Welcome to the Study Tour: Age of Technology website! If everything goes to plan, exactly a year from now we’ll be exploring South Korea. Up until then, we will have to work hard to make it a great trip. This website will be the best source for participants, companies, and everyone interested to keep up to date with our progress on this trip!
Two weeks ago we organized our first case weekend, and it was a great success. In this weekend the participants of the study tour sat together to work hard on the first cases that were received from companies and research groups. We worked fulltime for two days, while also keeping it fun by having lunch together and watching movies afterwards.
Thanks to this weekend we booked a lot of progress, so in the future we will definitely continue to organize more case weekends like this.
A few weeks ago we received the great news that our supervisory committee had given us the green light. This means that we had gathered the minimal funds necessary to go on the trip. We are not there yet though: most of the plane tickets have been bought, but a lot of work still has to go towards the cases and the organization of the trip itself.
Although we have received the green light, we are still looking for more sponsors to make the trip as amazing as possible. If you are interested in the possibilities of sponsorship or casework, please get in touch with our acquisition committee at spock-acquisition@scintilla.utwente.nl.
Hey, here is the first blogpost of Age of Technology. In the coming 20(-ish) days you’ll find daily updates and information about our coming and going around South-Korea. You can also follow us on our Polarsteps and LinkedIn where you can see our routes and photos of the trip.
After packing the last few things into our bags, we headed for Schiphol. After an uneventful journey by train we met up at the airport, where we took our first group picture of the trip. The check-in procedure went as expected, meaning that we had to wait a lot. Passing through security was however somewhat troublesome, since half of the bags were separated for further examination by the security staff. The reason for this was however not that serious, it turns out the travel guides absorb or reflect much of the x-rays. After this we still had some time to kill at the airport, especially since our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. After splitting up and searching for a restaurant, most ended up simply going to McDonald’s. When it was almost time to get to the gate, some went to a pub along the way to get their last taste of some Dutch craft beers. After boarding each person got a water bottle, blanket, flip flops and a pillow, after which we took off heading for South-Korea.
The flight, Korean Air: KE926, was delayed by 20 minutes and consequently we left dutch soil behind us at 21:40. During the flight no further hiccups were able to delay us any further and we arrived at Incheon Air a little past 16:30 local time. Clear weather resulted in a stunning overview of Incheon before landing at terminal 2 of the airport. From here a brief train ride to Seoul Train Station would take us within walking distance to our destination, Guesthouse Aroha. For dinner, several people tried the local Korean cuisine, featuring bibimbap and a peculair dish named Korean Hangover Soup. The blinding lights of the billboards and lit up skyscrapers of downtown Seoul in addition to the neverending supply of convience stores, snackbars left an immediate impression. Since the following morning we had to get up quite early we didn’t go to bed too late, although the jetlag did not help to get a good nights sleep.
That was it for the first two days, tomorrow we’ll feature an exciting trip to the DMZ amongst other things.
On our first full day in South Korea, we started with a trip to the demilitarised zone: the border between North and South Korea. Our tour guide Gabby, including a tour flag, guided us through the area. We visited the third tunnel, one of the four currently discovered tunnels that the North Koreans secretly made underground after the peace agreement and which was discovered and closed to the North by the South. Through a tunnel where every one of us had to duck to avoid the ceiling, which was at 1.60m, we walked underground to the border, which was sealed by three blockages. We could peek through these blockages to see the other side (which was already covered in vegetation).
Then we went to the Dora observatory where you could see the border area and look into North Korea itself. Here we were able to spot a watchtower where two North Korean soldiers were walking. The tour ended at the Unification Village, where we tried a vegan soybean ice cream.
To stay in the mood, some of us went to the War Memorial of Korea after our visit to the DMZ. This was not just about the Korean War, but the entire history of the country. Because, as could also be found in the museum: “the history of people is a history of war”. In addition to the interesting history lesson, there were also old army vehicles and war archive to be found here. All in all a very special place which lay-out and art was inspired by other memorials from all around the world.
After the excitement of the DMZ yesterday and the busy Seoul we are staying in, we wanted to get away to some nature. So, this morning we went to catch a tour bus to Mount Seona and Naksansa Temple.
