Some smaller projects that aren't big enough to have an entire page
Lithophane Lamp - 10/8/2026
By varying the thickness of the sides the lamp lets a varying amount of light through, creating a surprisingly realistic image.
This was made in a few days as a birthday gift for my dad following this videos instructions. To break it down here, I found four photos that worked, cropped them to be square, and used the website itslitho.com to convert the photos into stls. Then, I used a simple LED strip to illuminate the lamp.
PWM Motor Controller - 9/27/2026
The most popular motor used in FRC is the Kraken BLDC motors. The motor controller supports both CAN and PWM, but using PWM means there isn't any programming that needs to be done, making it extremely useful for prototyping.
I didn't want to buy anything extra so I used switches I had on hand to control it. Toggling the ON switch allows it to move, toggling the + makes it go faster in the clockwise direction, toggling the - makes it go faster in the counterclockwise direction. Toggling OFF while the motor is moving will initiate a ramp down to avoid damaging the motor.
The code uses the servo library for Arduino, specifically the writeMicroseconds() function from it. The rise fall period for full reverse being 1.0 ms, for full forward being 2.0 ms, and 1.5 ms being neutral. Written using the servo library, neutral would look like: writeMicroseconds(1500).
I do intend on making a better version capable of controlling two motors using potentiometers before the robotics season starts.
Code (Download)
For more information visit CTR's website here
3 Wheel Omni Drive - 5/18/2025
By changing the velocities of the three wheels the robot is able to move in any direction while rotating, regardless of orientation, similar to my future project, the swerve drive. This project introduced me to Arduino, teaching me how to use C++, vector math, and wiring
Although a good first project, it had many issues: the motors were imprecise, the battery pack was large and clunky, and the wiring was very messy.
