Open Hardware Summit 2025: The Panels
This year's Open Source Hardware Summit featured five panel discussions with deep dives into fields, ranging from wearables to rockets.
Merging Technology and Fashion
After the talks portion of the Open Hardware Summit event concluded, it was time to host panels that offered specific themes on any subject centered on open hardware. The first panel discussion focused on wearable technology and featured a trio of creative experts, including Kay Wasil, Rehana Al-Soltane, and Julia Makivic. Each shared their unique background, projects, challenges, and insights that focused on integrating technology with fashion, art, and interactive design.
Wasil, an artist and costume designer from Brooklyn, discussed her evolution from handmade costumes to wearable electronics, including a flexible LED grid dress built with custom PCBs linked by jewelry-making and chainmail techniques. Her goal was to incorporate high fashion aesthetics, expose hardware as an art feature (not conceal), and use non-traditional engineering methods, which she achieved successfully.
Wasil designed the LED Grid Dress using an Arduino UNO, a 7V battery, and Adafruit’s HTK 1633 LED controllers, which provided multiplexed LED addressing. She also took advantage of Adafruit’s graphical libraries to display text and simple images on the LED grid. Wasil emphasized the value of open source knowledge and documentation in learning and problem-solving, which she learned on her journey to merge technology with fashion.
Rehana Al-Soltane, an AI educator and technologist with an affinity for textiles and digital fabrication, shared her design for a kinetic dress that combines servos, fishing lines, and 3D-printed components that mimic the organic movement of flowers. The Blooming Dress 2.0 improves on the original design with increased durability and wearability, which takes advantage of organza fabric for lightness, flexible “midrib” spines that mimic leaf veins, off-the-shelf electronics for accessibility, and refined servo mechanics.
Al-Soltane also custom 3D-printed parts like hooks, spines, and bearing systems to enhance motion and reduce friction. She also added Arduino-based controls with power boosters and LiPo batteries to enhance servo operation.
Julia Makivic, a creative electronic engineering lecturer and designer of alternative controller-based video games, focused on wearable play devices (think alternative controllers), experimenting with tactile interactions, screen-based narrative objects, and wireless communication between devices. She created interactive games, including Labyrinth and Sound Block, which provide tactile experiences using non-traditional materials and interactive components such as conductive ropes and stackable synth cubes.
Makivic's Labyrinth game was designed around an Arduino Mega, which controls a 32-channel LED matrix, mapping each conductive rope junction to a specific LED. The ropes are integrated with conductive thread connected to copper rings: blues tied to power, greens to ground and Arduino inputs. Her design effectively turns the woven rope grid into a giant tactile controller that reflects real-time connections using LEDs.
The panel shared their creative processes, open source benefits, barriers for beginners, interdisciplinary challenges, current technology limitations, and the future of wearable tech. They touched on the importance of documentation, community support, prototyping, and combining traditional craft with electronic innovation. The panel then ended with an open Q&A, offering advice for newcomers, collaboration with engineering communities, and the evolution of wearable tech.
Open Source Environmental Panel
The Open Source Environmental panel brought together a diverse group of experts using open hardware to tackle environmental monitoring in meaningful, community-driven ways.
Jo Walsh, from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, spoke about the challenges of making environmental science more accessible and collaborative, touching on the aspect of treating hardware with the same transparency as open source software.
Shannon Hicks, from the Stroud Water Research Center, explained how her team’s low-cost Mayfly data loggers are helping schools and communities collect real-time water quality data. Deborah Swinston and Sasha Engelman discussed their work on participatory air quality monitoring in dockside neighborhoods in Argentina, focusing on the ethics of co-design, local ownership of data, and the dynamics involved in getting citizens interested in science.
Open Source Medical Panel
The Open Source Medical panel showcased a blend of innovation and care, with speakers presenting open source solutions aimed at making healthcare more accessible, affordable, and available to everyone. Anne Coburn and Chris Rexroth from Cosmiic Inc. introduced their implantable neuroprosthetic platform, an open source tool aimed at advancing neuromodulation research, regardless of regulations and funding.
Scott Smith from Open Water discussed their work on modular, non-invasive devices, such as blood flow monitors and focused ultrasound tools, all of which were developed with affordability and global availability in mind. Lukas Winter, from the Open Source Imaging Initiative, shared progress on a low-cost, portable MRI system built entirely on open hardware and software.
Rohit Gupta, an independent designer, spoke about creating low-tech, open source therapeutic toys for children with cerebral palsy, centering joy, play, and social inclusion. Together, the panelists threw a spotlight on the importance of open source collaboration, community-driven design, and building medical tools with people, instead of profits, as the number one priority.
Open Source Rockets! Panel
The Open Source Rockets! panel brought together a group of spaceflight enthusiasts and experts to highlight the legal, cultural, and collaborative challenges of building rockets within the open source ecosystem.
Dr. Jay Simmons, of Mach 30, acknowledged that while rocket science isn’t an easy endeavor, the biggest hurdles for open source space hardware are export laws, fragmented workflows, and the need for better collaboration tools. His Distributed Open Source Hardware Framework (DOTH) aims to mitigate these challenges by leveraging tools and practices from open source software. Logan Herrera focused on US export control laws and how they complicate student-based rocket projects, advocating for more transparency and reform.
Jo Hinchliffe offered a UK perspective, explaining how tools like OpenRocket and FreeCAD are making rocket design more accessible. He also touched on the importance of mentorship and community, especially when working with hazardous materials. The panel concluded with practical advice for those interested in rockets, including joining local clubs, following safety guidelines, and seeking support within the community.
Disability and OSHW Panel
The Disability & OSHW panel provided an engaging and personal look at how open source hardware is transforming assistive technology, centering on disabled makers and real-life needs.
Eilidh Troup, a software engineer, began by sharing the story behind Mr. Flashy Beep, a DIY device that utilizes light and sound to aid in retraining the brain after stroke-induced vision loss. Lorraine Underwood, maker and research associate, highlighted her innovative one-handed customizable keyboard for people with limited mobility, which can be modified to suit respective needs.
Phoenix Perry, a Reader in Games and Creative Technologies, concluded the talks by highlighting the case for disability-led design, challenging big tech to prioritize inclusion, care, and fun while building projects, such as her Bot Party, a collaborative touch-based game.
The discussion concluded with all three offering insight into the barriers and opportunities facing assistive technology, including those related to manufacturing, regulation, affordability, and repairability.