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A small milestone, but an exciting one—the Thanos “Servos” for my smart robotic hand are finally printed! When I designed the hand, I chose 1 mm wall thickness to keep the fingers lightweight and 1 cm spacing between the fingers so they could move freely without colliding. The design looked great on screen. Then came the first print. Most of the parts turned out beautifully, but once I started assembling them, I realized some of the moving joints were too tight. That’s the di

It finally happened!!!! After weeks of designing the schematic, routing traces, double-checking footprints, and refreshing the shipping status more times than I'd like to admit... my custom PCB is finally here! The first thing that caught my eye wasn't even the components, but was the purple solder mask. I absolutely love how it turned out. It's such a fun change from the typical green boards, and somehow it makes the whole project feel even more personal. And seeing my own C

Today I pushed the latest version of my ESP32-S3 multimedia hub project to GitHub. It includes the current firmware, project structure, and documentation so future development can be tracked more cleanly with version control. https://github.com/ceceliazhen/ESP32-S3_multimedia_hub One improvement I'd like to make in a future update is automatic IP address detection. Right now, the web interface requires manually updating the ESP32's IP address whenever it changes on the local

I spent most of the weekend convinced that I had broken my ESP32 project. The goal seemed simple enough: add MQTT communication so I could remotely control my ESP32-S3 multimedia player from my computer. I already had a TFT display showing images, an I2S speaker playing melodies, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a web interface. MQTT was supposed to be the next small upgrade. Instead, it turned into a debugging adventure. The first symptom was confusing. My ESP32 kept reporting: "Conn

This week I took a simple ESP32 screen project and turned it into something much more interactive: a tiny WiFi-controlled music player. The project starts with an ESP32-S3 connected to a 320×240 ST7789 display and an I2S speaker. When the board powers on, it displays a custom image, plays a welcome melody, and then connects to WiFi. Once connected, a web server allows me to control the music from my phone. One challenge was figuring out the correct hardware configuration. My

After successfully compiling and uploading code to my ESP32-S3 development board, I wanted to take the next step: replacing the default image with something personal. A blank screen is functional. A custom screen feels like a project. My goal was simple: display my own Cecelia's Protolab logo on the TFT screen. It sounded straightforward, but I quickly discovered that microcontrollers don't work with images the same way our computers do. The challenge wasn't creating the artw

This week, I started exploring an ESP32-S3 development kit with a TFT display and speaker module. My goal was simple: get the board running and start experimenting. Of course, it wasn't that simple. What began as a quick test turned into a deep dive into missing libraries, header files, project configurations, and compilation errors. Every time I solved one issue, another appeared. Instead of giving up, I kept digging until I understood the root cause of each problem. That's

Recently I upgraded one of my ESP32 robotics exercises in Wokwi by adding MQTT communication, a PCA9685 servo driver, and a small LED warning system. I originally thought it would be a fairly straightforward “remote servo control” project. It turned out to be much more chaotic than expected in a good way. The biggest problem was simple: MQTT did not work. The ESP32 connected to WiFi perfectly fine, but nothing appeared in the MQTT broker. The servo ignored commands, sensor da

At first, I thought this Wokwi robotics exercise would just be about remotely controlling a servo motor with an ESP32. But as I kept adding sensors, MQTT communication, and feedback logic, it slowly started feeling more like building a tiny robot nervous system. Using MQTT, I was able to send commands from my computer to the ESP32 while also receiving live sensor data back in real time. I also experimented with the MPU6050 motion sensor so the servo could automatically react

Lately, I’ve been slowly learning more about electronics and embedded systems through small robotics projects. One of the most exciting milestones for me was designing my very first ESP32 PCB in EDA. Before this, I mostly worked with sensors, mechanical design, and wiring prototypes by hand. PCB design always felt a little intimidating because there were so many small details to think about, such as power routing, capacitors, grounding, footprints, and component placement. Bu

Lately, I’ve been spending time learning embedded systems and electronics through small homework assignments and side projects. I explored things like Raspberry Pi Linux, ESP32 circuits, servo motor control, basic logic circuits, and simple Python image processing. What I enjoy most is seeing how hardware and software connect together. Sometimes one small wiring mistake or one missing symbol in code can stop everything from working — but fixing those problems has been part of

Lately, I’ve been exploring Onshape alongside my existing experience with PTC Creo, and it has been interesting to compare the two from a product development perspective. Coming from a more traditional CAD workflow in Creo, I’m curious how cloud-native CAD tools like Onshape may change the way engineering teams collaborate, iterate, and manage fast-moving robotics projects. While Creo is extremely powerful for detailed engineering and complex product development, Onshape intr

As I continue exploring robotics and embedded systems, I’ve been spending time working with the Arduino ecosystem and the ESP32 development board for a small smart coaster project. I haven't embedded the sensor into the coaster housing yet, but I am just testing with the electronics to make sure things will work with loads applied on the sensor. One thing I found interesting is how similar the coding structure feels between Arduino programming and standard C++. Since Arduino

I used to think soldering was something I could learn quickly from YouTube videos. After watching enough tutorials, I thought I understood the basics, until I actually started doing it myself. Once I began working on delicate applications like strain gages, thin PCBAs, and small electronic components, I realized getting a clean and reliable solder joint is much harder than it looks. Honestly, my solder beads used to be huge. I kept trying to make them look cleaner, but they n

I’ve always liked taking things apart to see how they work. And lately, that curiosity has slowly turned into a growing collection of small electromechanical projects in my proto lab. One week I’m experimenting with a hand-crank cable twister. Another week I’m trying to fit sensors and electronics into a smart coaster without making it look bulky. Most ideas start simple, but once I begin building, I quickly realize how many details are involved. What makes these projects mea