Building and Prototyping a Remote-Controlled Telescope with Elixir and Rust

Lucas Sifoni, an independent freelancer, discusses his journey of designing, prototyping, and building a remote-controlled telescope integrated with Elixir and Rust. The project started with initial research interleaved with code and moved on to software prototypes to understand the problems posed by the physical device. Through the use of Elixir and a low-end RISC-V SoC, the project culminated in a terrestrial telescope primarily aimed at observing objects such as birds and trees. Lucas also touches upon optics and the inner workings of telescopes while showcasing how software simulations in Elixir evolve into tangible devices. Moreover, the presentation covers the integration of Rust for computational tasks, the use of Nerves for embedded systems, and the creation of a user interface using LiveView. Highlighting the ease and robustness of the Elixir ecosystem for hardware projects, the talk serves as an insightful guide for similar endeavors.