CODING.WATERKANT
CAMP

WHERE AI, MACHINE LEARNING AND TECH ENTHUSIASTS COME TOGETHER TO BUILD THE FUTURE.

Coding.Waterkant Festival is a hands-on, community-driven tech camp that brings together developers, ML specialists, students, and professionals to collaborate, create, and learn.

Over several days, participants dive into coding projects, explore cutting-edge technologies, and exchange ideas in a collaborative, open environment by the Baltic Sea.

Whether you're part of a startup, a tech company, or an independent developer, you can work on your own project or join a team. The focus is on practical learning, real-world solutions, and fostering lasting collaborations.

  • Intensive coding on individual or collaborative projects
  • Hands-on workshops in Machine Learning, Open Source, and Robotics
  • Inspiration, exchange, and networking at eye level
  • On-site catering & accommodation to fully immerse yourself in the experience

PROGRAMM 2025

MONDAY

July 7, 2025
17:30Arrival & Registration of Guests
18:00Welcome with Patron Dirk Schroedter
18:20Keynote by Wandelbots, the Dresden-based pioneer in intuitive robot programming
19:00Get-Together with Food and Music

TUESDAY

July 8, 2025
08:00Breakfast
09:00Morning Welcome + Intro of Teams & Projects
09:45Free Floating and 2. Breakfast
10:15Deep Dive into Projects
13:00Lunch Break
14:00Workshop: Introduction to LeRobot by Jeremy von Winckelmann (opencampus.sh)
15:30Workshop: Getting to know NOVA: Intuitive Robotics by Wandelbots
18:00Dinner
19:00Sauna evening

WEDNESDAY

July 9, 2025
08:00Breakfast
09:00Morning Welcome
10:30Workshop: My Model, My Rules: Self-Hosting Large Language Models
13:00Lunch Break
14:00Workshop: Hands-on with Open Web UI: Build, Explore, Interact
16:00Workshop: Grafana Assistant - How to build an observability assistant
18:00Dinner
19:30Get Together @ Tiessenkai

THURSDAY

July 10, 2025
08:00Breakfast
09:00Morning Welcome
10:30Workshop: What is MCP? A Guided Introduction to the Model Context Protocol
13:00Lunch Break
14:00Workshop: AI-Powered Development: Lessons Learned from Letting Agents Write My Code
16:00Project Presentations: Results from the Machine Learning with TensorFlow Course
18:00Dinner
19:00Sauna evening

FRIDAY

July 11, 2025
08:00Breakfast
09:00Morning Welcome
11:00Start of Project Presentations, Part I
13:00Lunch Break
14:00Start of Project Presentations, Part II
16:00Closing
MO TU WE TH FR

PARTICIPANT
PROJECTS 2025

Dynamic Object Interaction with a Boston Dynamics Spot Robot

Prof. Dr. Sören Pirk - University of Kiel | Anton Wagner - University of Kiel

The goal of the project is to build a dynamic mobile manipulation platform by integrating a robotic arm with the Boston Dynamics Spot robot. We aim to enable the robot to autonomously navigate and interact with its environment. The system is supposed to perform tasks like pointing at landmarks or picking objects. The project may also incorporate language-based interaction, allowing users to control or query the robot through natural language commands.

Semiformal AI Prompting: Eliminating AI Guesswork

Team Coding.Waterkant

Based on an example web application generator, we'll explore how structured syntax produces more precise results compared to ambiguous natural language prompts. Use a playground to create full-stack web applications of any kind while experimenting with the DSL approach. There's room

Look'n'Learn AI: Interactive Visual Inspection Assistant

Johannes Köpnick | Eugen Herrmann | Bernd Lundt | Stefan Müller

We're building "Look'n'Learn AI," an intuitive visual inspection tool that learns from user feedback (OK/NOT OK). It uses local, open-source AI to analyze images/video, allowing users to teach the system their specific quality criteria through simple interactions and chat. Our goal is to create a self-improving visual assistant that adapts to various inspection tasks without needing pre-labeled datasets.

Coin Raiders: Looting Lara's Purse for Science

Christopher Hansen - University of Kiel

Ancient coins are tiny time machines — packed with rich history, powerful imagery, and hidden stories. But here's the kicker: despite decades of research, it's still an open challenge to automatically describe and locate what's on these coins — be it emperors, animals, gods, weapons, or cryptic inscriptions. Build a system that not only tells the story of each coin but also shows where each element is — from portraits to legends. You can go wild with segmentation models, vision-language models, or multi-modal transformers. We're open to fresh, unconventional ideas!

Fine-Tuning Whisper for Sign Language Subtitling

Steffen Brandt - opencampus.sh

This project fine-tunes a video-adapted Whisper model on sign language data using Google Cloud Vertex AI to generate accurate subtitles and enhance accessibility.

Cook Smarter with Personalized AI Recipes

Mark Knaub | Andreas Schmalzel | Pascal Jüngling | Ronny Barthel | Sebastian Dobrowolski (Student Project)

This app makes cooking simple and tailored to you. Browse a wide range of recipes, and let the AI guide you through each step—adjusted to your skill level. Easily customize any dish to match your dietary needs or preferences, including allergies and ingredient swaps.

In-House Navigation with 3D Mapping & AI

Ali Farooq - GEPROG GmbH | Marius Heine - GEPROG GmbH | Shahwar Zia - GEPROG GmbH

This project aims to extend conventional navigation capabilities by introducing 3D indoor navigation using augmented visualization over Google Maps and AI-generated indoor spaces. The application will enable users to navigate within large indoor environments such as malls, hospitals, airports, or office buildings e.g. by asking "Show me the cafeteria" or "Take me to the nearest exit," and the system will highlight the best route to your destination directly within a 3D model of the building. Key Features: AI-generated 3D models of building interiors based on floor plans or textual descriptions, real-time or simulated 3D path rendering over indoor maps, compatibility with GPS and indoor positioning systems (IPS) for accurate location tracking, voice-guided navigation and AR view mode for immersive user experience.

FAQs

Accommodation can be provided in our glamping camp with fully equipped Sahara tents. Visit our Accommodation page for detailed information about what's included, facilities available, and a complete packing list of what to bring.

We've prepared detailed travel information including train, bus, bike, and car options to reach the festival site in Kiel. You can find comprehensive directions and transportation details on our Arrival Information page.

To add or modify your project proposal, please send an email to team@coding.waterkant.sh with your project details. Our team will review your submission and get back to you promptly.

You will be able to download the recognition certificate directly from our Educational Leave page very soon. The certificate is valid for Schleswig-Holstein and enables you to apply for paid educational leave for the main program days (July 6-10, 2026).

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