At 6:15, the alarm went again—another early morning to get a rhythm and beat the jet lag. It was expected to be a 3-hour bus ride with maybe a bit more traffic because it was a public holiday and a lot of locals would go on a little trip outside the city as well. The bus first took us along the Han River through Seoul, where we got to see the city in the early morning light. The buildings gradually grew thinner, and a very green and hilly landscape emerged. Some buildings were scattered about, but you could see that people gravitated more towards the big cities, with the buildings being a bit more run-down or even abandoned. It was strange to see such a stark contrast with the big, shiny towers of Seoul just a moment before.
A quick pit stop for the long ride was at a beautiful point overlooking a valley, and the longing for the big mountain started. The rest of the bus ride was a bit uneventful, with a lot of spock-ers taking a nap due to the early morning (or jet lag, depending on who you ask 😜).
When we arrived at the National Park, there was a line of cars for a kilometer to get to the parking lot, this meant we got off the bus early and started to walk to the entrance. The public holiday really increased tourism. If we wanted to get to the top of the mountain, we would have to take a cable car, but with the time allotted there and the local tourists in a big line to get tickets, we could not go. We had three other options for trails to take: along the river, to the waterfalls or to a ridge.
I walked along the stream running at the foot of the mountain, through the gorge it had formed beside it. It had big boulders all over the place, and with the big walls, it looked like a giant’s litter bin. Another group went on a big hike to the ridge with a nice view of the mountain and the ocean nearby. This was a long walk, which almost made them late for the bus.
After we left the park, we went to the coast to visit a temple located on top of a cliff overlooking the sea. We were welcomed there with chanting and the ringing of a bell in the distance. They had a very large statue at the top of the temple site, and with the views, this gave us the calm we may have searched for when escaping the city.
Today we had no official activities planned, so it was decided to explore Seoul itself. This meant that we left around 11:00 to our first destination of the day, Gyeongbokgung. This is the old palace situated in Seoul, which was used by the Korean Royal Family in the past. Since it was Gaecheonjeol (National Foundation Day of Korea) a lot of people were in traditional clothing. The old palace was very open, since it had been burned down multiple times and only some building had been restored. After walking around for a while, we decided that we were also curious about the other palace situated in Seoul, so we headed in the right direction with a lunch break on the way.
We passed by a Buddhist temple which held a ceremony at the time, the League of Legends “park” (which was actually an internet café situated on the third floor) and eventually ended up at Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung. These palaces were a lot less open than Gyeongbokgung, since they had been preserved better and were lived in much more recently. After a while we decided we were up for a drink, so we went to get lost in Ikseondong Hanok Village, which offered a lot of different shops among small streets.
After enjoying a local craft beer, we wanted to try some Korean food, so we found a restaurant which offered a classic Korean BBQ. The chefs showed us what we exactly had to do and then handed the utensils over to us. It was great, but the chefs thought we didn’t do a good job, so they took back control a couple of times. After the delicious meal, we went to a Karaoke Bar (actually Norae Bang in Korean), which ended up being a Karaoke room without any drinks. In the end, we still ended up singing for over an hour, but we had to go back to the hotel to make sure we would get enough sleep.
After a free day, we had a busy schedule for today, with two visits planned. The first visit of the day was at the Dutch embassy located in Seoul. Here we were greeted by an alumnus of the University of Twente, Peter Wijlhuizen. He is the Innovation attaché at the embassy. We discussed many very interesting topics, such as work culture, emancipation, LGBTQ acceptation and history.
Afterward, we went to the Hyundai Motorstudio in Goyang. Here we had a delicious Korean lunch, and afterward we had a guided tour on the safety features of modern Hyundai cars and the process of designing the cars. This tour had a twist, as there were no more English tours available for the day. Thus, Google Translate saved the day, as it allowed us to at least understand parts of the tour.
On today’s schedule, we find our first visits to a company headquarters and university, that could mean only one thing: time to suit up! At 8.30 everyone gathered in front of the guest house in their best attire, as we took off to our first company visit at LG.
