Just like the garage computer explosion of the 70’s through the 80’s, which brought us such things as Apple, pong, Bill Gate’s hair, and the proliferation of personal computers, the maker movement is the new garage hardware explosion. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement.
Enthusiasts who want to build the products they want, from shortwave radios to personal computers, and to tweak products they’ve bought to make them even better, have long been a part of the electronics industry. By all measures, garage-style innovation remains alive and well today, as “makers” as they are called continue to turn out contemporary gadgets, including 3D printers, drones, and embedded electronics devices.
Making is about individual Do-It-Yourselfers being able to design and create with tools that were, as of a decade or two ago, only available to large, cash-rich corporations: CAD tools, CNC mills, 3D printers, low-quantity PCB manufacturing, open hardware such as Arduinos and similar inexpensive development boards – all items that have made it easier and relatively cheap to make whatever we imagine. For individuals, maker tools can change how someone views their home or their hobbies. The world is ours to make. Humans are genetically wired to be makers. The maker movement is simply the result of making powerful building and communication tools accessible to the masses. There are plenty of projects from makers that show good engineering: Take this Arduino board with tremendous potential, developed by a young maker, as example.
The maker movement is a catalyst to democratize entrepreneurship as these do-it-yourself electronics are proving to be hot sellers: In the past year, unit sales for 3D printing related products; Arduino units, parts and supplies; Raspberry Pi boards; drones and quadcopters; and robotics goods are all on a growth curve in terms of eBay sales. There are many Kickstarter maker projects going on. The Pebble E-Paper Watch raises $10 million. The LIFX smartphone-controlled LED bulb raises $1.3 million. What do these products have in common? They both secured funding through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that is changing the game for entrepreneurs. Both products were created by makers who seek to commercialize their inventions. These “startup makers” iterate on prototypes with high-end tools at professional makerspaces.
For companies to remain competitive, they need to embrace the maker movement or leave themselves open for disruption. Researchers found that 96 percent of business leaders believe new technologies have forever changed the rules of business by democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations. - You’ve got to figure out agile innovation. Maybe history is repeating itself as the types of products being sold reminded us of the computer tinkering that used to be happening in the 1970s to 1990s – similar in terms of demographics, tending to be young people, and low budget. Now the do-it-yourself category is deeply intertwined with the electronics industry. Open hardware is in the center in maker movement – we need open hardware designs! How can you publish your designs and still do business with it? Open source ecosystem markets behave differently and therefore require a very different playbook than traditional tech company: the differentiation is not in the technology you build; it is in the process and expertise that you slowly amass over an extended period of time.
By democratizing the product development process, helping these developments get to market, and transforming the way we educate the next generation of innovators, we will usher in the next industrial revolution. The world is ours to make. Earlier the PC created a new generation of software developers who could innovate in the digital world without the limitations of the physical world (virtually no marginal cost, software has become the great equalizer for innovation. Now advances in 3D printing and low-cost microcontrollers as well as the ubiquity of advanced sensors are enabling makers to bridge software with the physical world. Furthermore, the proliferation of wireless connectivity and cloud computing is helping makers contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re even beginning to see maker designs and devices entering those markets once thought to be off-limits, like medical.
Image source: The world is ours to make: The impact of the maker movement – EDN Magazine
In fact, many parents have engaged in the maker movement with their kids because they know that the education system is not adequately preparing their children for the 21st century. There is a strong movement to spread this DIY idea widely. The Maker Faire, which launched in the Bay Area in California in 2006, underlined the popularity of the movement by drawing a record 215,000 people combined in the Bay Area and New York events in 2014. There’s Maker Media, MakerCon, MakerShed, Make: magazine and 131 Maker Faire events that take place throughout the world. Now the founders of all these Makers want a way to connect what they refer to as the “maker movement” online. So Maker Media created a social network called MakerSpace, a Facebook-like social network that connects participants of Maker Faire in one online community. The new site will allow participants of the event to display their work online. There are many other similar sites that allow yout to present yout work fron Hackaday to your own blog. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement—although makers can be found everywhere in the world.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Makers to watch: 5 stand-outs from World Maker Faire
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4440467/Makers-to-watch–5-stand-outs-from-World-Maker-Faire?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151008&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151008&elq=1cba10e0b219456eb1108281b089196c&elqCampaignId=25133&elqaid=28568&elqat=1&elqTrackId=aeda367c2fdc4ddd8321d996ca0483d2
The Third Industrial Revolution
Get to know Qtechknow
Oh, it’s an O Watch!
Maker neuroscientists
Is there an Arduino doctor in the house?
Bonus: From quadcopters to power racing to paragliding
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prototyping is critical to US hardware development
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4440516/Prototyping-is-critical-to-US-hardware-development?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151008&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151008&elq=6a7bcb9354a7416d954435bd8197b9a7&elqCampaignId=25127&elqaid=28562&elqat=1&elqTrackId=9eab74ae6ea8417cb588e3e55e94cdb6
The way in which products are developed and manufactured is a key element of the global supply chain. In terms of PCBs, we have migrated to an environment where virtually all PCB manufacturing is going off shore. The main contributor to this migration is cost.
The vast majority of product development companies have readily embraced the OEM mantra of “If it costs less money to manufacture PCBs off-shore, then this is the path that we should continue to pursue.” However, it must be kept in mind that there is a difference between price and cost or, to put it more precisely, the best price is not always the best cost.
In terms of “costs” to the industry, the move to offshore manufacturing of PCBs has led to a very serious crisis. US prototyping suppliers are vanishing at an alarming rate. And this phenomenon impacts all parties that are involved in the product development process from board designers and material suppliers, to board fabricators, chip providers, and packaging companies.
Further, turning instantly to offshore manufacturing may seem the best way to cut prices but it is not the best way to cut costs. For example, the cost of running an engineering development team is about $2-million per week. Getting a prototype built offshore almost never takes less than three weeks. By the time you get the prototype from an offshore manufacturer, you have incurred almost $4-million in extra non-reoccurring engineering (NRE) costs as opposed to building the same prototype at a U.S. fabricator in less than a week.
In truth, with the advent of the plethora of electronic devices upon which we all rely on and use, consumers have been lulled into something of a passive state in terms of hardware design. It’s not sexy; it doesn’t let me do all the cool and wonderful things I want to do with my latest acquired smartphone or tablet
In contrast to software design, hardware design is not all that forgiving. We can’t simply make some code changes and send our customers a patch to correct a design flaw. We have to replace the whole assembly to correct it or provide an upgraded product.
