Hardware Podcasts
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The Amp Hour

Electronics design, manufacturing, and entrepreneurial discussion with a focus on hardware development.

752 episodes · 914 hours · since 2010

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The Amp Hour is filed under hardware, electronics, engineering and interviews. Its most recent episode published on , so it is still actively publishing. Listeners have left 233 ratings on Apple Podcasts, averaging 4.8 out of 5.

Latest episodes

The 10 newest episodes of The Amp Hour, each with a summary and chapters.

  • · 1h 01m

    Seeed in Shenzhen with Eric Pan

    Eric Pan, founder and CEO of Seeed Studio, discusses the evolution of the Shenzhen hardware ecosystem from 2008 to the present, highlighting the shift from open-source prototyping to scalable physical AI and robotics. He explains how Seeed acts as a portal between developers and manufacturers, leveraging local supply chains to support projects like the Micro:bit and robotics kits. Pan emphasizes the importance of repurposing consumer electronics components, such as e-paper and Rockchip processors, for open-source hardware, and outlines Seeed's strategy of helping innovators move up the value chain rather than just providing basic PCB services.

    Scaling productionMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    7 chapters

  • · 1h 03m

    The Onio Batteryless Vision with Kjetil Meisal

    Kjetil Meisal, CEO and co-founder of Norwegian semiconductor startup ONiO, discusses the ONiO.zero, a batteryless microcontroller powered by ambient energy harvesting. He explains the chip's custom RISC-V architecture, multi-protocol 2.4 GHz radio, and ultra-low power design that enables 'stick and forget' IoT applications. Meisal highlights use cases in agriculture, smart home infrastructure, and sustainable healthcare, emphasizing the elimination of battery waste through energy harvesting and biodegradable packaging partnerships.

    Microcontrollers & dev platformsBatteries & low-power design
    10 chapters

  • · 1h 05m

    The Walmart Greeter of Electronics

    Dave Jones of EEVblog and Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics discuss the shift toward practical engineering education at universities like the University of Sydney, the rise of open-source robotics kits like the Seeed Studio SO-101 and Hugging Face's Micro Duck, and the impact of AI tools like Astra GPT Six on PCB design. They explore how AI is changing the learning curve for young engineers, with Jones mentoring his employee Dylan on voltage regulator selection and Gammell positioning himself as a welcoming 'Walmart greeter' for new hobbyists entering the electronics space.

    AI & machine learningCareers & education
    7 chapters

  • · 1h 06m

    Perpetual Wearable Biosensing with Andy Kong

    Andy Kong, founder of Chargerless, explains how his pre-seed wearable biosensing device achieves perpetual operation using just one minute of daily sunlight. He details the system architecture, which relies on a deliberately underpowered microcontroller and custom-built analog front-end circuitry to minimize power consumption. The device samples biometric data, such as heart rate via PPG, at low frequencies to maintain battery life while offering features comparable to commercial trackers like the Apple Watch and Whoop. Kong also discusses his experimental 'Power over Skin' project, which uses human body communication to transmit milliwatts of power through the body for charging.

    Batteries & low-power designAnalog & power electronics
    10 chapters

  • · 58m

    Hands-on Physical AI with Kevin Cloutier

    Kevin Cloutier, North American Lead for Physical AI at a global engineering consulting firm, explains the transition from legacy, statically programmed industrial robots to modern systems using imitation learning and 'Physical AI.' He details how to build and calibrate the affordable $200 3D-printed SO101 robot arm using the LeRobot open-source framework or Intel’s Physical AI Studio, orchestrating complex robotic systems entirely on local edge hardware. Cloutier contrasts the high cost and complexity of humanoids with the practical utility of specialized arms, while discussing the democratization of AI through small language models and local inference on SOCs with integrated GPUs and NPUs.

    Robotics & autonomyAI & machine learning
    9 chapters

  • · 1h 22m

    E&M Reality Emerges with Robert Fennis

    Robert Fennis, creator of the open-source Python-based 3D electromagnetic solver EMerge, explains how to democratize RF simulation by providing an accessible alternative to expensive proprietary tools like HFSS and Ansys. He details the technical differences between Finite Element Method (FEM), Method of Moments, and FDTD solvers, emphasizing that FEM solves for electric fields in the space around conductors rather than just currents. Fennis shares practical advice for hardware developers, such as starting with simple antenna geometries, understanding that silk screen and right-angle traces can detune high-frequency designs, and leveraging LLMs to generate simulation scripts. He outlines a workflow for designing integrated Bluetooth antennas, stressing that 'good enough' matching is often sufficient for consumer applications due to the large dynamic range of receivers.

    PCB design & layoutWireless & RF
    9 chapters

  • · 55m

    The Focus Knob Works

    Dave Jones and Chris Gamble celebrate 16 years of The Amp Hour by launching a new static website built with Hugo, Claude, and Cloudflare Pages, featuring searchable transcripts and an animated SVG scope. They discuss the importance of startup naming for SEO, citing examples like 'X Trainer' and 'Drop Bear', and review new hardware including the RIGOL DNA 800 VNA and spectrum analyzer. The conversation also covers the free release of Microchip's PIC32 compiler, the debugging capabilities of the $10 RISC-V CH32V003, and the growing influence of AI tooling on hardware development.

    PCB design & layoutMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    7 chapters

  • · 1h 20m

    The Terahertz Frontier with Greg Charvat of Teradar

    Greg Charvat, CTO and co-founder of Teradar, explains how his company is developing terahertz-frequency radar chips to overcome the resolution limits of 77 GHz automotive radar and the weather sensitivity of LIDAR. He details the technical challenges of designing sensors on silicon, leveraging high-volume semiconductor fabs to create a competitive moat, and the importance of digital phased arrays for high-resolution imaging. Charvat also shares advice for hardware founders on avoiding the CEO trap and discusses Teradar's distributed engineering culture across San Jose, Boston, and Connecticut.

    Chips, FPGAs & semiconductorsWireless & RF
    9 chapters

  • · 1h 06m

    Space Age Bluetooth with Alex Haro

    Alex Haro, co-founder and CEO of Hubble, explains how his company has built a global tracking network using standard Bluetooth chips communicating directly with low-Earth orbit satellites. Haro details the technical innovation of using digital beamforming and custom waveforms to receive weak 2.4 GHz signals from space, allowing devices to function without GPS or cellular modems. The episode covers Hubble's hybrid terrestrial-satellite architecture, which leverages existing gateways and smartphone apps to provide enterprise-grade, real-time asset tracking and sensor data globally.

    Wireless & RFConnected products & IoT
    10 chapters

  • · 54m

    Boat Anchor Warehouse

    Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss a massive warehouse clearance of vintage test equipment from Maxervice in Melbourne, highlighting the challenge of selling 'boat anchor' gear. They analyze Texas Instruments' stealthy datasheet updates for the NE5532 op-amp, noting critical changes to supply voltage and ESD ratings that affect legacy designs. The conversation also covers the WCH CH224 USB-PD chip, local AI model deployment on AMD hardware, and Dave's experience with a Hyundai EV recall and a damaged Lovi Accutron watch.

    Chips, FPGAs & semiconductorsMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    8 chapters

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