Project gallery


Our students have delighted us with a cornucopia of creative projects each quarter. This gallery shares a sampling of that awesomeness. What cool thing will YOU be inspired to create?

Below are two short highlight reels from the project demos.

Spring quarter 2017 (Raspberry Pi)

Fall quarter 2024 (Mango Pi)


Here are short descriptions of some projects from past years:

  • Noob cube
    • Graphical viewer for a 3D wireframe
  • Pi selfie mirror
    • Take a selfie with animations displayed on a mirror-monitor
  • Chess but cool
    • Chess board that can record & visualize moves on a screen (using Hall-effect sensors)
  • Threading system
    • Multi-threading system so Pi can simulate running code in parallel
  • Keyboard orchestra
    • Record/play music using keyboard
  • Sunlight lamp
    • Lamp that mirrors natural sunlight intensity throughout day
  • Drum hero
    • Electronic drumset with piezoelectric vibration sensors
  • SPI network with device-device communication
    • Communication between Pis (display received data, store to memory, run received code)
  • Fruit Ninja
    • arcade game controlled by user hand gestures (sonar sensors)
  • Theremins visualized
    • Translate time-of-flight distance to pitch and output sound and visualization
  • Synthetic music
    • Synthetic instrument using piezo sensors on fingers, and output sound and visualization
  • Light-up dress
    • Dress which lights up with electroluminescent wires when you move (based on gyroscope)
  • Etch-a-sketch
    • Takes input from two knobs, accelerometer, and push buttons: controls menu UI and paint program
  • ArduCAM library
    • A library to retrieve images from ArduCAM, along with an interactive control shell
  • Robo-Turtle
    • A robotic turtle with servo motors and ultrasonic sensor, controllable with an NES controller
  • Raspberry Pi GPU
    • An assembler which targets the Pi GPU and guide to using the GPU from bare metal
  • Intruder detection system
    • Detect motion using network of passive infrared sensors
  • DMX lighting console and receiver
    • User interface to set/read lighting controls
  • 2-player basketball arcade game
    • Sensors detects when ball goes into basket and which player to award point (by color of ball)
  • Sensor visualizer
    • Car dashboard-like visualization of MCP3008 ADC, including a GL library
  • Clappy bird
    • Arcade game controlled by sound
  • Finger-spelling recognition
    • Recognize letters spelled while wearing sensor-equipped glove
  • Walking weatherman
    • Wearable shirt with environment sensors and informational display via leds
  • Post-it printer
    • User paints picture on Pi which is then drawn on a Post-It using a pen controlled by stepper motors
  • Vintage boombox
    • Plays music through a refitted vintage radio case with LED visualization
  • LED leggings
    • Leggings with sewn-in LEDs that respond to movement of wearer
  • Magic organ
    • Multiple stops that shape frequency signature of sound akin to pipe organ
  • Gesture-controlled car
    • Car is wirelessly controlled via a glove outfitted with sensors
  • Text-a-sketch
    • Pi receives texted photo and drives stepper motors to dial a physical Etch-a-Sketch to replicate photo
  • PiCycle
    • Automatic brake and turn signals for your bike
  • Boba maker
    • Swipe your Stanford ID and receive your preferred beverage mixed to order
  • Gun of the sentry
    • Nerf gun that tracks and shoots at moving target
  • Pi-rat
    • Sensing and mobile robot that can autonomously solve a maze
  • Laser harp
    • Strings of made of light that you can pluck
  • POV sphere
    • Rotating strip of leds to create illusion of spherical image
  • Workout buddy
    • Wearable sensors to count reps at the gym
  • Dance steps arcade game
    • Step on pads in correct pattern/timing to win game
  • Lie detector
    • Biometric sensors evaluate truthfulness of speaker
  • Custom font
    • Draw letters on screen to create custom handwriting font
  • BattleDarts
    • Battleship game where shot is fired by throwing dart onto board
  • Midi stepper synth
    • Midi from piano keyboard is visualized on screen, drive stepper motors to sound notes of correct frequency
  • Bop-it game
    • Sensors to detect various actions
  • Lego printer
    • Print image via pick-and-place of lego pixels on grid board
  • Jelly bean sorter
    • Use color sensor and servo motors to sort jelly beans by color
  • Escalating challenge snooze
    • Each use of snooze alarm is harder to shut off
  • Gesture tetris
    • Game controlled via hand gestures
  • Zen garden
    • Trace patterns in sandbox by moving magnet via stepper motors
  • Drawing stylus
    • Track moving magnet atop field of analog Hall effect sensors and use as input device
  • Midi-controlled music box
    • Servo motors used to pluck tines and play midi input
  • Graphing calculator
    • Handheld with integrated LCD display, keypad, battery power, sd card boot
  • Firefighter guidance system
    • Wearable vest with IR/ToF sensors and haptic feedback to guide rescuer to trapped person
  • Laser communication
    • full-duplex transmit/receive, custom encoding
  • Mediation buddy
    • Lighted,moving flower that provides biofeedback on heart and breath rate
  • Beat saber arcade game
    • swipe in time to the music to score points
  • Music visualizer cube
    • analyze sound input in real-time and render as visual display on 8x8x8 LED cube