Designing new hardware or revising existing hardware is not an easy task. Hardware is not nearly as malleable as software, it is not possible to upgrade hardware via a new software download, “tweaks” to one part of a hardware design can affect other parts of the design in an unforeseen manner, and changes to existing hardware designs are rarely, if ever, inexpensive.
In some ways, the crisis surrounding prototyping efforts is due in part to the fact that we have become spoiled and somewhat unaware. Stated more directly, it’s our own engineering and manufacturing practices that have led us to the precipice. As amazing as it may seem, there are a vast number of hardware development companies that still consider two or three respins of a board to be acceptable from both the technological and business operations level.
Prototyping Proves Critical in U.S. Hardware Development Process
What does the prototyping crisis really mean to the industry?
http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=3835&doc_id=278869&page_number=2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Community > Blogs > Brian’s Brain
Identical hardware with varying software
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4440473/Identical-hardware-with-varying-software?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151006&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151006&elq=0bc0bbd24f0c4bd3999d5d320725496a&elqCampaignId=25072&elqaid=28488&elqat=1&elqTrackId=f3ade0bf27864bec96ab0c4356438577
While recently researching the EOS 300D, also known as the EOS Digital Rebel, I came across mention of the fact that:
It is often compared to the prosumer Canon EOS 10D, which features virtually the same CMOS image sensor and image processing chip. Several 10D features can be unlocked and used in the 300D by using non-official firmware.
And this tidbit reminded me of the broader CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) project
Canon leverages a common image processor across multiple product proliferations at different price, form factor and (factory firmware-enabled) feature points. CHDK ‘turns on’ substantial additional high-end capabilities with my low-end digicam without at all disturbing the camera’s native firmware (or, therefore, any Canon warranty). Instead, the firmware augmentations store on a SD card, which you can either manually load via user screen settings or (as I’ve done) configure to auto-boot on camera start-up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday SuperConference — Apply Now to Attend
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/12/hackaday-superconference-apply-now-to-attend/
Tomi Engdahl says:
CyberPunk Yourself – Body Modification, Augmentation, and Grinders
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/12/cyberpunk-yourself-body-modification-augmentation-and-grinders/
“We accept pain as a price of doing business, even if it is just for aesthetic purposes. You want to put a magnet in your finger, a doctor will ask you why; a mod artist will ask when you can start.”
Grinders – men and women who hack their own bodies – are pushing the boundaries of what is currently possible when it comes to human augmentation. They’re hackers at heart, pursuing on an amateur level what they can’t get from the consumer market. Human augmentation is a concept that is featured heavily in science fiction and futurism, but the assumption most people have is that those kinds of advancements will come from medical or technology companies.
Instead, we’re seeing augmentation begin in the basements of hackers and in the back rooms of piercing studios
Biohacking is still relatively new, and has only gained traction in the past decade. It has taken a unique set of conditions for the grinder movement — which itself is a type of Biohacking — to begin. Body modification in general had to become more mainstream and accessible. Technology, especially hobby electronics, had to come far enough along that the necessary tools became available to everyone. And, perhaps most importantly, information on the subject had to be accessible.
It’s that last factor that has made the community aspect of biohacking so vital
Tomi Engdahl says:
Citizen Scientist: Forrest Mims
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/13/citizenscience/
Before the modern notion of the citizen scientist lies the earlier ideal of the independent scientist. Scientists outside of the academic community but engaging with it. These days citizen scientists are often seen as valuable assistants in the scientific process, helping collect and process data in a quantity which would be otherwise intractable.
In the past however, independent scientists had a far more central role. Galileo, Kepler, Darwin and Hooke were all self funded at various points in their careers.
Sadly, peer-reviewed scientific contributions by scientists un-sponsored by a research organization are now few and far between.
In Hacker circles Forrest Mims is perhaps best known for his series of electronics books and the unforgeable Atari Punk Console. But it’s his ability to engage with the scientific community as an independent researcher through a series of well thought out scientific articles that interests us here. Contributions made all the more significant by his lack of formal scientific training.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Slashdot: Is There Space For Open Hardware In Networking?
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/15/10/13/191202/ask-slashdot-is-there-space-for-open-hardware-in-networking
Open hardware has got much attention with the advent of Raspberry Pi, Arduino and their respective clones. But most of the devices are focused either on tinkerers (Arduino) or most notably multimedia (Raspberry Pi).
Our company (non-profit) is trying to change this with Turris Omnia but we still wander if there is in fact demand for such devices. Is the market large enough and the area cool enough?
Turris Omnia
https://omnia.turris.cz/en/
More than just a router.
The open-source center of your home.
Home router is necessary to connect you to the Internet but it is idle most of the time, just eating electricity. Why not use it for more tasks?
With powerful hardware, Turris Omnia can handle gigabit traffic and still be able to do much more. You can use it as a home server, NAS, printserver and it even has a virtual server built-in.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Architecture Board defends users’ rights to mod Wi-Fi kit
Net boffins to FCC: spread the love, don’t fear spectrum spread
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/14/iab_defends_users_rights_to_mod_wifi_kit/
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has gently suggested to the United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that locking WiFi kit to manufacturers’ firmware forever might not be a good idea.
The IAB’s submission to the FCC, made last week, is in response to the FCC suggesting a crack-down on open-source firmware like OpenWrt.
The FCC’s mooted ban-hammer is designed to keep devices like WiFi routers operating in their designated spectrum, with the regulator fearful that inept modders could grab something like emergency spectrum in their eternal search for a channel that isn’t contested by every other access point within reach.
The IAB, which last year decided to make user privacy and security the focus of its efforts, is particularly concerned that a ban on non-vendor firmware will leave stranded users with orphan devices that no longer get manufacturer support.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printable Robot Arm
A printable robot arm, a little bigger than the usual hobby servo once.
https://hackaday.io/project/3800-3d-printable-robot-arm
My printable robot arm is inspired by the well known industry robots, but printable.
The goal is to develop a open source robot arm to use in private or small businesses and make robot development available for every one.
The arm should lift about 2 kg enough to perform every day tasks. Currently robot arms are expensive or small and weak, or clumpy.
Industrial robots are expensive and dangerous and for that not suitable for using at home or schools.
