No, didn't design it but learned a lot about soldering, multiplexing and transistor switching that control the display and how capacitors isolate low bias voltages from the high neon display driver voltages. No battery in this thing and got bit a few times while building it. I never thought to take it to school to show off, much less expose the dangerous parts inside. It's perfectly safe inside its case, though. It's in my TV room and still keeps perfect time--based on 60 Hz line freq. This kid is a fraud or a dupe for his dad.