Misc. Maker Projects

DIY spinnaker on RC sailboat
Added a downwind sail, remotely controlled (hoisting and trimming). Caused the boat to sink in the Luxembourg garden, giving me a unique opportunity to wade into the famous fountain facing the French senate.

DIY self-sailing boat
Controlled by my phone (onboard, eek) connected via a IOIO board to the servomotors and DIY Hall effect wind sensors.
Automatic heading control (autopilot) worked. Waypoint navigation not quite.

(sort of) Flying a remote-controlled plane with the Peyton Hall grad students
Initial goal: photogrammetric reconstruction of landscape from onboard images.
Actual result: total flight time of 20min, longest flight of 1min before crash ;)

An amateur documentary and love letter to my hummingbird neighbors :)
Managed to measure bird weight, amount of fluid drunk. Captured bird hover, split tongue, shower, mating ritual.

DIY wooden toddler chair
Designed and built for my daughter :)
Managed to align the grain wrong on every single panel, but successful nonetheless.

Cyberdeck based on the Panasonic TR-545 (in progress)
This old TV is ten years older than me. The model appeared in the original Blade Runner movie. This mod is completely reversible and turns it into a "portable" computer.