Located in their very own LG Science Park, which consists of 26 office buildings and a beautiful green park, we first entered an exhibition displaying the most advanced current and future tech of LG. Starting off with robots that guide you at an airport and robots that make food, we were soon presented with a plethora of advanced displays. LG then demonstrated their ambitions beyond the production of displays, they displayed a wide variety of products, from suit cleaners and smart sustainable systems to medicine, perfumes and even a beer making machine! We ended our stay at LG with a Q&A and a high-class lunch in their VIP room, with a gorgeous view over the Science Park.
Soon after our visit to LG, we positioned ourselves on the subway and made our way to the Korea University, where we were welcomed by several Electrical Engineering professors who gave us an overview of the university, their faculty (a.k.a. the “School of Engineering”) and their Electrical Engineering programme. Some students then guided us on a tour of the university campus, which consists of three closely located regions in the Anam neighbourhood. We had a good look at their company-sponsored buildings.
We ended the day by visiting a local Indian restaurant, which was recommended to us by one of the Korea University professors! After an “Electric Lemonade” at the local cocktail bar, we headed home and called it a day.
We were received warmly, with coffee, at ASM even though we were more than an hour too early. After some explanation about the company, there was a clean room tour. In this clean room, ASM was producing ALD (atomic layer deposition) machines, an important machine for producing semiconductors. The director of manufacturing was glad to explain the manufacturing process.
After ASM, we went to its former daughter company: ASML. Here we started with a lunch in the company canteen. After the lunch, the country manager of ASML gave a presentation. He explained the current market in South-Korea, the difference between the Dutch and South-Korean working environment and the geopolitical sensitivities in the semiconductor industry. Secondly, an engineer talked about the Metrology and inspection systems that ASML uses to improve their overlay in their layer stacking. Also, the ways noticed problems can be fixed at clients were explained. We ended the day with a pub-crawl in Seoul.
Today was another free day - thankfully so, as many of us enjoyed the pub crawl a bit more than we probably should have. While some of us (including yours truly) took this time to rest a bit more, others went to explore some places that were recommended to us by ASML employees.
One group went to the N Seoul Tower, which is the second-highest tower of Seoul. After climbing the mountain, which turned out to be a heftier climb than expected, they could buy tickets to a lift to the top of the tower. From there, they could enjoy the beautiful (or so I assume) view of Seoul. Another group visited the Namdaemun market, featuring many kinds of local dishes (which did not make for a great brunch), but also smoothies and other local delicacies, like an interesting combination of a donut and an “oliebol”.
After this, the journey to the Yeouido park had begun. Taking the metro there went surprisingly smoothly, apart from the metro station closest to the park being closed and the massive crowd making their way to the park. All the safety measures were very impressive - there was more crowd control than I could count. A couple of people already found a spot in the park, where we could settle down, get some food from the many food trucks, and wait for the big event.
And a big event it was! The fireworks were beautiful, featuring flares the like we’ve never seen before, and bangs loud enough we could feel them from miles away.
Today we bade farewell to the by now, very familiar center of Seoul. After we finished packing our bags and had our last Aroha Guesthouse breakfast, we headed for Seoul station to take the train to Daegu. The high speed train line actually uses the same trains as the Amsterdam - Paris line, known as TGV, and I was pleasantly surprised as it was much more comfortable than the other trains we’d encountered so far.
The actual train line runs from Seoul to Busan, through several other cities we’ll visit as well in the coming weeks, but this time we hop off at Daegu station. Daegu immediately was a lot different and smaller than Seoul, there are still many skyscrapers, of course, just fewer people, less traffic and most noticeable, the air is a lot cleaner.
After lunch, we made way for Seomun market, which supposedly is a busy night market in the middle of Daegu. However, when we got there, almost everything was closed… Turns out they close down the market stalls for the shopkeeps to get dinner, after which they open up again for the customers to have theirs. It ended up being a lovely experience with many different Korean foods, such as makchang, tteobokki, gimbap and many more!
The first day of Daegu consisted mostly of optional activities. We could sleep in a little more than usual, so we were ready for the rest of the week.
Most of the people went to Gyeongju. This was the capital of the Silla kingdom that ruled the area from approximately 60 BC to 700 AC. They first visited the Daereungwon tomb complex, where they were allowed to enter one of the tombs. After getting some food, they went to the Cheomseom observatory and the Banwolseong fortress to get an astonishing view of the area. They also got to see how ancient rulers would parade through the city.
