I Built a Hologram Projector
+ a little aside about e/acc
I wrote this 8 months ago but am only posting it now xD
More substack & updates to come weekly again if you want to tune in! enjoy x
This was my first real stint at “building something” at university.
I suggested the idea of building a hologram projector for our class’s final project to my Engineering 101 team cause I saw something similar in a youtube video once that used Pepper’s Ghost’s Law. They agreed, and so we spent 12 weeks figuring out how to design and build this thing from scratch. During this time, I learned how to laser cut, CAD design, build circuits, solder, and use a 3D-printer.
I worked on this class project alongside 3 other girls (hello maiya, fatima, and alexia!), and throughout the semester, our hands constantly smelled like wood, our jackets were always splattered with paint, and we ended up inhaling soldering fumes (because for some reason none of the fume-filters worked) so often that I pray it didn’t affect our lungs indefinitely.
After two months of classwork… I present to you, our hologram projector:
Cute, isn’t it? 🤩 One thing I’ve learned is that it’s much easier to write about feats of engineering than it is to actually do it. This was, by all means, a very simple project. But we still spent hours racking our head over the code when trying to get the camera to sense color and change the LED lights according to that color. We were also constantly changing the dimensions, adding new pieces, and basically building the track right in front of the train. The best TA engineer we had during the in-class work sessions was still having trouble helping us debug and we spent so many days trying to troubleshoot all the different circuit & hardware problems that came up.
The best part though? If someone asked me to build this again, I reckon that it could be finished in a day or two max. And I guess, that’s how you learn.
That said, now, when people talk about e/acc now or talk about “technological optimism”, I’ve added a mental filter that adds some colour to the mental weight with which I treat their perspective. I call it the Pangloss filter:
Does the person making the claim have significant hands-on experience conducting real-world engineering or scientific projects?
Overall though, it was a good experience. And out of the 50+ groups in engineering 101 who built their own projects, we ended up being one of the top teams & were also one of the few who qualified for nyu’s RAD (rapid assembly & design) showcase which was fun.
Anyways, that’s all for this week,
Mia
P.S. if you haven’t read Candide by Voltaire yet, I wholly recommend and encourage you to do so! It’s hilarious and grotesque. I loved it :)
🤍 extra pics🤍