A Open Source printable robot can build,used and developed by every one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kids Explore Engineering with Cartoon Tech Build
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/14/kids-explore-engineering-with-cartoon-tech-build/
Toys Mean More When You Build Them Yourself
A few weeks after we finished the Creaturepods, they’re still making the rounds in nearly every playdate. They’ve weathered most usage by our energetic kids and their neighborhood friends
Building the Creaturepod as a family is something we’ll always remember. We got excited, frustrated, bored, and excited again, together. Our kids got to experience the thrill of taking an idea from concept to reality and learned about the focus and effort that it requires to do so. Nothing was pushed on them and they only did the tasks that they could handle at the times they could handle them.
Build your own Creaturepod replica using the open source design files, or develop your own project based on a favorite piece of technology. The opportunity has never been better to fuel the minds of our future hackers and builders. As Ben and Miles might say on their next Creaturepod adventure: “Activate engineer powers!”
http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/creaturepod/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sandy Poems Drawn by a Robot Named Skryf
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/15/sandy-poems-drawn-by-a-robot-named-skryf/
If you were lucky at the 2015 World Maker Faire you may have stumbled upon strange writings of poetry on the ground — written in sand. While at first confusing, if you followed the poetry along you also caught a glimpse of Skryf, a draw bot by [Gijs van Bon].
The creator was asked to perform poems for a festival about transition and letting go. Naturally, building a robot to write poetry in sand was the downright obvious answer to the question.
http://www.gijsvanbon.nl/skryf.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thor’s Hammer Build Recognizes Its Master’s Hand
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/14/thors-hammer-build-recognizes-its-masters-hand/
Only those who have completely insulated themselves from modern pop culture will miss the meaning of a Mjolnir build. It is, of course, the mythical hammer wielded by Thor, and only Thor. It’s a question of being worthy; a question solved perfectly by this electromagnetic Mjolnir build.
Real Mjolnir (Electromagnet, Fingerprint Scanner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_8Xhzt5YQI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Tracked Robot Supports STEM in Africa
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/18/open-source-tracked-robot-supports-stem-in-africa/
A lot of hacker projects start with education in mind. The Raspberry Pi, for example, started with the goal of making an affordable classroom computer. The Shrimp is a UK-based bare-bones Arduino targeted at schools. We recently saw an effort to make a 3D printed robotic platform aimed at African STEM education: The Azibot.
Azibot has 3D printed treads, a simple gripper arm, and uses an Arduino combined with Scratch.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1040782
AZIBOt is an affordable, Arduino-based open-source, & 3D-printed complete Robot Kit for STEM education in Africa. It’s the ideal tool for introducing students to Robotics, Programming, and Engineering. All parts were designed with 3D printing in mind and only a few require support material. Find more at http://www.azibot.com.
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 things Back to the Future promised and are here (sort of)
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/serious-fun/4376436/6-things-Back-to-the-Future-promised-and-are-here–sort-of-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151016&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151016&elq=349f293b0997447da5997c984f4cbd8b&elqCampaignId=25262&elqaid=28729&elqat=1&elqTrackId=421fdaeebd844975acda224caa311bde
we’ve been busy in the nearly 30 years since BTTF II came out. Here are six goodies from the film that engineers have either met or will soon meet the tech challenges of.
5 Back to the Future DIY projects
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/serious-fun/4440611/5-Back-to-the-Future-DIY-projects?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151016&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151016&elq=349f293b0997447da5997c984f4cbd8b&elqCampaignId=25262&elqaid=28729&elqat=1&elqTrackId=acedd81254624f7cbb1abd45e3530d11
Tomi Engdahl says:
My reports from Espoo Mini Maker Faire hosted in Finland last weekend can be found with following search:
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/?s=mini+maker+faire
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nurses Create in a Medical Makerspace
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/21/nurses-create-in-a-medical-makerspace/
Although there are many skilled and dedicated types of health care professionals, nurses are often the main point of contact between the medical establishment and a patient. You will probably spend more time with your nurse–especially in a hospital setting–than any other health care provider. Every patient’s needs are different, so it isn’t surprising that nurses sometimes improvise unique solutions to help their patients be more comfortable or recover faster.
That’s the idea guiding an innovative program called MakerNurse–an initiative backed by MIT and the Robert W. Johnson Foundation. The idea is to encourage nurses to be makers.
With the MakerNurse program, Young’s group surveyed nurses across the United States and then went to five hospitals to study what nurses were making and what support would help them do even more. The study, which will be published next year, identified resourceful maker projects from nurses and even collaborations between nurses, patients, and their family caregivers.
The logical conclusion: makerspaces in hospitals. Young has made it happen, and the University of Texas Medical Branch’s (UTMB) John Sealy Hospital in Galveston Texas has the first of what she hopes will be many such spaces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does Government Science Funding Drive Innovation?
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/10/25/195215/does-government-science-funding-drive-innovation
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, British businessman and science journalist Matt Ridley argues that basic science research does not lead to technological innovation, and therefore isn’t deserving of taxpayer funding.
Patents and copyright laws grant too much credit and reward to individuals and imply that technology evolves by jerks. Recall that the original rationale for granting patents was not to reward inventors with monopoly profits but to encourage them to share their inventions. …
The Myth of Basic Science
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-myth-of-basic-science-1445613954
Does scientific research drive innovation? Not very often, argues Matt Ridley: Technological evolution has a momentum of its own, and it has little to do with the abstractions of the lab
Innovation is a mysteriously difficult thing to dictate. Technology seems to change by a sort of inexorable, evolutionary progress, which we probably cannot stop—or speed up much either. And it’s not much the product of science. Most technological breakthroughs come from technologists tinkering, not from researchers chasing hypotheses. Heretical as it may sound, “basic science” isn’t nearly as productive of new inventions as we tend to think.
Today it is impossible to imagine software development coming to a halt.
It is easier to prohibit technological development in larger-scale technologies that require big investments and national regulations.
And if there is no stopping technology, perhaps there is no steering it either. In Mr. Kelly’s words, “the technium wants what evolution began.” Technological change is a far more spontaneous phenomenon than we realize. Out with the heroic, revolutionary story of the inventor, in with the inexorable, incremental, inevitable creep of innovation.
Simultaneous discovery and invention mean that both patents and Nobel Prizes are fundamentally unfair things.
Patents and copyright laws grant too much credit and reward to individuals and imply that technology evolves by jerks.
Politicians believe that innovation can be turned on and off like a tap: You start with pure scientific insights, which then get translated into applied science, which in turn become useful technology. So what you must do, as a patriotic legislator, is to ensure that there is a ready supply of money to scientists on the top floor of their ivory towers, and lo and behold, technology will come clanking out of the pipe at the bottom of the tower.
