Hardware Podcasts

77: Goldfish, Fetch My Slippers!

Embedded.fm · 20 Nov 2014 · 1h 11m

What this episode covers

Sophie Kravitz, founder of Mix Engineering, discusses her work on the 'Wobble World' VR project using the Oculus Rift DK2, Unity, and Leap Motion, highlighting significant stability and hardware issues with the DK2. She also details a goldfish training project involving a bean-break circuit and her involvement with BlueStamp Engineering, a high school program she helps evangelize to inspire future engineers. Kravitz reflects on her career path from English major to electrical engineer, her time as a hacker-in-residence at SparkFun, and her advocacy for quitting traditional jobs to pursue creative engineering.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
BlueStamp Engineering, SparkFun, Adafruit, Digiki
Products
Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, Microsoft Kinect
Chips
Nordic
Tools
Unity
Also
SkyMall

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 10m

    An Interview with Simone Giertz

    Simone Giertz, CEO of Artificial Stupidity and host at Tested, discusses her transition from a Maker in Residence at Punch Through to building 'shitty robots' for entertainment. She explains how combining comedy with hardware engineering helped her reach a mass audience, contrasting her approach with traditional educational content from companies like Adafruit and SparkFun. Giertz also details her experiences at CES, her struggles with mechanical engineering and sourcing parts for potential maker kits, and her philosophy on 'beginner's mind' in learning new skills like welding and 3D modeling.

    Prototyping & iterationIndustrial & consumer product design
    6 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 14m

    An Interview with Ben Krasnow, 8 years on

    Ben Krasnow, host of the Applied Science YouTube channel and a hardware engineer at Verily (Alphabet), discusses his career path from Valve to Google X and his approach to engineering. He details his work on an accommodating contact lens, the challenges of innovating in the distorted healthcare market, and his preference for 'just-in-time' learning over formal education. Krasnow also shares insights into his home lab setup, his transition to KiCad for PCB design, and specific experiments like replicating Vantablack and building an EDM machine.

    Careers & educationEDA & CAD tools
    9 chapters

  • Hackaday Podcast · 53m

    Ep086: News Overflow, Formula 1/3 Racer, Stand Up Rubber Duckies, and Useless Machine Takes a Turn

    Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss a wide range of news, including the engineering failure of a PG&E transmission line hook that caused the Camp Fire, and AutoDesk's controversial changes to Fusion 360's free license. They highlight several community hacks, such as Jan Derogi's 3D-printed prosthetic feet for rubber duckies, Keith 57,000's 1/3 scale hybrid Formula 1 RC car, and Alex's integration of a vintage Mitsubishi Visitel video conferencing unit with Zoom. The episode also covers a wooden disk player by Jay Bumstead, remote education tools, and a discussion on the potential for life on Venus based on phosphine gas detections.

    Debugging & failure analysisEDA & CAD tools
    9 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 25m

    An Interview with Scott Driscoll - Impacable Interdisciplinary Inventor

    Scott Driscoll of Curious Inventor discusses his journey from a mechanical engineer to a prolific YouTutor and hardware entrepreneur, detailing his decision to return to a full-time engineering role after struggling with the business side of his company. He explains the technical challenges of his V Meter product, including the high costs of blue LEDs and the unexpected $2,000 expense of FCC compliance testing, which required adding ferrites to pass EMC. Driscoll also describes his current work developing augmented reality applications for industrial training, using tools like Unity and SLAM to overlay instructions on equipment, while reflecting on the limitations of early wearable tech like Google Glass.

    PCB design & layoutIndustrial & consumer product design
    10 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 47m

    An Interview with Jeff Rowberg - Mini Module Master

    Jeff Rowberg, a Field Application Engineer at BlueGiga Technologies and creator of the KeyGlove Project, discusses the technical and business aspects of wearable computing. He details the use of BlueGiga's WT12 Bluetooth modules and the proprietary IRAP stack to enable flexible HID profiles for his glove, while also explaining his open-source I2C dev library for InvenSense sensors. Rowberg addresses the significant delays in his Kickstarter-funded KeyGlove project, citing the difficulty of integrating electronics with flexible fabrics and his new full-time role at BlueGiga.

    Wireless & RFCrowdfunding & preorders
    9 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Embedded.fm. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.