# S7E4 Scott Heimendinger | Developing the World’s First Home-Kitchen Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2026-01-23
- Length: 59m
- Episode: 4
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef

## Summary

Scott Heimendinger, founder of Seattle Ultrasonics, details the six-year journey of developing the C2100 ultrasonic chef's knife, a device that uses high-frequency vibrations to reduce cutting force. He recounts his pivot from software engineering at Microsoft and IBM to culinary tech, including co-founding Sansaire and working at Modernist Cuisine and Anova. Heimendinger explains the technical hurdles of resonating an asymmetric knife blade, the failure of FEA simulations, and his low-cost testing methods using salt patterns and a U Factory robot arm to gather 100,000 data points on knife performance.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=0) Introduction and Career Pivot
- [3:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=209) From Microsoft to Sansaire and Modernist Cuisine
- [20:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=1222) The Ultrasonic Knife Concept and Prototyping
- [23:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=1418) Engineering Challenges: Resonance, Simulation, and Testing
- [40:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=2438) The Quantified Knife Project and Robot Testing
- [50:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef#t=3000) Entrepreneurial Struggles and Production Launch

## Topics

- [Prototyping & iteration](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/prototyping)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Test & measurement](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/test-and-measurement)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Seattle Ultrasonics (company)
- C2100 (product)
- Sansaire (company)
- Modernist Cuisine (company)
- Anova (company)
- Microsoft (company)
- IBM (company)
- U Factory (company)
- Fusion 360 (tool)
- laser Doppler vibrometer (tool)
- GitHub (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [136: Let's Try Out Some Broccoli](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-01-28-136-lets-try-out-some-broccoli) (Embedded.fm)
- [Ep 314: It's Pi, but Also PCBs in Living Color and Ultrasonic Everything](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2025-03-28-ep-314-its-pi-but-also-pcbs-in-living-color-and-ultrasonic-everything) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [Ep 119: Random Robot Writing, Slithering Snake Shenanigans, and Phased Array Phenomena](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2021-05-21-ep-119-random-robot-writing-slithering-snake-shenanigans-and-phased-array-phenom) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [184: Not Likely, Possible, or Safe](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-01-18-184-not-likely-possible-or-safe) (Embedded.fm)
- [Episode 204: The Maker Knife with Giaco Whatever](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2019-03-01-episode-204-the-maker-knife-with-giaco-whatever) (Making It)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-01-23-s7e4-scott-heimendinger-developing-the-worlds-first-home-kitchen-ultrasonic-chef. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Being an Engineer.