This linear model of how science drives innovation and prosperity goes right back to Francis Bacon, the early 17th-century philosopher
When you examine the history of innovation, you find, again and again, that scientific breakthroughs are the effect, not the cause, of technological change.
Technological advances are driven by practical men who tinkered until they had better machines; abstract scientific rumination is the last thing they do.
It follows that there is less need for government to fund science: Industry will do this itself. Having made innovations, it will then pay for research into the principles behind them. Having invented the steam engine, it will pay for thermodynamics.
And we can never know what discoveries were not made because government funding crowded out philanthropic and commercial funding, which might have had different priorities.
The perpetual-innovation machine that feeds economic growth and generates prosperity is not the result of deliberate policy at all, except in a negative sense. Governments cannot dictate either discovery or invention; they can only make sure that they don’t hinder it. Innovation emerges unbidden from the way that human beings freely interact if allowed. Deep scientific insights are the fruits that fall from the tree of technological change.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’re Never Too Young to Be a Rocket Scientist
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/27/youre-never-too-young-to-be-a-rocket-scientist/
Arduino rocket stabilization system [UD: 10/20/15]
https://hackaday.io/project/1742-arduino-rocket-stabilization-system-ud-102015
Arduino powered rocket stabilization system for mid to high power rockets that gets rid of the pitch over and subsequent downrange flight
Tomi Engdahl says:
Altium’s CircuitMaker saves the day
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4440708/Altium-s-CircuitMaker-saves-the-day?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151029&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151029&elq=72eee0bd2ab0440c9305c6fabe3c30b4&elqCampaignId=25476&elqaid=28972&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5288a3423c834340a830321b9126868d
Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that I was waffling on about the introduction of Altium’s free CircuitMaker schematic capture and board layout tool; in reality, however, a year’s worth of Pooh Sticks have floated down the river of time (see Free CircuitMaker PCB Tool From Altium).
Well, so much has changed that I don’t really know where to start. First of all, the original idea was for CircuitMaker to follow the “Freemium” model — that is, you start off with a free but limited tool, and then you pay to add more layers and/or more nets and/or greater board sizes.
Now, I’m not saying this is a bad model — it seems to work OK for tools like Eagle PCB — but I know to my cost how frustrating it is to have almost finished a design when you run up against some limitation wall or other.
Happily, the folks at Altium have had a re-think — they’ve decided to embrace the maker movement and students and hobbyists and professionals — so the latest-and-greatest version of CircuitMaker is unlimited in terms of layer count, net count, number of layers, and almost any other thing you care to mention. Furthermore, you can use CircuitMaker to create production products, sell millions of units, and become fabulously rich — the only requirement being that you make such designs open source, which I personally don’t regard as being in any way unfair.
Another way in which CircuitMaker distinguishes itself from lesser competitors is that it’s based on the same underlying data structures and engines as Altium Designer, which is an incredibly powerful, robust, and proven tool.
One area where CircuitMaker really distinguishes itself from the pack is its integration with the Octopart database and search aggregator, which allows users to search across hundreds of component distributors and thousands of manufacturers.
Octopart boasts 30+ million component records. In addition to standard components, it allows users to track down unusual parts from obscure vendors, and it also identifies the distributors who currently have those parts in stock, including quantities and prices. Furthermore, the library has been seeded with 200,000+ schematic symbols and layout land patterns
Tomi Engdahl says:
How makers are changing the electronics industry
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4440715/How-makers-are-changing-the-electronics-industry
The maker movement, which is allowing innovative ideas to bubble up from individuals, is changing the way electronics hardware is being brought to market. The electronics industry had better sit up and take notice since this group is coming up with some of the best and brightest new ideas.
“There’s a deeper meaning to maker movement: it’s letting people leverage a new way to bring electronic hardware to market,” said Glenn Bassett, co-founder and managing director of consulting firm NuVentures Ltd., in a talk this week at the ECIA Executive Conference in Chicago. “It encourages people to reuse intellectual property and build upon it.”
By any measure, the maker movement is taking off.
Although building a factory remains out of the reach of the average inventor, powerful computer-aided design (CAD) software is increasingly affordable. “These products now are intuitive to use and give you a head start, putting you well into process of designing a product without designing a circuit,” Bassett said. “The same is true on the 3D modeling side of things. The access to the means of design is everywhere.”
Further, there is a perfect storm of tools, community and capital to support would-be electronics innovators, Bassett said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE DIY Project is open to all to make this a better world
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/diy-zone/4440671/IEEE-DIY-Project-is-open-to-all-to-make-this-a-better-world
I have recently become aware of the IEEE DIY Project. This is a challenge to all residents of the United States of America and other countries, where permitted by local law, who are the age of eighteen (18) or older as well as IEEE community members
All entries must be received by 11:59 PM ET on December 7, 2015.
You, the engineers and makers of this world, have the opportunity to showcase the great tech projects you may be working on or plan to work on. Whether it is robotics, wearable technology, software, hardware, or an alternative energy device, if your project solves complex problems and has applications in the real world the IEEE wants to see it!
The IEEE DIY Project is a competition that is asking students to submit engineering projects they have created at school or during their free time to a microsite developed by IEEE.
The IEEE DIY Project
https://www.secured-app.com/ieee/diy/
The IEEE DIY Project is a challenge to you—IEEE community member—to showcase the great tech projects you are working on. Whether it is robotics, wearable technology, software, hardware, or an alternative energy device, if your project solves complex problems and has applications in the real world we want to see it!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scenes from the desktop manufacturing revolution, part 1
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/diy-zone/4440655/Scenes-from-the-desktop-manufacturing-revolution–part-1-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151029&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151029&elq=a7d078948c5b45c2af4ba04bb02435f3&elqCampaignId=25477&elqaid=28973&elqat=1&elqTrackId=0d6f2585719d44418b794b2ad02027fd
While low-cost embedded computing platforms and other open-source hardware initiatives have dramatically cut the time and cost of product development, maker-preneurs still face several “speed bumps” as they attempt to move their designs from one-off prototypes to full-scale production units.
For one thing, compressing the essential elements of an Arduino, Beagle Bone, or other dev board and the other electronics it’s driving into a single, compact PCB that’s suitable for high-volume production is still a daunting, and potentially expensive task. But help is on the way in the form of low-cost, maker-friendly manufacturing tools that can be used to quickly evaluate production-ready designs and, in many cases, support low-volume production.
