Build logs, debugging stories, and things I wish someone told me earlier. I write these because the gap between 'I want to build that' and 'I actually built that' is filled with mistakes most people never talk about.
This is where I keep the build notes — the plans that broke, the fixes that worked, and the things I had to unlearn. Newest first. The fixes stay in the notes on purpose: most build stories stop at the result, and the interesting part is whatever was wrong with the first idea.
I started by changing code until something worked. After a fried board, a missing I2C device, and strange servo channels, I learned a better way to solve: isolate one problem, test one assumption, and collect evidence before changing anything.
I started with a LEGO grabber that could not bend. A few years later, I was building my own Wi-Fi-controlled robotic arm, writing the firmware and web controller, and learning that the hardest part of robotics is often everything between "it moves" and "it works well."
Eight slides and a prototype with live CO₂ readings. What I learned about explaining a technical project without exaggerating what my first prototype actually proved.
My three SCD41 sensors were not responding reliably through the I²C multiplexer. The channel-mask calculation was correct, but my code was not consistently selecting the right channel before sensor reads. A story about testing assumptions, the Serial Monitor, and why sleep matters.
I wanted to compress cabin air directly, but compression alone would not separate out CO₂. The numbers made me rethink the design: capture CO₂ first, then consider compressing a concentrated stream. That is where AERO-LITE changed direction.