Ulrich Norbisrath (ulno)
ulno – You will know.
Distributed Systems & Edge Computing · HSBI Campus Gütersloh
Educator · Mentor · Researcher · Inventor · Maker · Artist
Stations
- Aachen — RWTH: PhD on Smart Home & Ubiquitous Computing
- Tartu — Distributed Systems: postdoc → Associate Professor; Tartu Hackerspace
- Kazakhstan — Assistant Professor, Nazarbayev University; CTO at Biometry Inc.
- Austria — FH Upper Austria, Linz · Campus Hagenberg: Professor, Mobile Computing; taught IoT
- Indonesia & Singapore — William Hooi, ESPresso Lite -> IoT teaching, IoTempower
- USA — Adjunct Professor, George Mason University; IoT in the Makerspace
- Brazil — first ambassador of the Caninos Loucos “Labrador” open-hardware SBC
- Gütersloh — Distributed & Edge Computing at HSBI
… to find the bridge between theory, scalable software, and real hardware.
Digital sovereignty through distributed systems
Own your systems, hardware, and data — instead of renting them from monopolies.
- Autonomy — resilient architectures without cloud lock-in
- Openness — open-source software and open hardware
- Maker mentality — learning on the living prototype
- Edge Computing & IoT — local processing, full data sovereignty
- Digital twins — XR focus but also “classic” simulations
Teaching — challenge-based & hands-on
- Real problems instead of toy examples
- Learning by building — hardware from week one
- Open, interactive classes — transparent scripts, repositories, videos
- Teaching as research — digital agency & sovereignty, international collaboration (IoTempower, ENLIGHT)
- Failure = exploration — key as AI rewrites teaching
- Vocational, hands-on — natural at a university of applied sciences like HSBI
Classes I teach
- Winter: Networking and IoT Solutions · Sensors and Actuators · Databases (fully redesigned)
- Summer: MCU Programming — German (practice-integrated) & English (for internationals), same material · IT Security (two classes, in design)
- Maybe teach again: building automation · operating systems (ESP-based) · C++ intro
Connecting at HSBI and especially on Campus Gütersloh
- Industrie 4.0 in OWL — edge solutions for regional machine and plant engineering
- Practice-integrated teaching — real company challenges in student projects
- Interdisciplinary — interfaces to mechatronics, business, and design
Goal: make Campus Gütersloh a lighthouse for hands-on digitalization.
Resources
Open ecosystems
IoTempower — open-source framework for fast, maintainable IoT & edge development. IoTempire — international community for open education, makerspaces, and do-it-together culture.
Selected publications & recognition
- Repurposing E-Waste Smartphones as Tiny Data Centers — IEEE Pervasive Computing, 2025
- Putting the S back into IoT — invited tutorial, DEBS 2024
- ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Award 2024 — nominated IoT course, University of Tartu
- IoT Educational Framework Case Study — JEET, 2024
Let’s shape it together
I look forward to the dialogue.
Ulrich Norbisrath · HSBI · Campus Gütersloh