At MEMSYS, we talk about innovation, collaboration and pushing the limits. None of that happens without the incredible minds and energy driving it all forward. So, we are doing a series of interviews and handing the mic to our team.
These interviews are a window into the people behind the projects – their passions, perspectives and what fuels them everyday at MEMSYS.
Get ready to meet the talent and see why teamwork makes the dreamwork !
Today, the floor is to Niels Hokke, embedded engineer at MEMSYS.
Niels, tell us a little bit about your early life?
I was born in Delft in 1995 but grew up in Hoek van Holland. Like all engineers I quickly developed an intense passion for Lego Technik which evolved into programming small robots, culminating in my high school graduation project where I built a sorting robot based on an Arduino using LEDs and an LDR. When I was 12 I started playing rugby for Rugby club the Hookers, which I continued to do throughout my student time. After high school I went to study Elektrotechniek at the Haagse Hogeschool in Delft where I met a fantastic group of like-minded nerds. Although the courses were interesting, I learned most outside of school building awesome projects with friends. To this day I maintain that we built the first Smart Front Door in the world, including a camera, servers and permissions for friends to gain access using their OV-chipcard. These experiences ignited my passion for Energy Harvesting, culminating in my MSc Thesis Embedded Systems at the TU Delft focused on the wireless communication for an energy harvesting button.
Can you tell us a little about what motivated you to work on energy harvesting tech after your studies?
I am excited by the rigid design constraints energy harvesting brings – every choice has system-level consequences that need to be taken into account. I started my career at another energy harvesting company in Delft where the challenge was to pull as much power from a vibration-based energy harvesting technology, my focus being on power management. However, I believe an end-to-end design philosophy is required to show the true potential of energy harvesting systems. Using my knowledge of embedded systems I started Zero Energy Development to fill this gap by building ultra-low power electronics that could use energy harvesting technology. It took me four years to realise engineering is my true passion and business is not – at which time I met Thijs, CEO of MEMSYS, and joined without hesitation.
Yeah MEMSYS is pretty cool – can you share your vision on the technology and company?
I am super excited to be a part of the MEMSYS vision: building useful end-to-end energy harvesting systems is possible. And to have found the perfect place where I can continue to have an impact on pushing the forefront of low power IoT solutions. Besides that, over the past month I have felt extremely welcome and feel right at home between a group of equally passionate engineers (nerds).