As someone who’s been involved with bringing several products to market, I’m painfully familiar with the hassles involved with developing a production-ready PCB. It usually requires several cycles of ordering up a handful of raw circuit boards, populating them with components, debugging them, and ordering up a new set of boards, which uncovers a new set of problems. Using external vendors to fabricate and stuff the boards means that each revision can take two weeks or more and thousands of dollars to complete.
This painful scenario is changing quickly, however, as makers develop their own low-cost prototyping equipment, such as the machines I stumbled on at the 2015 NY Maker Faire. One exciting development is the advent of low-cost PCB milling machines, such as Zippy Robotics’ Prometheus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Foundation And U.K.’s Code Club Merge For Global Push To Get Kids Coding
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/03/pi-club/
Make way for ‘Pi Club’ (not its real name): The not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation, makers of the wildly popular $35 Raspberry Pi microprocessor, and the U.K.-based volunteer-led charitable organization Code Club, which runs after school programs to get kids coding, are merging — with the latter becoming a subsidiary of The Pi Foundation.
The idea being to advance the core mission of both organisations, which in the Pi’s case is also about getting more kids involved with tech. Albeit that the Pi’s success thus far — with some seven million+ of its microprocessors sold to date since launch in 2012 — has mostly been a result of (adult) makers seizing the chance to use low cost hardware to power their projects.
But while big kids have powered Pi sales, the Pi Foundation still wants more school-age kids to get tinkering.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Print Your Own Vertices for Quick Structural Skeletons
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/03/print-your-own-vertices-for-quick-structural-skeletons/
3D printing is great for a lot of things: prototyping complex designs, replacing broken parts, and creating unique pencil holders to show your coworkers how zany you are. Unfortunately, 3D printing is pretty awful for creating large objects – it’s simply too inefficient. Not to mention, the small size of most consumer 3D printers is very limiting
The standard solution to this problem is to use off-the-shelf material, with only specialized parts being printed. But, for simple structures, designing those specialized parts is an unnecessary time sink. [Nurgak] has created a solution for this with a clever “Universal Vertex Module,” designed to mate off-the-shelf rods at the 90-degree angles that most people use.
The ingenuity of the design is in its simplicity: one side fits over the structural material (dowels, aluminum extrusions, etc.), and the other side is a four-sided pyramid. The pyramid shape allows two vertices to mate at 90-degree angles, and holes allow them to be held together with the zip ties that already litter the bottom of your toolbox.
Universal Vertex Module
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1080119
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking Diabetes Meters, Towards an Artificial Pancreas
http://hackaday.com/2015/10/29/hacking-diabetes-meters-towards-an-artificial-pancreas/
We’ve covered a number of diabetes-related hacks in the past, but this project sets its goals especially high. [Tim] has diabetes and needs to monitor his blood glucose levels and administer insulin accordingly. As a first step, he and a community of other diabetics have been working on Android apps to log the data when combined with a self-made Bluetooth re-transmitter.
We just read about [Tim] in this article in the Guardian which covers the diabetic-hacker movement from a medical perspective — the author currently runs a healthcare innovation institute and is a former British health minister, so he’s not a noob
Health hackers: the patients taking medical innovation into their own hands
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/26/health-hackers-patients-taking-medical-innovation-into-own-hands
Tired of waiting for a monitor for his diabetes, Tim Omer made his own. He is one of a growing number of patients circumventing medical companies in favour of a homemade healthcare revolution
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny Makers
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/tiny-makers?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
If you’ve ever dropped Mentos in a bottle of Coke with kids or grown your own rock candy in a jar with string, you know how excited children get when doing science. For some of us, that fascination never goes away, which is why things like Maker Faire exist.
If you want your children (or someone else’s children) to grow into awesome nerds, one of the best things you can do is get them involved with projects at http://www.makershed.com.
Although it’s true that many of the kits you can purchase are a bit too advanced for kindergartners, there are plenty that are perfect for any age. You can head over to http://www.makershed.com/collections/beginner to see a bunch of pre-selected projects designed for beginners of all ages.
Even if you don’t purchase the kits from Maker Shed, I urge you to inspire the youngsters in your life into creating awesome things.
You can buy pre-made kits at http://www.makershed.com or visit sites like http://instructables.com for homemade ideas you can make yourself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino’s perfect storm
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4440775/Arduino-s-perfect-storm?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151106&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151106&elq=68c70178c0b3416dbb2d5967e52c2c4f&elqCampaignId=25608&elqaid=29145&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5784644a2a41466c9e6f0ebfcb8c40a8
Hardware isn’t dead. Software did not take over all of US engineering. And not everything has been outsourced. That’s in part due to Arduino and other open-source maker and DIY platforms, or at least that was an argument made at ESC (Embedded Systems Conference) in Minneapolis this week.
“You are seeing more companies take this more seriously than something just for hobby,” said embedded systems designer Duane Benson, a participant in ESC’s Arduino Show & Tell session where such DIY projects were shared with event attendees and presenter of the “Arduino for Rapid Prototyping; It’s Not Just a Toy” session.
Benson, and many of the more than 30 people who attended the ESC Arduino Meet-up, have been drawn to the platform for its low cost, easy IDE, and simple hardware—a perfect storm for easy adoption and engineering entry.
“That allowed a lot of newcomers in—just like the personal computer revolution in the 1970s,” Benson said during his presentation.
Arduino isn’t perfect, though. Its IDE is considered weak by some engineers, base Arduinos are typically not very powerful, and Arduinos can be pricey in low quantities. But the issues, when combined with the strong uptick STEM has seen from Arduino adoption (Arduino users are estimated to be above the 100,000 point), have brought along other open or Arduino-like platforms, including Intel’s Edison and the nearly Arduino-compatible chipKit powered by Microchip, that could fill holes left by imperfections and help continue the easy entry to engineering that Arduino started.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amino’s Cool Bio Kit Is Like the Easy-Bake Oven of Bioreactors
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/aminos-cool-bio-kit-is-like-the-easy-bake-oven-of-bioreactors/
Most people wouldn’t consider themselves biological engineers. In fact, most people have never worn a lab coat in their lives. Biology is complicated, and often restricted to a lab environment. But at an increasing rate, biology—and our ability to manipulate it—is becoming democratized, to the point that it’s now possible to hack DNA in your own home.
