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ROBOTMAK3RS at Nerdland Festival

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R

What Was the Nerdland Festival 2025 All About? 

Nerdland Festival 2025 is the premier science and technology festival in the Benelux. The event was held between June 6 and 9, 20025 in Provinciaal Domein Puyenbroeck, Wachtebeke (East Flanders, Belgium). The event had a record attendance of between 25,000 and 30,000 attendees across the four days. 

It is Belgium's largest open-air science festival featuring fun, interactive, and educational attractions.  It was co-created by Hetty Helsmoortel and Lieven Scheire, and offered a lively blend of entertainment, educational talks, hands-on experiments, and shows. 

The live shows featured Erik Van Looy, Daphne Agten, Kobe Ilsen, Alex Agnew, Andries Beckers, and more De Zondag. “Ner
d icons” such as Jeroen Baert and Peter Berx, served as experts. There were presentations on niche, curiosity-driven research such as sessions on medieval “value of dung,” ocean science, and beyond De Zondag. In addition, organizations like imec, VIB, Flanders Make, and VITO curated an on-site “festivallab” packed with futuristic, hands-on tech experiences—talks on microchips, AI, drones, batteries, remote sensing, and more

What Was the Goal of the Festival?

The festival's mission is to make science accessible, entertaining, and inclusive for all ages. It combined educational content with festival flair—live shows, food, drinks, interactive talks, and hands-on experiences in a relaxed, fun environment. The festival encouraged exploration and curiosity, balancing programming for diehard science geeks and newcomers alike. It truly aimed to reveal that "there’s more nerd in each of us than we think". In short, the goal was to demystify science, spark wonder, and unite curiosity with a festive spirit across demographics and disciplines.

What sort of LEGO Robots did you display?

I built a series of LEGO robots to demonstrate some of the scientific research currently being carried out at our university college. The focus is on the use of AI in food processing and food quality control, with one research program in particular exploring how sound can be used to measure the crispness (and therefore quality) of food products. My robots provide an engaging introduction to the real research projects showcased further inside our exhibition stand. The robots are designed to simulate a complete food processing flow, giving the audience a hands-on experience with these technologies. I used LEGO SPIKE Prime robots for these models. The AI programming was done with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor App and the graphs were done with the LEGO SPIKE Prime App. You can watch the process in action here.

1. Cookie Distributor Robot

Participants first program a LEGO conveyor belt so that it delivers exactly one cookie. This introduces them to basic automation and control.








2. Cookie Inspection Robot

The second robot features a conveyor belt with a camera above it. Using machine learning (AI), it checks whether the cookie is in the correct position. If the cookie is upside down, the conveyor flips it and re-checks. Once correctly positioned, the cookie is passed on to the participant.




3. Texture Analyzer Robot

Next, participants place the cookie into a robot that breaks it while measuring the force and sound during the process. These measurements are displayed as a graph on a computer screen, showing at what force the cookie breaks and the sound pattern it produces. Example graphs of “good” (crispy) and “bad” (less crispy) cookies are available for comparison, so participants can judge the quality of their own cookie.

4. Recycling Robot Arm

Finally, participants can choose whether to eat the cookie. If not, they place the cookie and packaging on a pick-up point for a six-axis robotic arm, which places the items onto a (non-LEGO) conveyor belt. Here, machine learning is used again to decide whether the waste goes to the plastic bin or the chicken feed bin.






Article by Dimitri Dekyvere









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