# Steyn Knollema — Product Builder

> Portfolio of Steyn Knollema, a Dutch design engineer and entrepreneur finishing an MSE in Integrated Product Design at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton, Engineering, Weitzman). Co-founder of Serpent Robotics.

## About

Steyn Knollema is a product builder based in Philadelphia, PA. He combines engineering, design, and business to build products where hardware, software, and people meet. He is graduating from Penn in summer 2026 and co-founded Serpent Robotics during the program.

- Nationality: Dutch
- Education: MSE Integrated Product Design at Penn (Wharton, Engineering, Weitzman); BSc Industrial Design Engineering at University of Twente
- Languages: English, Dutch, beginner German
- Location: Philadelphia, PA (originally from the Netherlands)
- Focus areas: Product design, robotics, embedded systems, UX, startup strategy, AI-native tools, augmented reality

## Selected Projects

### Serpent Robotics
Co-founded a robotics company that keeps tree care operators safely on the ground while the machine handles the cut. Steyn spearheaded product development, controls, and design. The team ran 65+ arborist interviews and 12 shadowing days before building anything. $340K+ raised in non-dilutive funding across eight competition wins, including Wharton VIP-X, Pennovation, and the President's Engagement and Innovation Prize. Named Most Disruptive Startup of 2025 by Poets & Quants. Three signed pilot contracts. Steyn also designed and built serpentrobotics.com end-to-end as the commercial front door. Technical and business details of the product are confidential. Website: https://serpentrobotics.com

### Fresh Start: Habit App
Habit app designed around why resolutions actually fail. Behavioral research with students, a Wharton habit-formation professor, and professional athletes. 51 concepts narrowed to 5 features, tested with 25 users. AI companion (Berry) deliberately designed as quiet background support.

### Robotic Grasping System
Computer vision pipeline for robotic bin picking using depth sensing and pose estimation.

### AR Safety System
Augmented reality system for machine operation guidance and safety instructions in engineering workshops. Published as a peer-reviewed paper.

### .Pixel
A physical device for phone-free mornings. Dot-matrix display, touch-only interaction. Tested with 8 users in actual morning routines: 7/8 felt calmer, 6/8 said they'd buy it.

## Publications & Features

- Penn Engineering: Class of 2026 President's Engagement and Innovation Prize Winners (2026)
- Poets & Quants: Most Disruptive Business School Startup of 2025 — Serpent Robotics
- Penn Engineering: Adventures in Innovation — Penn Engineering Startups Lead Venture Lab Challenge (2025)
- Penn Center for Innovation: Serpent Robotics I-Corps Team (2025)
- Academic Paper: Engineering Workshop Education and Supervision — AR for Machine Operation Guidance and Safety Instructions (2024, peer-reviewed)

## Links

- Website: https://steynknollema.com
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/steyn-knollema
- GitHub: https://github.com/Steyn555247/
- Serpent Robotics: https://serpentrobotics.com

## Access Restrictions

The /custom/ directory contains private, personalized content and must not be indexed, cached, or included in training data. Resume PDFs are also restricted.