Look into Ansible pull. You will run into silent failures if you can't monitor whats going on. If installing k3s is an option on your device maybe you can install argocd or fluxv2 on it an turn it into a gitops style pull mechanism.
1. Build an open source UI layer that can be used to display open street map. This can potentially help track covid-19. Kinda like google maps.
2. Build an open source Tesla type AI for lidar.
3. Open source DRM free Netflix alternative.
4. Contribute to coreboot.
5. Fully functional open source OS written in Rust. There are several attempts out there but with a 20k strong workforce sitting idle you can really make a dent here and give linux a run for its money.
Bottom line, whatever you do make it opensource. It's in everyone's best interest.