The pursuit of safety in educational environments admits zero compromise. The iteration history of our products is, in essence, a history of deepening safety design for complex use cases, especially teaching scenarios.

Early products like the EM-Smart Nova and Basic models featured open or modular designs. While flexible, a smart, fully enclosed, and robust safety environment is paramount when facing groups of curious students. Therefore, in the EM-Smart Dual SE, Dual 2, and Axi series, we have fully adopted an integrated protective cover design. This is not merely a structural innovation but the creation of a "safety pod" with built-in multiple sensors, safety interlocks, and real-time status monitoring, completely isolating potential risks like light, heat, and smoke. This allows teachers to focus on guiding creativity without worrying about hazards.

Meanwhile, the dual-laser source collaborative platform represented by the EM-Smart Dual 2 (integrating a 30W MOPA fiber laser and a 20W diode laser) is itself a vivid introductory lesson in "Materials Science and Modern Manufacturing." On a single platform, students can explore everything from cutting and engraving wood and acrylic to deep engraving and oxidation coloring on stainless steel, and even precision marking on plastics. One device connects the complete learning path from basic skill training to interdisciplinary advanced project research.

Professor Benjamin Lemmer's "Real-World Test"

Our invitation for collaboration was soon answered by Professor Benjamin Lemmer, Head of Computer Science at the Gymnasium im Schloss Wolfenbüttel (Wolfenbüttel Castle Grammar School). His school is a prime example of putting innovative educational ideology into practice: it holds the official "STEM-Friendly School" certification, and its student teams have repeatedly achieved top honors in premier competitions like the RoboCup European Championship.

Particularly important is Prof. Lemmer's active role in organizing the nationwide German maker education project "Make Your School"—a project that guides students to use digital technology to solve real problems within their schools through hackathons and similar formats.

This aligns perfectly with EM-Smart's vision of "connecting ideas with realization." We provided an EM-Smart Dual 2, and Prof. Lemmer promised to commence a long-term documentation titled "Make 'EM smart" on his blog from a completely independent and critical perspective. His opening words set the invaluable tone for our collaboration:

"It's a bit like Christmas when a new tool arrives... But this isn't just a new device—it marks the start of an exciting long-term cooperation and a genuine examination."

Said Prof. Lemmer in his story with EM-Smart Dual 2. He clearly articulated the unique principle of this collaboration, which is the part we value most:

"The core of this is: The goal is not to promote a device, but to authentically and critically examine how a modern laser cutter can enrich school life—both in preparing teaching materials and in direct use with students. My goal is to develop genuine use cases and share my experiences—the good and the bad—honestly with you."

This spirit of "real-world testing" is precisely what we were seeking. We did not need an endorsement, but rather someone like him to subject the device to stress testing in real and complex educational projects like the "Make Your School" hackathons, the robotics team workshop, or the AI Climate Box project. His core concerns—"safety in teaching" and "educational value-added beyond simple cutting"—directly address the critical challenges in adapting industrial equipment for education.

For us, Prof. Lemmer is not merely a reviewer; he is our "Chief Scenario Co-Creation Officer" embedded in the heart of education. He plans to publicly document the entire process—from unboxing and installation to training students and integrating it into specific courses and projects—while soliciting testing ideas from educators worldwide. This process itself is an excellent case study in Project-Based Learning (PBL). His practical feedback, whether on software adaptability for teaching, workflow optimization, or safety protocols for teenage beginners, has become the most direct and valuable input for our product iteration.

From Providing Tools to Empowering the Educational Ecosystem

The successful collaboration with Prof. Lemmer has illuminated a clear path for us: by providing safe, reliable, and open professional-grade desktop manufacturing tools, we can become an indispensable enabler in STEM education, maker education, and forward-looking vocational training.

Our vision has therefore become more concrete:

1. Deep Integration into Educational Systems: Based on co-creation experiences with frontline educators, we will develop supporting curriculum modules, safety operation certification systems, and project resource libraries to lower the barrier to teaching advanced manufacturing technology.
2. Empowering Educational Innovation with Technology: We will continue to explore integrating our devices with technologies like AI and IoT, supporting the prototyping of interdisciplinary frontier projects like the "AI Climate Box," giving students' imagination a more solid platform for realization.
3. Building a Global Community of Educators: We will fully support more genuine co-creation projects like "Make 'EM smart," pooling the wisdom of educators worldwide to collectively shape the future of manufacturing education.

Conclusion

From serving individual makers to entering the maker spaces within a German castle school, EM-Smart's journey has always been about "empowerment." We firmly believe that the most exceptional tools are those that can ignite the user's own potential and grow alongside them.

We sincerely thank Professor Benjamin Lemmer for his rigor, enthusiasm, and practical spirit. His story exemplifies the core pursuit of contemporary educators: not to impart knowledge, but to build scaffolding for students to explore the world. EM-Smart is honored to be a solid part of that scaffolding. We look forward to joining hands with more educational pioneers like him globally to continue this great conversation about authenticity, trust, and co-creation.