Description I have five different remotes to control the things in my living room. They transmit using infrared (TV+speakers), Bluetooth (Chromecast), and RF on/off keying (OOK) (fan+lights) I misplace at least one of these remotes almost every day. The goal of this project is to unify all of them into one central hub, which can then be controlled by any of several identical simpler remotes scattered throughout the house. The advantages of this type of setup include:

These little nRF24L01+ radios are awesome. They are available very cheap and provide a simple way to add fast packet-based wireless communications to a project. I’ve used them before on my LED strip audio visualizer and LED glasses. Extended range versions of these modules are available on amazon with a built-in LNA (low-noise amplifier) and PA (power amplifier). I’ve always had trouble getting these to work for me though. Looking around online it seems like I’m not the only one.

Description This is an attempt to build a simple confocal microscope based on a laser scanner made for laser light shows. It also integrates widefield imaging and a CMOS camera for easier sample alignment and focusing. A confocal microscope can achieve better detail and narrower depth of field than a conventional microscope by scanning a laser spot across a sample, and having the scattered light from the sample pass through a small pinhole after it is collected by the objective lens.