The small group that did not go to Gyeongju slept in a bit more and went on a walking tour through Daegu. During the tour, there were a lot of streets that were specific for a certain craft. We came through a street with a lot of hand made shoes shops, a street with only hardware stores and a street where only motorcycles and scooters were sold. But the main attraction and the end of the tour was the Dalseong park. This is a nice decent sized park that also has a little free zoo incorporated, and they had quite some animals, tigers, elephants, lions, zebras, chickens, seals, and a lot more.
To close off the day, the two groups came together again for a beautiful view of the sunset at the sunset observatory. Although it was a bit too cloudy to see the sunset properly, the effect of the clouds was still amazing to see. As it was starting to get late, we went down again to eat some Korean barbecue with the whole group. And to really put an end to the evening, we went up to the sunset observatory again to have a nice view of the city by night.
Today we will leave our hotel in Daegu. But first, everybody could sleep in a little and have a nice breakfast before actually leaving at 13:00. We took the bus to our next destination, Haiensa Temple in the Gayasan National Park.
It was a nice bus ride with a lot of possibilities to see what beautiful nature South-Korea has to offer, especially when entering the national park. We arrived at Haiensa Temple for something really special, namely a temple stay.
After we arrived, we were gifted special clothing for usage in the temple. Then it was time for some information about Haiensa Temple, which etiquette to follow and a tour around the temple. Immediately after, it was time for dinner. A special Buddhist dinner in which it is not allowed to speak, and your plate should be entirely empty at the end.
After dinner, we were allowed to watch the Four Instruments Sound Meditation, in which, among others, a very heavy large bell and drum is used. The last activity of the day was making a prayer bead with 108 prostrations. These prostrations were done in the Buddhist way. Now we have finished the day with a self-made bead necklace, a relaxed body and mind, and some hurting knees. Time to get to bed early, as tomorrow we will wake up at 04:00!
We were sound asleep early yesterday evening, to awake this morning at 4:00. After a quick wash of the face, we put on our uniform and stepped out in a dark but very clear and starry night. We headed for the main temple and passed by the big instruments where they were drumming and sounding the bell to announce the morning. In the quiet morning, the sounds echoed across the mountains and the low rumbles filled the air. We continued to the main temple and quietly walked in to sit beside all the impressive monks in their flowing robes. Looking around, we were not the only ones with an early morning, seeing some monks yawning or closing their eyes.
The last ring of the bell faded, and the head monk started the morning chant, and after a bow, all the other monks chimed in. With their deep voices, the chant made quite the impression, while a calm chant their rhythm was quick and persistent. The chant continued with a series of full bows, which could be felt in the knees and upper legs due to the 54 bows done the night before during the making of the bead necklaces. Nevertheless, we followed the bowing of the ritual and, maybe due to the early morning, I felt a sense of calm with no thoughts bothering me at that moment. The morning chant came to an end, and as efficiently and quickly as possible, everyone left the temple. With a small group, we decided to stay near the main temple to sit under the now visible crescent moon to enjoy the peace and hear the further morning rituals of the monks.
The breakfast was at 6:05, which you needed to eat quickly. A big contrast to the calm nature of the whole temple. With our stomachs full, we started on a nature hike to see a Buddha carved out of a stone cliff, 2km further on the mountain. After all the bowing and kneeling, this was rather hard on the legs! But we managed, and with the morning sunlight seeping through the trees, the walk back down was a very meditative experience.
As a last activity at the temple, we were allowed to see the full collection of wooden printing boards with all Buddha’s teachings on them. A very impressive sight to see these wooden stamps preserved for more than 800 years. So perfectly preserved while almost stored in the open air due to big slotted windows in the wooden building. No mould or insects could be seen, and sometimes I thought I even got a whiff of freshly cut wood smell. It was an honour to be able to walk in such a sacred place and be introduced to the rituals of a big but, for me, almost unknown religion.
