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Lab — build queue

What I'm building next.

Open-source systems I intend to rebuild from source rather than read about. Each one is chosen for a specific capability it forces me to learn — and each of those capabilities points back at automated process control.

In progress — 1

L-03IN PROGRESS

FabTwin & FabChem

Own build — hierarchical semiconductor process simulator (FabTwin) and an IPA/water separation flowsheet optimizer (FabChem), cross-validated against public fab datasets

Two evidence-first engineering projects built for process/manufacturing New Grad roles, on a 2027-06-30 deadline.

FabTwin is a plasma-etch SPC and fault-detection simulator whose real differentiator isn't the model — it's validating that model against two real public fab datasets (SECOM, LAM9600) with the correct statistics, including a deliberate reproduction of the common evaluation mistakes (like reporting raw accuracy on a 1:14 class imbalance) as a documented contrast.

FabChem is an IPA/water separation techno-economic optimizer cross-checked against two independent literature NRTL parameter sources, Monte Carlo cost uncertainty, and an independent DWSIM solver run.

SPC — chamber pressure, individuals chart

UCL/LCL = μ ± 3σ

Synthetic — illustrates the chart FabTwin's simulator produces, not a validated result. The right half is drawn open on purpose: cross-validation against the SECOM and LAM9600 public fab datasets hasn't run yet (Gate T1: 2026-09-07 – 2026-10-04). At this project's real 1:14 fault/normal class ratio, raw accuracy is structurally uninformative regardless of the run — precision, recall, and F1 are the actual gate.

UCLCLLCLVALIDATION PENDINGOUT OF CONTROL

Capabilities targeted

Statistical process control (SPC) · Multivariate fault detection — PCA / Hotelling T² / SPE · Process simulation & validation · Thermodynamic modelling & flowsheet optimization

Why it transfers

This is the direct target skill set for process and manufacturing engineering roles — SPC, capability analysis, and flowsheet optimization are the daily tools of the internship track this site already documents.

FabTwin: 42/42 unit tests passing (local + CI), ruff/mypy clean, simulator core (config/effects/faults/metrics) implemented and pushed. FabChem: repo scaffolded, environment setup still pending. Gate T1 window: 2026-09-07 – 2026-10-04.

Queued — 2

L-01QUEUED

Portable voice assistant

Open-source wake-word and on-device speech stacks

Build a self-contained voice interface that runs wake-word detection and speech recognition locally, so the whole loop works without a network round trip.

Capabilities targeted

Embedded audio pipelines · On-device inference · Real-time streaming I/O · Power and thermal budgeting

Why it transfers

Hands-free operation and local-first reliability are the same constraints that govern instrumentation on a plant floor.

L-02QUEUED

Open bipedal robot replication

NVIDIA / Disney Research BDX-style open droid platform

Reproduce a published bipedal robot from open hardware and control code, and get it balancing under a policy I can read, modify, and explain end to end.

Capabilities targeted

Real-time control loops · Sensor fusion — IMU and encoders · Actuator calibration · Simulation-to-hardware transfer

Why it transfers

Closed-loop control, sensor calibration, and drift handling are exactly the mechanics behind DCS level, pressure, and flow control.

Nothing here is finished. Entries move to shipped only when the build runs and the write-up exists — until then they stay listed as intent.