Ceramics, Robotics, and more. An Update.

I really wish I were more consistent about posting here, but I wanted to pop back in with an update on what’s been going on.

This semester has been incredibly busy. I’m a sophomore now, which means I get to take classes that are more directly tied to my major. The workload and difficulty have definitely ramped up, but for the most part, I’ve been enjoying it. Verilog and C are hard, but that was expected. Stochastic Systems has been my toughest class so far. It is honestly incredible how you can model seemingly arbitrary processes. I do recognise there is a lot of estimation in the models we study, but there is so much these estimations still manage to capture. My professor is also so passionate about what he teaches. There have been multiple times he’s gone on tangents about how amazing it is to take raw data and see it fall into the shape of a standard normal – it is so refreshing to see. I didn’t technically need to take this class, and every week’s 10-hour problem set definitely makes me question why I did, but I’m glad I did.

On a more exciting note, I got accepted into a lab this semester! I’m working on programming Raspberry Pi-based robotic fish to exhibit swarm behavior using vision-based cues. The project focuses on using computer vision to classify and respond to colored LEDs, enabling the fish to coordinate and move like a real swarm. It’s incredible to see how algorithms and hardware come together to mimic natural behaviors.

This has been a huge learning curve for me—especially working with a large, pre-existing codebase written by others. It’s been a lot to figure out, but honestly, that’s part of what makes it so rewarding. I hope what I’ve worked on helps out those who come after me.

I’ve also been attending a lot of robotics seminars. Last week’s talk was about using actual muscles to create robots. People are doing such incredible things. It’s starting to feel like this is the direction I want to pursue—but time will tell.

This year, Princeton’s robotics club also started a school outreach program, and I’m one of the people who help lead it. We’ve partnered up with a local library, and another program, STEM to Stern, where we interact with middle-schoolers and tell them about our teams, run training sessions, and demos. We’ve made lightsabers, number-guessing games in Python, and more! We made these in our most recent session:

Most of us 19-21 year olds were very captivated by these little guys, so they naturally ended up being a huge hit with the middle schoolers. We went over how motors work, the basics of current and voltage, and how weight distribution affects how the bots move. I’m not including pictures from the session, as they feature minors, but I’m excited about the upcoming sessions and can’t wait to continue working with everyone!

I’m also part of the Pacbot team. It’s a competition team that makes a robot that runs around in a real-life maze and plays Pacman. It is a very well-rounded competition. The team works on path-finding and computer-vision algorithms and builds a bot from scratch to traverse the maze.

These are the pictures from last year:

I’ve been tasked with leading a team that builds a bot for the 2026 competition. The leads wanted to create a system that works on each bot for two years instead of one. I’ve been very out of my element, but there’s no better way of learning than being thrust into it, haha. We are moving towards a very micro-mouse-esque design, and I hope it works out. (UIUC, we are coming for you.)

I took a sculpture class this semester that explores a variety of mediums, starting with woodwork, then moving to sewing and projection, and finally metalwork. The critiques in this class have been pretty intense for me because I struggle to articulate why I like something. While I can appreciate art, I find it challenging to express exactly what about it evokes a particular emotion in me. I’m working on it, though.

The first assignment was a “Walking Assignment”- basically create any art that involves a walk. You could use materials you found on a walk, or your art could be a thought you had on the walk- very chill, very open-ended.

I made this stopmotion. Honestly, a little juvenile for a college class, but everybody seemed to be having fun with their assignments, so I went for it:

The next assignment was partnered: BOX:XOB. You and your partner had to each create a box that interacted with the others in some capacity. This is what we made:

The next assignment was a sewing and projection piece, where we had to create a sewn structure and project something interesting onto it. After experimenting with different fabrics, I found tulle to be an intriguing choice because it captures some light while letting a lot of it pass through. I ended up creating a large mobile with organic-shaped panels made of tulle, each supported by wireframes that I sewed together. The actual sculpture was a little blah, but the projection made up for that. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to take any photos or videos of the final piece—by the time I had the chance, the projectors had already been put away. Still, I’ll do my best to describe it.

For the projection, I used a very cute animation of changing seasons I found online. When presenting, I rotated the mobile so that the overlapping layers of differently colored tulle interacted with the animation. At one point, the projection showed a dark sky with stars, and the semi-transparency of the tulle made it look as though the stars were floating in midair. I fully am biased, but I thought it did look quite magical.

The last project involves metal forging. It is so satisfying just hammering the crap out of some metal beside a warm foundry in cold weather. This project is still underway, but I’ll post updates as they come!

Here are the things I made in the ceramics studio:

A foldable chess set.

Some cats.

This woman who holds flowers:

There are also a bunch of things I’ve been too lazy to glaze.

I’m currently working on a dinosaur and a 3D version of Dali’s Persistence of Memory:

I plan to make one clock that’s flat but based on the same design as one of these clocks. I’ll install a clockwork mechanism to make it functional. Hopefully, Maa will clear out a corner of the house to display these clocks.

I did a Radlab this semester too! Radlabs are a super chill student presentation series that a makerspace at Princeton hosts. The one last year was on upcycling electronics:

People made such cool things!

The Radlab this year was a bit more technical:

In all honesty, it ended up being a bit less engaging than the previous one. This session was more about staring at a screen with software that can be frustrating for newbies.

Outside of all this? TL;DR: Hosted a Diwali poker game, wore lights in my hair one night while going out, finally got soaked in the SPIA fountain, saw Philly, NYC, Boston, and North Carolina, flew a kite on the beach, rickrolled my TA three times using an Arduino in my ECE lab, and saw Delhi on electric bikes.

Now, just hoping finals wrap up without too much stress!