A quick nap on the bus later, we arrived at the science Museum of Daegu. The first impressions were that it was a ‘Nemo’ and more oriented towards children. While it certainly was, it still had some great exhibitions and a lot of demos and machines you could interact with. And who wouldn’t like to feel like a kid again to see big bowling balls rolling down a rollercoaster! A little tired due to the early morning, we still had a great time, and we were content taking the bus towards Busan, our new destination.
We went to Doosan Enerbility, part of the Doosan Group. Firstly, we got an explanation about their businesses units and how they make gas and steam turbines. Secondly, the forging process was shown. Here, one of the largest hydraulic presses was used to push metal into the right form. Thirdly, the manufacturing of gas turbines as well as steam turbines for nuclear plants were shown.
In the afternoon, we went to Pusan National University. Here we got an explanation about the research of the SWARM research group. This included foldable space antennas, phased arrays built with meta surfaces and EM absorber sheets. Secondly, there was a tour of their maker spaces, all the equipment was shown, including a massive amount of 3d printers. We concluded the day with a farewell dinner for Yang, who was leaving the group.
This morning was an early one for those who had not yet packed their suitcases. At 7:30 we were outside, checked out and waited for the bus in our business casual clothes. A few people quickly ate their breakfast while the baggage was loaded onto the bus. To our great delight, this bus had more legroom than yesterday’s bus.
An hour and a half later, we arrived at UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology). After a small coffee, we entered room E204, which we enjoyed a lot as it is also the room number of the Scintilla room in Twente. During the talk, we learned that this university is growing rapidly. They were founded in 2009 from a government-controlled institute. This makes them more accessible and progressive compared to the private universities in Korea. After some goodies, we were given a tour of the various labs located in the basements of the buildings. Screens displayed the number of people and safety hazards in the labs. The labs themselves were very clean and their nanolab appeared similar to ours.
After a very tasty traditional lunch, it was time to say goodbye and continue to our next visit: The Bulguksa temple. This temple was the first heritage site in Korea to gain a place on the UNESCO list. Many photos later, we boarded the bus again and went on our way to the airport. We arrived at there around 4 PM, much earlier than expected. But this gave us more than enough time to say a big goodbye to Yang. She was one of our supervisors this week, but would go back to the Netherlands instead of joining us on Jeju Island. By the time we got through security, we had enough time to scrape some food together.
Our flight was a lot shorter than the one Yang would have taken. After 50 minutes, only one eight of the time of the bus ride back from Seoraksan, the pilot landed the plane with Twente ‘lomp’ elegance. Our tour guide was already ready in the arrival hall with a nice E.T.S.V. Scintilla note pinned to a stick. But this was not as beautiful as the sign on our bus with E.T.S.V. Scintilla in rainbow letters. Our hotel rooms looked beautiful and after this long day it was time to test the pillows.
This morning we started with a slow served but tasty breakfast. Since it is our first full day on Jeju Island, a tour around some sites is planned, starting with the traditional Seongeup folk village. In this small village, some 600 people live in around 300 houses. The village itself is about 600 years old, with some of its houses being over 300 years of age. We got a tour from the 80-year-old village elder, who could tell us quite some about their lifestyle in relatively okay English. The main thing that we learned was that their gender roles are enormously unfair, with the married men having to do nothing and married women having to do all the work. After realising it is probably a good thing that the younger generations leave this lifestyle behind, we got some sales talk on tea and facial cream. Then we left for our next destination, further to the east side of the island.
The next set of destinations were a combination, starting with Gwangchigi Beach. This black volcanic sand beach had a great view of the next destination: Seongsan Ilchulbong meaning sunrise peak. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a dead volcano which erupted only 5000 years ago, which is quite young for a volcano. The short half-hour climb was really worth it, since it provided a great view of the ocean but also a large part of the island. Far in the distance, the outline of the central Hallasan Mountain was even visible. After making the trek back down again, it was time for some local cuisine, which was a bit too fishy for some.
The last stop of our tour was the Manjanggul Cave, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is one of multiple caves on the island formed through flowing lava. Due to being formed directly from the cooling rock, a lot of interesting structures could be seen, which have been preserved outstandingly even though it’s between 200 and 300 thousand years old. One significant structure is the 7.6 metre lava column, which is the largest in the world.
