Folder 04 · random experiments
the drawer of things that aren't the main thing. yet.
Health tech is the main thread, but it was never the only one. Here are the side builds I'm working on, and the earlier experiments that taught me most of what I know about shipping things, usually by failing first.
Current, smaller, or personal. Each one has a full write-up.
2016 to now. Prototypes, communities and detours, with what each one taught me.
Leaving Bamenda during the Anglophone crisis and discovering that technology can be built anywhere.
Built: Self-taught foundational computer science projects and early HTML/CSS prototypes.
Learned: Geographic and political constraints do not disqualify you from engineering solutions; they define the real specifications.
The full chapter →Building a community of hundreds of curious minds and moving experiments from the living room to MAST.
Built: Innovative Engineering community network (2,000+ Facebook, 90+ WhatsApp) and physical MAST experiment workspace.
Learned: Intellectual community accelerates learning faster than solitary study. When young people have an outlet to ask hard questions, they start building.
The full chapter →Writing computer science textbooks and confronting the harsh truth between building software and user adoption.
Built: Computer Science & ICT educational books (~30 copies sold) and the Bluecube examination revision web portal.
Learned: Code is only 20% of a solution. Distribution, accessibility, user habits, and business models dictate whether software lives or dies.
The full chapter →
Testing physical aerodynamics and remote-controlled aircraft fabrication.
Built: Experimental remote-controlled fixed-wing aircraft models and multi-rotor drone test frames.
Learned: Physical systems have zero tolerance for sloppy calculations. Gravity does not have a try/catch block.
The full chapter →Connecting 700+ students across Cameroon during lockdown and transforming plastic waste into construction tiles.
Built: Genius Academy remote study network (700+ students, micro-tuition model) and Genius Africa plastic shredder & road tile press.
Learned: Accessible design means using the tools users already possess. WhatsApp-based education reached students who could never afford laptops or Zoom bandwidth.
The full chapter →
COVID-19 pandemic prototyping, national media discussions, and the gulf between an exciting prototype and validated health technology.
Built: Wireless air sanitizer mechanical prototype, electronic control circuitry, and technical proposal.
Learned: Health technology carries higher ethical stakes than consumer software. Good intentions and working circuits are not substitutes for clinical validation.
The full chapter →
Evolving hardware projects with Bluetooth mobile control and taking 3rd place at the Presidential ICT Week finals.
Built: Bluetooth mobile microcontroller control apps (MIT App Inventor) and the HATS Agrobot autonomous tractor concept.
Learned: Interfacing software with hardware instills discipline: latency, packet drop over Bluetooth, and battery voltage drops must be accounted for in code.
The full chapter →Photography, drone piloting, poetry, voice-over, and technical writing — refusing artificial professional silos.
The full chapter →Figures in these chapters (community sizes, students reached, books sold) come from the project's own group and administrative records, as noted on the journey page.
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