HSE University’s Pavilion at VK Fest: Sending Messages to Space and Exploring Virtual Worlds
On July 19 and 20, 2025, Russia’s largest youth festival, VK Fest, took place at the Luzhniki stadium. HSE University presented its advanced developments, including a prototype for the CubeSX-HSE satellite and hi-tech games powered by AI. Everyone could participate in the ‘Human or AI’ quiz or attend workshops on spacecraft assembly and game design basics.
HSE University has been participating in the large-scale VKontakte festival for several years. This year’s event was held not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in Kazan, Sirius, and Chelyabinsk. Each city had its own entertainment programme with quizzes, workshops, performances, lectures, and shows.
HSE University Is out of This World
At the Moscow VK Fest, the team game ‘Smile Detector’ was held at the HSE University pavilion. Participants tried their best not to laugh while watching videos. A special neural network, assisted by several cameras, recorded even the slightest smile. This technology was developed by HSE students for the Big Show filming.
Guests were also invited to send messages to space.
‘We have already launched four satellites and are currently operating one in orbit,’ said Dmitrii Abrameshin, a senior engineer at HSE University’s Laboratory of Space Vehicles and Systems’ Functional Safety. ‘The festival presents not only a model of a fully functional spacecraft, but also developments from our laboratory. For instance, a web application allows students and schoolchildren of our IT classes to build their own satellites, programme them, and learn how to operate them.’
Anyone could create a prototype of a 1U CubeSat using 3D printing at VK Fest. As Dmitrii Abrameshin explained, ‘It looks like a pencil holder, but in fact, it is a satellite model. MEMS (microelectromechanical system) technology is being actively developed, and everything is becoming smaller. The lower the weight, the cheaper the launch cost.’
Study and Play
Ksenia Totrova, a public relations specialist at HSE Lyceum, presented the new Lyceum Online programme at the festival. She said, ‘We have a small game zone here. Students and their parents can have some fun during the summer holidays while learning more about the possibility of studying remotely with us. This year, we have launched three new courses for admission to the tenth grade—Design, Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, as well as Economics and Mathematics.’
Another interesting zone at the university’s pavilion was organised by the HSE Art and Design School. ‘We have a VR exhibition area where we showcase our students’ projects, most of which are from the first year of our Game Graphics programme,’ said Eleonora Ushakova, a teacher at the Art and Design School. ‘Everything was created by students in just two to three months. We are very proud of their work and that’s why we decided to exhibit it at the festival.’ The school also offers workshops where students can learn how to create visual scenes using cubes, giving them an opportunity to try their hand at game design as level designers.’
For the third year in a row, the student-run indie studio, Bear Head Studio, has been exhibiting at VK Fest with the workshop ‘Game Engineering and Interactive Systems.’ ‘We present the modular gaming engine, Claw Engine, which was created at HSE University in 2024. Currently, we have released the third version of it. Guests are invited to play a demo of a game built on this engine. They can interact with the buttons and change various elements in the demo, bringing their own ideas to the experience. We also present our signature game, Fairypunk, which was developed in collaboration with the HSE Art and Design School. Last year, this game won the audience award at VK Play Laboratory,’ said Ilya Semichasnov, director of HSE University’s Project Management Centre.
Guests at the HSE University pavilion shared their impressions.
Irina Chindina
— I’m from Voronezh, and my family and I travelled specifically for these two days at VK Fest. My eldest daughter was the one to plan this trip because she loves all the artists and bloggers who perform at the event. We were looking forward to it all year and even saved up money in a piggy bank throughout the year in order to buy three tickets. Everything at the festival was interesting. At the HSE University pavilion, I participated in a challenge, where I watched some funny videos and had to try not to laugh. I completed the task and received a keychain as a reward for my efforts!
Vladimir Potapov
— I graduated from School No. 2030 and this year I am applying for the bachelor’s programme in Advertising and Public Relations at HSE University. At the university’s pavilion, we had the opportunity to send a message to space. We scanned a QR code to create a message that would be received by the HSE University’s satellite. We also successfully completed a task where we weren’t allowed to laugh and were rewarded with stickers for subscribing to our school’s Telegram channel.
Polina Frolova
— This is my first time at the festival and I’m having a wonderful time. I had the chance to immerse myself in virtual reality and watch the students make graphics. I was fascinated by every detail of their work. They managed to create an interesting and unusual world.