After finishing up the tour, we returned to our hotel for some quick dinner. We still had something planned for the evening: “the secret evening activity”. Since it is so secret, I won’t tell you any of how that went, so you should ask your favourite SPOCK7 member when they return.
On today’s planning, there is… nothing! Today it is Sunday, so we are having some time off on Jeju Island to gather some energy before heading to our final destination: Daejeon. Also, almost everyone is hungover from yesterday’s secret evening activity, so we would like to take it slow today.
Our day started between 9 and 10 AM with breakfast in the hotel, except for those who made it exceptionally late last night, their priority is more sleep. After breakfast, I can only assume that everyone’s morning consisted of taking a shower and/or a nap.
But we are not going to sit still today! According to the travel guide, there were several optional activities that could be attended to fill all this time. So several groups of studytour-goers gathered based on how ready they felt at the time and then took off to explore the rest of Jeju Island!
I left the hotel at about 13.30 and headed towards the Cheonjiyeon waterfall. A decent hike through the outskirts of Seogwipo helped me clear my hangover, and soon I was greeted with a beautiful sight. According to legend, a holy dragon lived in the basin of the waterfall, locals would pray to this dragon for rain. But my group was more busy with taking many photos of either nature or ourselves, I also gave a claw machine a try, but to no avail.
After this visit we took the bus to the Cheonjeyeon waterfall, yes this is a different name than Cheonjiyeon. However, on our way to the park we got distracted by a cute orange farm, so we gave it a quick visit. Unfortunately, we were greeted with closed doors at the waterfall park, since our delay caused us to reach the park at one minute after closing time. Luckily, our disappointment was diminished by a delicious Korean BBQ dinner nearby the waterfall.
After having the holiday weekend in Jeju it was time to head to Daejeon. This is the last city in which we will visit companies, research institutes and universities.
The morning started off with a big breakfast in the hotel, after which we quickly headed to the north of Jeju again. Since our flight was delayed by 15 minutes, we had some time to spare. The flight was, however, only the first part of our journey. Namely, we still had to get on a bus, train, and metro. Everything went well with the travel, but it was quite a squeeze to get everyone on the bus.
There was no planning for the evening, so the group split up for dinner and other activities. Some of these other activities consisted of visiting a spa and getting some drinks. Most people went back to the hotel early, since the next day had a busy schedule.
Today was our first day in Daejeon and our first good morning in our hotel, aptly named Good Morning Residence. We were served an American Style breakfast, which apparently includes cold chicken nuggets and a freshly microwaved omelet. If this is what classifies as a typical breakfast in the USA, I wish to issue a formal apology to the American people, as no one should be subject to such misery at 8AM. All jokes aside, the sandwiches were genuinely nice and for some a welcome departure from rice.
This Tuesday’s schedule would be mostly empty, including only a visit to the Daejeon National Science Museum, which was actually quite similar to the Daegu Science Museum we went to. It did include an exhibition on old radios, mostly old Philco branded dresser-sized units, with old tube amplifiers. I only spotted one Dutch creation among the collection, a Philips radio from the ’50s with ’local’ shortwave stations, such as Luxembourg and Berlin, labelled on the front. Other exhibitions included VR experiences of a futuristic, vaguely Martian, planet and a robot arm exhibition which threw basketballs. We also took a look at the Nature and Science hall, which housed a surprisingly large amount of fish in pots and many dinosaur statues, which is always nice.
After the National Science Museum, we paid a visit to the huge mall next to the museum, to get the full American Style Korean experience as it were. The mall had many fancy stores and luxurious brands and on top of the roof a park was created. Actually, Daejeon was the most American Style city we visited in South-Korea so far, with its square 8-lane road layout running through the center of the city. After exploring the city, I had the best Japanese noodles of the trip in a slightly more fancy restaurant than usual due to increased pocket money, whilst some of the group went to the movie theater.
The last educational days of the study trip have arrived. We have a busy day ahead of us with the Chungnam National University (CNU), the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), and the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT).
At 08:10 we took the bus to CNU, which was an exceptional luxurious vehicle that was heavily appreciated by everyone. We received a small general introduction and followed this up with a campus tour. This campus tour was not possible by walking due to the size of the campus full of cherry blossom trees. We ended the visit with receiving a small explanation from the professor Soon Gil Yoon in his laboratory about his work on PECVD.
