Prototyping A Remote-Controlled Telescope with Elixir

Speaker:
Lucas Sifoni


Abstract:

The different facets of Elixir enabled me to design, prototype, and build a physical device, from initial exploration of the problem domain with written research interleaved with code, to software prototypes that help grasp the actual problems a physical device can have, to a built terrestrial telescope, driven by a low-end RISC-V SbC running Elixir and Rust code. By the end, you’ll also have a quick introduction to optics and the inner workings of telescopes!

Key Takeaways:

  • Thinking about a physical system in software
  • Communication with hardware devices in Elixir
  • Using Rust as an escape hatch to gain performance on constrained environments
  • Simple hardware devices do not have to be hard to think about

Target Audience:

  • People having experience in software, or web development, who would like to have a first go at controlling physical devices with Elixir. The goal of the talk is to make them feel that this is within reach and actually fun.

Tags:
prototyping, design, beginning with hardware