Hackaday Podcast 392: Single-Prop Drones, DIY Solar Cells and Stereo Vision

Episode 392 of the Hackaday Podcast is a tour through projects that put unusual ideas to work with accessible hardware. Hosts Elliot Williams and Al Williams move from a drone with one propeller to microwave-assisted solar-cell experiments, stereo vision and NFC-triggered bird calls. The thread connecting them is practical curiosity: each project asks whether a familiar tool or design can do more than its usual job.

The episode also opens with a preview of the upcoming Supercon badge and the supply-chain work behind making one. Badge projects are a reminder that a working design depends on more than its schematic: parts have to be sourced, and moving them across borders can bring its own complications. The show points listeners to Supercon Ten Tickets On Sale Now and The Trials And Tribulations Of Your First Badge.

Rethinking familiar hardware

Several featured builds challenge assumptions about what a device needs to do its job. One project asks whether a drone can fly with a single propeller. That design sits alongside earlier experiments with a virtual swashplate, a single-propeller craft designed to behave like a quadcopter, and a one-motor drone that takes inspiration from maple seeds. Together, these examples make an engineering question visible: when a design removes the usual set of rotors, what other mechanisms can provide control and stability?

The episode’s links give that question some history. Listeners can compare Building A Flying Drone With A Single Propeller with Building And Flying A Helicopter With A Virtual Swashplate, Flies Like A Quadcopter, But This Drone Design Has Only One Propeller and One-Motor Drone Mimics Maple Seeds For Stability. The episode doesn’t supply performance comparisons, so the value here is the design exploration itself: the linked projects offer different ways to approach flight with fewer moving parts.

Other builds focus on extending what makers can see and manipulate. A stereo-vision board for hardware hackers puts two-camera imaging into a project-friendly format. Stereo vision estimates depth by comparing the slightly different views captured by two cameras. That makes it useful for work where a flat image leaves out important spatial information, from mapping objects to tracking motion. The episode pairs the board with earlier projects on stereo depth mapping, Raspberry Pi vision, bee tracking and digital-camera design, including A Stereo Vision Board For Hardware Hackers, Stereo Vision And Depth Mapping With Two Raspi Camera Modules and Tracking Bees With A Stereo Camera.

Microscopy gets a similar hands-on treatment. The show highlights an improved open micro-manipulator and a microscope that provides a 3D view. These tools address different parts of close-up work: a microscope helps reveal small features, while a manipulator gives the builder a way to position or handle objects under observation. For anyone working at that scale, the combination points toward a broader challenge than magnification alone: seeing a target clearly is only part of the task if it also needs precise adjustment.

Making and interacting with everyday tools

A microwave becomes the starting point for an experiment in making photovoltaic solar cells. The episode’s source list doesn’t spell out the process or its results, so the practical takeaway is the research question rather than a claim that a kitchen appliance can replace specialist fabrication equipment. The project is a prompt to examine which steps can be explored with accessible tools, and where material control and measurement still matter. It appears alongside the stereo-vision work and microscopy projects in the show’s run of maker-focused features.

NFC offers a different kind of small-scale experiment. Birduino uses NFC-enabled cards to play bird calls on demand. The interaction is simple: bring a card near a reader and trigger a selected sound. For a builder, the appeal is the physical interface. A card can stand in for a button or menu, giving a project a tangible way to select an action. The episode includes Birduino Plays Bird Calls On Demand With NFC-enabled Cards.

The quick-hack picks widen the range of projects. Elliot highlights a NASA lunar-grounding challenge with prize money, an ESP32-based drone-video project and a first satellite ground station. Al’s selections include trig calculations on a slide rule, an LCR meter built with compromises and a marble-based way to visualize regular expressions. These links cover very different tools, but they share an interest in making technical ideas tangible: a physical calculation aid, a measurement device with trade-offs, or a visual model of text patterns.

Security, nostalgia and the episode’s broader appeal

The hosts also point listeners toward a weekly cybersecurity roundup that covers DNS keys, freezer systems, OpenAI and hardware wallets. Its inclusion broadens the episode beyond fabrication: connected devices and digital infrastructure bring their own engineering questions, and security failures can affect systems far removed from a typical bench project. The linked roundup is This Week In Security: Critical DNS Keys Rotated, Hacking Freezers Isn’t Cool, OpenAI Spies On Itself, And Advanced Hardware Wallet Hacks.

Al’s trip down memory lane centers on the Altair 8800, a computer he had long wanted. That reflection gives the episode a useful historical counterpoint. Today’s small cameras, compact controllers and accessible fabrication tools can make projects possible for a wider range of builders than in earlier eras, but the curiosity driving the work is familiar. The episode closes its highlights with The Age Of Altair.

Listeners can follow along through the show notes and share questions, sounds or thoughts with the hosts through the mailbag. The full episode is available as a DRM-free MP3. The show is also listed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, RSS, YouTube and the Libsyn landing page. Episode 392 is most useful as a set of starting points: the linked builds show where familiar components can lead, while leaving the details and trade-offs for listeners to investigate.