Hi, I’m Pranav Maheshwaran. Questionable Design Choices is my notebook for electronics, embedded systems, robotics, FPGA work, RF experiments, and the practical debugging that happens between idea and working build.
- I’m a student at LASA High School in Austin.
- I like things I can wire, probe, and break. Most projects start with “how does that actually work?” and end with me staring at an oscilloscope trace at an hour I shouldn’t be awake.
- I’ve built a 16-bit processor from logic gates, turned a 3D printer into a drawing machine, and strapped an IMU to a recurve bow so it could tell me what my shoulder was doing wrong.
- A phone-based hand-tremor detector I built from its gyroscope and accelerometer earned me first place in division at the Austin Energy Regional Science Festival. From there it went on to the Texas Science & Engineering Fair, where it won 2nd place and the Pfizer Biomedical Award, and got me named one of the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (read the Parkinson Tremor Detection writeup).
- It all started with LEGO robots. Since then, robotics has taught me that a neat, serviceable wiring harness matters as much as clever code.
- Lately I’m drawn to systems that have to keep working when conditions get ugly: drones in jammed radio environments, satellites fighting ionospheric noise, and a sonar prototype that keeps teaching me patience.
- You can find my code on GitHub (Talosic).
- I teach robotics to newer students. Team Captain and Lead Engineer at FTC - Team Eureka #23881, Electrical lead at Howdybots FRC #6377
Email me at [email protected]