Status: 30.08.2024 22:07
If you follow Sandra Drolshagen’s account “missyminzi” on Instagram, you’ll see lots of fluffy Pomeranians. In her other job, she’s an award-winning scientist. And that fits together, says the woman from Oldenburg.
Drolshagen is sitting on her living room carpet wearing a top and shorts, surrounded by six white fur balls, and she has a brown one in her arms. “Murphy has cerebellar dysplasia and can’t walk properly because of it. He waited a year for a home before he came to us,” says the 30-year-old, stroking the Pomeranian’s brown fur.
Scientist goes viral with some videos
Sandra Drolshagen posts videos three times a week and in her stories she reports every day about her everyday life with the dogs.
The story of her seven Pomeranians moves many people. She regularly posts videos about her life with her boyfriend Andre and the dogs on Instagram; her account “missyminzi” has almost 335,000 followers. “Our videos can’t be particularly long,” she admits with a smile, “the dogs can’t concentrate for that long.” Some videos have hundreds of thousands of likes.
Doctor and science award winner
If you scroll through her account, you will see a picture of her with a doctoral hat among all the fluffy dogs. Drolshagen has another job besides her animals. She recently even received the Helene Lange Prize for young female scientists, worth 15,000 euros, for her doctoral thesis in robotics.
Not everyone in the faculty knows her Instagram account
This humanoid robot in a test laboratory at OFFIS can track people with its eyes and head.
“I don’t immediately tell my colleagues that I post dog videos on Instagram,” she says. Because at first glance, it doesn’t seem to fit with her work at Oldenburg’s OFFIS, a research institute for computer science. But it was also the dogs that brought her to this field.
Her dog introduced her to robotics
Drolshagen, who comes from a family of physicists, originally studied astrophysics. In a robotics seminar, she asked her lecturer if she could use his 3D printer. Her dog had just lost a leg. She wanted to make a prosthesis. Euthanizing him – as suggested by the vet – was out of the question for her. “Even dogs with disabilities can lead a good life,” she was sure. After many attempts, her dog got the prosthetic leg and she found a new passion – robotics.
Your mission: helping people with disabilities
Puppy Lio is deaf. Sandra Drolshagen tries to integrate him using sign language.
For her award-winning doctoral thesis, she programmed a robotic arm that supports people with disabilities in certain tasks by pointing. “It’s great that my work has meaning. That I’m not just looking at the stars, but that people can have a better life through my work.” And that, in turn, is not so different from her Instagram account, she thinks.
A heart for dogs with disabilities
She also wants to help dogs with disabilities there and raise awareness for them. She never expected that the account she started nine years ago would attract so much attention. She could now make a good living from it. “But Instagram wouldn’t really take up too much of my mental capacity and science is a good change.”
Ambassador for Natural Sciences
Her next project at OFFIS is to use a robot that looks like a human to get girls and young women interested in science. She also tries to do this on Instagram from time to time. The chances are good: most of her followers are young women.
More information
The Dresden Symphony Orchestra is starting the experiment with a work that no human being can conduct. (16.08.2024) more
A robot is supposed to keep the residents of a facility for people with disabilities company. Does it work? (13.05.2024) more
The 29-year-old has developed an assistance system for physically impaired people. The prize was awarded on Thursday in Oldenburg. (April 12, 2024) more
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Hello Lower Saxony | 30.08.2024 | 19:30