A new kit, called Amino, is like the Easy-Bake Oven of bioreactors. The pretty set of modular parts is a small-scale bio lab that enables you to grow organisms and bend bits of DNA to your will.
You could think of Amino as a beginners guide to biological engineering. The kit (starting at $700) comes with everything you need to grow and tinker with a microorganism: the main bacterial culture, DNA, pipettes, incubators, agar plates and various sensors for monitoring the growth and health of your culture. All of this is built into a color-coded, design-centric plywood dashboard.
it’s the role of a designer to make a complex subject like synthetic biology more accessible and understandable to the general public
In that way, Amino is a lot like tinkering with an Arduino, only instead of playing with wires, circuit boards, and programming languages, it’s bacteria, DNA, and incubators. The Amino kit centers around “apps,” which are step-by-step guides to making certain products with DNA
The goal is to make synthetic biology feel less like a science experiment shrouded in mystery and more like something that even the most science-averse person can take part in. Because as insular as the world of biological engineering might seem today, Legault believes it’s only a matter of time before it’s as common in our everyday lives as electronics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Square Inch of Nyan
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/09/a-square-inch-of-nyan/
Over on Hackaday.io, there’s an unofficial contest to cram as much electronics and awesome as possible into a single square inch of PCB. While the measurement system is logical, the Internet is not: it feeds on cats and is entertained by rainbows. [Radomir]’s project feeds into this bizarre fixation with the Nyan Board, a Pop Tart cat that poops rainbows, all the while playing bleeps and boops that would fit well in a Nintendo game.
Nyan Board
A small ATtiny85 board playing the Nyan Cat tune.
https://hackaday.io/project/7860-nyan-board
This is just a purely for fun project, that is supposed to get me into programming those small ATtiny chips. I got this idea when I looked at the ribbon cable of my programmer — it’s a rainbow!
The board doesn’t do much, just blink the cat’s eyes and play the tune on a buzzer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oculus Originator Gives Away MEMS Version
Kickstarter campaign co-founder claims to have better device
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328210&
After making millions from co-founding the Oculus Virtual Reality (VR) Kickstarter campaign (which Facebook bought for $2.4 billion), Jack McCauley is now giving away the license to a better VR headset that beats the top two- – Oculus and Valve– by using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) laser “head” finder.
“If you are a MEMS manufacturer and you are not involved in VR, then you should be,” McCauley said to the capacity crowd at the MEMS Executive Congress (MEC). McCauley was already a millionaire from inventing Guitar Hero and co-owning a factory in China before the Oculus sale.
“I’ve already given away all my money from the Facebook buyout to my favorite charity and now I’m inventing a VR headset that will be light years ahead of them all and that you can license for free–if you agree to donate some of your profits to my favorite charity,” McCauley told EE Times in an exclusive interview.
Now president of McCauley Labs (Livermore, Calif.), his staff of five are busy re-inventing VR by using MEMS inertial sensors to detect head orientation, and adding MEMS micro-mirrors to create a super-small infrared “lighthouse” the frees the user to walk around experiencing virtual realities as high-resolution as the real world and with no trace of the “simulator sickness” that the Facebook Oculus models can cause, McCauley told EE Times.
Today Valve Corp. (Bellevue, Wash.) has a VR headset that is “10 generations ahead anything available today”, according to McCauley, by using more accurate head tracking by replacing the camera Oculus uses with a rotating motor driven line-laser.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printing Pen and CNC Machine Yields Cheap 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/11/3d-printing-pen-and-cnc-machine-yields-cheap-3d-printer/
3D printers are ubiquitous now, but they’re still prohibitively expensive for some people. Some printers cost thousands, but even more inexpensive options aren’t exactly cheap. [Daniel] decided that this was unacceptable, and set out to make a basic 3D printer for under $100 by including only the bare essentials needed for creating anything out of melted plastic.
3D printers are essentially four parts: a bed, filament, and a hot end and extruder. In a previous project, [Daniel] used parts from old CD drives to create a three-axis CNC machine which he uses for the bed. To take care of the hot end and extruder, he is using a 3D printing pen which he mounts to the CNC machine and voila: a 3D printer!
How To Make A Cheap 3D Printer
http://www.tinkernut.com/portfolio/how-to-make-a-cheap-3d-printer/
Hack old CD-ROMs into a CNC Machine – Part 1: The Hardware
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFo5MKSrM-k
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frank Makes A CNC Table
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/11/frank-makes-a-cnc-table/
[Frank Howarth] is one of the big guns when it comes to woodworking on YouTube, and now he’s doing something completely unlike his other builds. He’s building a gigantic CNC machine. Yes, we’ve seen dozens of CNC router builds, but this one adds a few nifty features we’ve never seen before.
The CNC Build: Part 1: All About That Base
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNvoFTV5tIE
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Better, Open Hardware Keyboard
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/13/a-better-open-hardware-keyboard/
A keyboard is the most important tool in the modern desk jockey’s arsenal but, despite this fact, millions of people suffer the $10 membrane keyboards that shipped with the computer they got a decade ago. It’s a terrible way to live your life, but for those of us who are enlightened, there’s another way: mechanical keyboards. [Mário] over at the Bit Bang Theory just built his own mechanical keyboard with his own homebrew firmware and a few interesting features that aren’t found in other open hardware keyboard projects.
HacKeyboard, an open hardware mechanical keyboard – part I
http://www.thebitbangtheory.com/2015/11/hackeyboard-an-open-hardware-mechanical-keyboard-i/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autonomous RiverBot Goes 15 Meters Deep
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/15/autonomous-riverbot-goes-15-meters-deep/
If you want to make a submersible robot (or, really, any robot) you can either design it for a specific mission, or you can try to make it general purpose. The researchers at the Cura Oceanus Foundation opted for the latter approach with RiverBot, a community-designed unmanned submersible.
RiverBot(TM): Making the World a Better Place With Tech
http://www.curaoceanus.org/projects/riverbot/
RiverBot(TM) is the name of a community designed and built autonomous underwater robot that is capable of operating in water up to 15 meters deep. This is the first of several robots we will be building.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eyedriveomatic Wins the 2015 Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/14/eyedriveomatic-wins-the-2015-hackaday-prize/
Eyedriveomatic are the Grand Prize winners of the 2015 Hackaday Prize. The winners were just announced on stage at the Hackaday Superconference, and awarded by the prize Judges. Eyedriveomatic is a non-invasive method of adding eye-control to powered wheelchairs.