We quickly went to KIER where we received a short lecture about the institute and the possibilities of energy storage in hydrogen. Then, we were allowed to see the testing environment of a fuel cell able to deliver electricity in the kilowatts. After this we had a wonderful lunch which was chicken soup! Very tasty!
The time went by quickly, and it was time for our last visit of the day, namely KRICT. Here we received a cute keychain and a tour around the facilities, in which we were allowed inside the clean room. Here, we were able to see a large roll-to-roll sputtering machine. After this we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and off the dinner we went. A traditional Korean meat dish named “bulgogi” was on the menu, and it was amazing. Tomorrow we will visit the prestigious university KAIST, stay tuned!
This morning we got an extra hour to sleep in or enjoy breakfast a bit longer. There was also some sad news however, since yesterday’s bus driver had an accident on his way back. Luckily, for us, a replacement bus was available. It was still a luxury bus with wide seats, but nevertheless a downgrade.
The trend of material science related visits was continued at KAIST. Namely, two students from this faculty gave a presentation with some information about the faculty and the currently running research projects. Examples of such projects are deposition of material from a syringe in a strong electric field to create thin tubular structures and a material that could generate a current using only a drop of water. After the presentation we got a quick tour of two of their labs.
The second visit of the day was to Twinny, which specialises in autonomous delivery robots. As per usual, the visit started with presentation. The contents were mainly focused on the different types of robots currently being produced/designed and a bit about the company itself. Then we got a demo that showed particularly well what separates twinny from other companies, namely that their robots are able to operate in small spaces and correct their path on the go. They did this by letting a robot drive through our group multiple times.
The evening activity was a candlelight concert, at which film music composed by Joe Hisaishi was played by a group of 4 violinists. Even though most people didn’t know most (if not all) of the songs, it was still a truly worthwhile experience.
Today was our final day in Daejeon, with the final company visit and the final supper. But before all that a welcome sight in the morning at breakfast, as the chicken nuggets were much warmer (maybe even 20 degrees above room temperature!). We took a tour bus headed north to the Maxon Motors headquarters in Korea situated in the hills between Daejeon and the Seoul metropolitan area.
Here another company presentation would tell us about how they were a leading company in several markets, with what I think was personally a better notebook than the ASM one we got earlier in the trip, however opinions on this subject differed among the group. The factory tour at Maxon was very interesting and a refreshing change of pace from the other tours we had, as we were shown around a relatively small scale and partially automated assembly line. Due to the custom drive solutions Maxon motors provides there are many different sizes of DC and BLDC motors in construction at all times leading to an enormous amount of plastic bins and boxes used for sorting. The automatic winding machine used to create the stators was very satisfying to look at, especially for someone who’s had the ‘pleasure’ of winding large inductors themselves. After the factory tour lunch was served in the company canteen, including bibimbap, side dishes and some sort of Korean spring rolls.
Now we headed for Incheon, to the Golden Tulip hotel close to Incheon Internation airport. We were greeted by the most fancy beds and showers of the whole trip, after which we headed for a fine dining restaurant located nearby. The food had a certain, as the french call it, ‘je ne sais quoi’, with which I mean the staff didn’t seem to understand much of what was going on. The next morning would follow the tune of the famous Swedish band Europe as the Final Countdown of this study tour would begin at dawn.
The last day in South Korea started with a nice buffet breakfast where we could choose to eat an eastern, a western breakfast or a combination of both styles. This last day everyone traveled in smaller groups, since some had a vacation before the study tour started, three groups went on vacation after the study tour and the main group just enjoyed the study tour and were ready to go home. The first group had to catch the plane around 10:00 while the last group left the country around 22:00, so the schedule for today differed a lot for each group. I was part of the group that took the last flight and we choose to spend the day at the spa. At the spa there was an infinity pool from which we could see the planes land at the airport. We ended the day with one last Korean BBQ before heading to the airport ourselves. By the time we landed at our destination the other groups had also safely arrived at their destinations to either enjoy their vacation or get back to work in the Netherlands.