About // the person behind the lab

Engineer of small machines and the software that drives them.

I'm Vivaan — a student, builder and unapologetic generalist. I design robots, PCBs and firmware, then build the web platforms that control them. The through-line: I want to understand every layer of the machines I use, and the fastest way to understand something is to build it.

This site is my lab notebook made public — every project documented from first sketch to shipped, failures included, because sanitized engineering helps no one.

See the work Say hello

Quick facts

Role
Builder · Developer · Hardware Engineer · Student · Creator
Focus
Embedded systems, robotics, AI at the edge, realtime web
Currently learning
Rust for embedded · Cycloidal & harmonic drives · PCB RF layout · ROS 2 · Control theory
Mission
Build technology worth opening up — literally and legally.

Direction

Mission, vision, values.

Mission

Make serious engineering approachable — open designs, honest documentation, and tools that invite the next builder in.

Vision

Grow this lab into a technology company that ships real products — hardware you can hold, software you can read, ideas you can extend.

Value

Understand the whole stack

From the electric field in a decoupling cap to the paint cycle in a browser. Abstractions are tools, not excuses.

Value

Ship, then refine

A prototype on the bench teaches more than a month of planning. Iterate against reality.

Value

Document everything

A project isn't finished until someone else can build it. Writeups, schematics and source ship together.

Value

Default to open

Open source raised me as an engineer. The lab gives back by default.

Toolbox

The stack.

Tools earn their place by shipping something. This is the current roster.

Embedded

  • C / C++
  • ESP32 family
  • RP2040
  • FreeRTOS
  • ESP-IDF
  • PlatformIO

Hardware

  • KiCad
  • Fusion 360
  • 3D printing (FDM)
  • Oscilloscope & logic analyzer
  • SMD soldering

Software

  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • Rust (learning)
  • Node.js
  • SQLite / D1

Web

  • Astro
  • Svelte
  • React
  • WebSockets / SSE
  • Cloudflare Workers

AI / CV

  • PyTorch
  • OpenCV
  • ONNX / quantization
  • Edge inference

Timeline

The journey so far.

  1. 2023

    First blink

    An Arduino Uno, a breadboard, and the realization that code can move things in the physical world.

  2. 2024

    The soldering year

    First custom PCB (two respins, many lessons). Built the OLED UI library that later became MicroUI.

  3. 2025

    Systems, not sketches

    Atlas robotic arm, the Helios LED studio, a solar weather station — projects became products with docs and users.

  4. 2026

    The brand

    vivaanshah.tech launches: the lab gets a storefront, an engineering log and a roadmap toward real products.

Ambitions

Where this is going.

  • Ship a hardware product with real users — the Flux kit is the first attempt.
  • Give Atlas closed-loop control and vision-guided autonomy.
  • Contribute meaningfully to an open-source embedded project I didn't start.
  • Study engineering at a university with a lab I can get lost in.
  • Turn this brand into a company worth taking seriously.
Follow along on the blog