Eye Controlled Wheelchair!
https://hackaday.io/project/5426-eye-controlled-wheelchair
Open source system to drive powerchairs by eye movement alone – allowing independent mobility when use of a person’s hands isn’t an option.
People who have totally lost the use of their muscles cannot operate their own wheelchairs.
The Eyedrivomatic system takes advantage of existing eye tracking technology to allow users to drive their chairs again – using only their eyes. It’s a low cost, open source way to give mobility back to people who thought they had lost it forever.
The scale of the problem is enormous. ALS is responsible for only a tiny fraction of the people in this situation, yet there are five thousand ALS sufferers at any one time in the UK alone, and twenty thousand in the US.
The Concept
To create an inexpensive and accessible way for people with motorised wheelchairs to take control of their mobility via eye movement, using open source methods as much as possible.
Two years in development, eyedrivomatic now works well, and is;
Easy to use
Safe
Expandable – the system is able to control other external devices according to the needs of the user
Totally open, both open hardware and open source software
Capable of being built at home – by an unskilled person
Soon to be a manufactured product as well
At the time of writing this (23rd October 2015), we have reached Mk6 on the Electronic Hand, and Mk4 on the Brain Box. The hardware finally reached the point where Steve actually said, “OK, the hardware is good enough.”, which is praise indeed, coming from him!
Production
Disability equipment is usually extremely expensive. For this reason, we are not going down the traditional commercial manufacturing route yet. Instead we are starting with a local, low volume production system. Eyedrivomatic has been designed and optimised with this in mind. With off the shelf components, and 3d printed parts, construction is simple, and requires no specialist tools. We aim to encourage people worldwide to manufacture eyedrivomatic systems in their garages.
Software
Eyedrivomatic’s software is in two parts, firmware for the arduino in the brain box, and a pc application which I have written in processing. Many eyegaze users will have software on their computer for communication and computer control.
Open Source
Our intention from the beginning was that Eyedrivomatic should be an entirely open project. To this end;
All the software for the eyedrivomatic project is copyright 2015 Patrick Joyce, and is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3.
All the hardware for the eyedrivomatic project, and the 3d design files and stl files necessary to produce the hardware are copyright 2015 Patrick Joyce, and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC says it’s legal to hack your router
http://betanews.com/2015/11/15/fcc-says-its-legal-to-hack-your-router/
Router hacking is a geek staple. No computer geek worth his or her salt would consider running vanilla firmware — the likes of Tomato are where it’s at. A little while back, the FCC suggested plans to ban such hacking via open source firmware… or at least that’s how it seemed.
The commission has now acknowledged that there was more than a little confusion from people who believed that manufacturers would be encouraged to prevent router modifications. The FCC wants to make it clear that most router hacking is fine and will remain fine. With a few exceptions, that is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
11 Views of Hax Demo Day
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328260&
The first startup accelerator to focus on hardware formerly called Haxlr8r, now simply Hax, debuted its latest class of graduates this week. They showed the increasing breadth and sophistication of this emerging breed of companies, but whether any of them will ever hit the big time remains to be seen.
The star of the show was a former graduate, Dave Rauchwerk, who might be considered its most likely to succeed. After building a toy camera that flopped, he stumbled upon a new and much more significant idea — the $9 computer.
“The big chip manufacturers we hear about everyday are terrified because we have made it much easier for people to get to market,” he said holding up his miniature board to a packed house of young entrepreneurs and investors.
Rauchwerk won celebrity status for his Next Thing Co. when his Chip board was announced in May, undercutting what has been a flood of low-cost Arduino, Beagle Bone and Raspberry Pi boards. Over the course of the summer his Kickstarter campaign raised $2,071,927 from 39,560 backers.
Indeed, by one count more than 50 hardware accelerators are operating around the world, perhaps a dozen of them here in San Francisco.
China’s emerging smartphone giant, Xiaomi, has been one of the latest players, investing in as many as 30 such startups to date. It bought the company behind the Segway scooter, rolled out a version at less than half its $6,000 cost then did the same with a telepresence robot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
News for makers.
Arduino, DIY, ESP8266, tools and more.
http://makernews.info/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday SuperCon Marks the Dawn of Something New
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/16/hackaday-supercon-marks-the-dawn-of-something-new/
Best. Conference. Ever. And believe it or not, I don’t think this is a biased opinion.
I am of course talking about the Hackaday SuperConference – the first full-blown hardware conference we’ve ever put together. I had very high hopes going into this and was still utterly astounded by how the two-day event turned out. Let me give you three reasons why it was spectacular: The people, the people, the people.
Talk about the most amazing group of people to spend 30 hours with over two days. The 300 people who packed Dogpatch Studios to capacity made it impossible to have anything but a great time at the conference.
We blocked out a few places in the schedule for lightning talks. Everyone was encouraged to sign up and participate. Since the majority of people at the conference brought hardware to show off, these blocks were as popular as the more formal presentations.
This is also how the badge hacking was presented. Conference badges were PCBs with no components. Off to the side were tables strewn with components and tools so that you could work on your badge and watch the talks at the same time. Those seats were constantly occupied.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Square Inch Project
A contest to create awesome, useful square inch boards.
https://hackaday.io/project/7813-the-square-inch-project
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make a PCB that fits into a 1×1 inch square, has a purpose, and is cool.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Story of the 2015 Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/19/the-story-of-the-2015-hackaday-prize/
This week we’ve covered the Grand Prize and Best Product winners of the 2015 Hackaday prize: Eyedrivomatic and Vinduino. These are both amazing and worthy projects, but the real story of the Hackaday Prize isn’t about the prizes: it’s about nine months during which talented people worked toward a common good.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crowdsourcing Reference Designs from Github
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/19/crowdsourcing-reference-designs-from-github/
A ton of open source hardware projects make their way onto Github, and Eagle is one of the most popular tools for these designs. [TomKeddie] came up with the idea of searching Github for Eagle files containing specific parts at Hacker Camp Shenzhen, and a method of scraping useful ones.
The folks over at Dangerous Prototypes used this to build the Github Hardware Search tool. Simply enter a part number, like “ATmega328P”, and you’ll receive a list of the designs using that part. You can then study the design and use it as a reference for your own project. You can also snag library files for the parts.
http://dev.dangerousprototypes.com/parts
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Best Conference Badge Hacking You’ve Ever Seen
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/20/the-best-conference-badge-hacking-youve-ever-seen/
As with any proper hardware con, the Hackaday Supercon needed a badge, and preferably one that was electronic. This conference centered around hardware creation, and the badge was no exception.
