-MIT/Yufeng
• Personal website: https://yufengzhao.com

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!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Acknowledgements:The residents were guided in the mazes of the HuaQianBei electronic markets by a dream team that includes:

• Andy Kong (Chargerless Inc.)
• Danli Luo (University of Washington)
• Loay Yari (Mentra)
• Noah Zerkin (Combine Reality)
• Raul Martin (RGM Vision)
• Sam Chin (MIT Media Lab)
• Spencer Yan (Seeed Studio)
• Terry Given (Tymphany)
• Willa Yang (University of Chicago)
• Yuxiang Cheng (Harvard)

Thanks a lot for sharing your secrets and your passion!

_____________________________________________________________________________

This residency was heavily inspired, and aims to continue the legacy of the followings, in its own way:

• The Hacker Trip To China by Noisebridge, the San Francisco Hackerspace
• The Previous Research at Scale occurrence