ABOUT
Hello, I'm Thomas Knoepffler, a design technologist in Miami, Florida. I design physical objects and software tools that respond to the people and spaces around them, working with AI, sensors, and digital fabrication. My recent projects include a 3D-printed hydroponic planter, a desk lamp that senses posture, and a browser tool for building procedural 3D worlds.
I hold an MS in Design Technology from Cornell University and a BS in Integrated Design & Media from NYU, and before graduate school I worked in UI/UX design and product management at an early-stage startup. Outside of studio work I have mentored student designers and volunteered with local creative communities.
I'm currently looking for design technologist and prototyping roles in Miami, Florida, and I'm glad to hear from anyone about the work.
SKILLS
— Rhino 3D, Grasshopper, Blender
— Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma
— 3D Printing, Laser Cutting
— Arduino, Raspberry Pi
— HTML, CSS, JavaScript
— Python, C#
LINKS
Resume
LinkedIn
Instagram
GitHub
Email POSE LAMP
POSE LAMP
Cornell University, Cornell Tech
Product Studio, Fall 2025
— TECH 5900
COLLABORATORS
Rebecca Deng, Prashita Biswas, Madison Gamma, Rhia Singh
MY ROLE
Designer, Prototyper, Fabricator, Assembler, Developer, Researcher
DESCRIPTION
A desk lamp that reads the user’s ergonomic posture through their laptop camera and shifts its color gradient when they slouch. An ambient reminder to sit up that needs no buzz and no intrusive notification.
LINKS
GitHub
PROBLEM
Anyone who spends long hours at a computer knows the back pain and fatigue that come with slouching, and most of the products meant to help, from vibrating wearables to app notifications, interrupt the very work people are trying to do. Pose Lamp takes the opposite approach. Because it reads posture through the laptop camera that is already open, it needs no wearable and no alert; it simply changes color, slowly enough that noticing it feels like a thought rather than a command.
PROCESS
The project began broadly, with a survey of health and wellness problems and a competitive map of the products already addressing them. Interviews narrowed the field: back strain from prolonged sitting came up again and again. Of more than 100 concepts sketched in response, the lamp survived because it could deliver a cue without demanding attention. From there the team prototyped in rounds. Laser-cut models settled the form and how stably it sat on a desk, Wizard-of-Oz tests (a person changing the light by hand) showed how people responded before any code existed, and later rounds dealt with camera privacy and whether the hardware could actually be built.
HOW IT WORKS
Under the hood, a web app running ml5.js tracks the position of the shoulders and nose in the camera feed. When they drift, it sends a message over MQTT to an ESP32 inside the lamp, which fades a diffused NeoPixel strip through a color gradient. All of the pose detection happens locally in the browser, so no video ever leaves the machine. Of the nine laser-cut shells tested, the final one is the most compact and the most stable, and in testing people corrected their posture within seconds of the light changing, with a clear preference for the slow fade over anything abrupt.
NEXT STEPS
As a product, Pose Lamp would sell direct to consumers as a desk accessory, with health-conscious office workers as the first audience and an optional subscription for more detailed tracking. An app-only version could test demand before any hardware ships. The next feature on the list is a meeting mode that ties into Zoom. Beyond that, the same idea, a quiet ambient cue in place of an alarm, could carry over to other ergonomic habits, and the lamp would become the first in a small family of objects.