Designed on a tight timeline, it was possible to deliver a PCB badge for the attendees but it didn’t include microcontrollers, FPGAs, or software defined radios. This blank slate was the foundation for a completely unconstrained freestyle electronics soldering session.
More than a few people took up the challenge of hacking their badge, and despite a strange pitch for the through holes (0.230″), and traces that didn’t go anywhere, there were some amazing builds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IPC Announces Soldering Competition Winner
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328328&
IPC has announced the winner of its hand-soldering compeitin at Productronica 2015. Most competitions are held outside North America.
Today, November 23, IPC announced the winner of its hand soldering competition, held at Productronica during the week of November 11-13, 2015. The grand prize winner was Jacek Majchrzak of PartnerTech in Myslowice, Poland. Majchrzak won a cash prize of €300 and a spot at the IPC Hand Soldering World Championship at IPC APEX EXPO 2016 in Las Vegas
With so many electronic products essentially impossible to fix, you might think that soldering is a lost skill. I don’t think so. For example, you can learn to solder every Wednesday night at Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville, Mass. as part of its Circuit Hacking Night. I attribute the demand for soldering knowledge to the maker movement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 Early Stage Technology Innovations Point to Future
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328320&
The electronics industry is evolving quickly, with innovations in emerging technologies, including printed electronics, wearable technology, 3D printing, sensors, energy harvesting, electric vehicles and new advanced materials, appearing at an astonishing rate. Last week, at the IDTechEx Show! in Santa Clara, CA, ten such startup companies showcased their tech as part of IDTechEx Launchpad.
“The show will have over 200 exhibitors.” Raghu Das, chief executive officer of market research firm IDTechEx told EBN in an interview before the show. “However, there are many young companies who raise money on Kickstarter or come out of a university, and we wanted to be able to put them in front of the 3,000 or so people who will be at the show,” Das said. “They probably couldn’t do that on their own. So we decided to take the 10 most exciting embryonic technologies and let people see what they can do. All of them are bringing prototypes.”
At the showcase, which is sponsored by global semiconductor maker Qualcomm, ten early-stage companies will share prototypes and demonstrations of products. In addition, Qualcomm will announce and demonstrate its printed electronics-enabled golf performance sensor.
Some of the most exciting include new ways of thinking about electronic components. For example, some new technologies allow circuits to be printed or drawn using special ink, which allows for the creation of larger surface areas and more affordable price points. Others are stretchable or transparent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 Billion Devices And A Sega Genesis Run Java
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/23/3-billion-devices-and-a-sega-genesis-run-java/
A few years ago, [Mike]’s friend gave him an old Sega Genesis with the very cool and somewhat rare SegaCD drive attached. The SegaCD gave him an idea – while it’s not easy to burn a cartridge and play homebrew games on a real Genesis console, everyone has a CD burner somewhere. [Mike] began writing his demo and then realized adding Java would be easy on the 68000. The result is Java on three billion devices and a Sega Genesis.
This project is built around Java Grinder a Java byte code compiler that will compile classes, factories, and all the horrible Java design.design.pattern.pattern.patterns() into assembly language. Already, there are a lot of platforms supported by Java Grinder, including the Commodore 64, the TI99, and thanks to some work from [Joe Davisson], the Apple IIgs
Java Grinder
http://www.mikekohn.net/micro/java_grinder.php
Tomi Engdahl says:
HydraBus
https://hackaday.io/project/180-hydrabus
The HydraBus is an open source multi-tool extensible hardware for researcher, hackers, students, embedded software developers.
The Hardware is evolutive with the help of “Shield” hardware extensions.
Standard Dangerous Prototypes PCB size DP6037_v1 (see http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Sick_of_Beige_basic_case_v1) (very small 60mm x 37mm size).
Features of the HydraBus board:
Programming firmware through USB DFU (without any debugger) with USB1 FS.
Debug/Programming through low cost SWD Debug connector (can be programmed/debugged using a low cost STM32F4 Discovery board for less than 20US$).
Two MicroUSB port (1 OTG and 1 Device/Host).
MicroSD slot with 4bit SD and SDIO mode support in hardware (up to 48MHz about 24MB/s).
Reset & User Button with User Led (can be disabled to reuse I/O for other stuff).
Breakout of all 44 I/O (some are used by MicroSD and USB 1&2).
MCU ARM 32-bit Cortex M4+FPU up to 168MHz & 1MB Embedded Flash (with power consumption of less than 100mA/3.3V with all peripherals enabled).
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Story of the 2015 Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/19/the-story-of-the-2015-hackaday-prize/
This week we’ve covered the Grand Prize and Best Product winners of the 2015 Hackaday prize: Eyedrivomatic and Vinduino. These are both amazing and worthy projects, but the real story of the Hackaday Prize isn’t about the prizes: it’s about nine months during which talented people worked toward a common good
Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2015 Hackaday Prize. Thinking about solving problems, using Open Design ideals to document and share ideas, and learning to work with one another in person or remotely has a profound effect on the world. These are the seeds for the breakthroughs of tomorrow. The next major accomplishment may come from someone who entered the Hackaday Prize, or a budding problem-solver following along in awe. Hackaday is proud to be a part of this movement of hackers, designers, artists, and engineers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Biomimicry Challenge: Hack Like Mother Nature, win $100k
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/26/biomimicry-challenge-hack-like-mother-nature-win-100k/
Hot on the heels of the 2015 Hackaday prize, with its theme of “Build stuff that matters”, comes another opportunity for hackers to make a difference. But you’ve got to think like Mother Nature for the 2016 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge.
wind chillThe aim of this challenge is to transform the global food system using sustainable approaches that emulate natural process. Entries must address a problem somewhere in the food supply chain, a term that could apply to anything from soil modification to crop optimization to harvest and storage technologies.
In addition to the Student category, the challenge has an Open category for teams of any composition.
http://challenge.biomimicry.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Measure, record, and view four channels of thermocouple temperature data with this open source Arduino™-compatible data logger.
http://paxinstruments.com/
The Pax Instruments T400 datalogger is an open source four-channel thermocouple temperature datalogger based on the Arduino™ Leonardo platform. It is ready to use out of the box with the features you want most. Measurements can be logged to MicoSD card, printed to serial port, and graphed. The T400 is a great tool for anything from live thermal process monitoring in the lab to long-term environmental data collection in the field.