With our current situation with the Covid-19 virus affecting our lives, I can not spend so much time outside cycling as I normally do, as there are restrictions on how where to go. I do have other hobbies, one of them is doing programming and testing out new things with my Raspberry Pies, it gives me more time for fun tech projects. I also read what other people are doing with technology, I have put together a list of fun tech projects that you could have a go at.
Here is my list of fun projects that I have either worked on myself or I got tipped off about by other technology interested individuals.
Data Science Project
Being interested in climate change, I had a curiosity to find out if the pollution in my neighbourhood had gone down during the first week of coronavirus restrictions, I did a data project – you can read about it here the air I breathe
Jukebox
If you are into music, you may want to check out this project OpenAI’s Jukebox: A Generative Model for Music. A neural net that makes music, including rudimentary signing.
Raspberry Pi
I love to do projects using a Raspberry Pie, from the people at Balena, I got a few interesting projects to test out on my Raspberry Pie. You can try out any of these projects:
- Build an “LED Alerter” for your remote work office setup
- Check yourself for a fever with this DIY thermal scanner
- Put friends and loved ones on the big screen with this instant video call project
- Turn a Raspberry Pi into a Wi-Fi access point or repeater
Hardware Project
If you are into hardware-related projects, you may want to check out Node-RED which is a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs, and online services in new and interesting ways. Here are some projects you can do with Node-RED.
Refurbish an old PC
Do you have an old PC that you currently not using, for whatever reason you have to not use it anymore there are ways to refurbish the PC with a new operating system on it and make it more flexible to use? Here is a great way to get your old PC going with installing Android on your PC.
Low Code mobile and tablet developement
Want to do projects with your kids, creating a mobile game or a mobile app for your house MIT App Inventor is an intuitive, visual programming environment that allows everyone to build fully functional apps for smartphones and tablets.
Example of apps you could build:
- Heart Rate Monitor with Arduino/Genuino 101
- Mini Golf: Fling, TouchUp, TouchDown Gestures for App Inventor 2
AI Python Projects
Python is a great programming language. It is fairly easy to use, and you can do a lot of different things with very little coding; with Python, you can automate the boring stuff, create a calculator, mine Twitter data, build a blockchain, play PyGames to mention a few. Python is great for creating AI models, here are some examples of fun AI project
To move forward with AI in Python, take a look at PyTorch a Python deep learning framework, here are some resources:
- A Beginner-Friendly Guide to PyTorch and How it Works from Scratch
- Introduction to PyTorch for Deep Learning (Free Course)
Get kids involved in coding
The greatest thing you can help kids with is to get them involved in coding, the commuting language can be very confusing to kids.
Wrapping up
I have tried to list a few fun projects that you could get involved in at home If you feel that you have a project that you want me to add. Feel free to send me your projects by entering them in the comment box below.
Leave a Reply