I started out this semester working with Kishore on stereographic projection spheres. I had a little bit of 3d printing experience going into the project, but learning blender to make the stl models ended up being a fair challenge.
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_7273.jpeg)
For our second project, Tia showed me how her group had made kaleidoscopes.
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-4-872x1024.jpeg)
After spending a decent amount of time in the makerspace printing room (which also happens to house the laser cutters), I started thinking about what new projects I could do to use the cutters. Kaeshav had some experience using them, so I partnered with him and we worked on 3d representations of the mandelbrot set and julia sets made by stacking layers of cut wood.
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3113-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-05-105223.png)
For my next project, I partnered with Ambika and Margaret to take a look at some differential geometry, particularly Gaussian curvature. We learned about the Theorema Egregium and modeled the curvature on a plaster cast of my hand.
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/curvaturehand.png)
For my last project, I worked with Mathus on an audio-visual lights show. We wanted to make a strip of neopixels (individually addressable rgb lights) react to the output of music playing from a computer. We learned about fast Fourier transforms and used them to get the useful frequencies from the music playing to make a cool light pattern. That information was then sent over wifi to a raspberry pi pico which controlled the light strip.
![](https://mathandmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MathusAdam_Arduino.png)
By the end of the semester, I felt comfortable using the 3d printer and the laser cutter. I also have a much better understanding of how to 3d model in blender. I learned a ton about electronics (particularly micro controllers) in my light show project.
I have a few left over boards, and so this summer I’m planning to make a fully automated plant watering system. The raspberry pi can host a web server, so I want to be able to remotely control the settings of the plant waterer and check its status online.
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