Prototyping & iteration
Product design & engineering
1,103 episodes across 47 shows cover prototyping & iteration. The shows that cover it most are Making It, Hackaday Podcast and Embedded.fm. The most recent, from 14 Oct 2026, is “Designing for Joy: Finding Meaning in Industrial Design with Daniela Garcia | S3E04” from Designing in the Wild.
Getting from idea to working prototype and iterating: breadboards, 3D printing, quick-turn parts, looks-like/works-like builds, user testing of prototypes.
1103 episodes from 47 shows, most relevant and most recent first.
1103 episodes
STL364: Good Design Goes Unnoticed
Konrad Sauer, founder of Sauer & Steiner Toolworks, discusses his transition from graphic design to high-end hand plane making, emphasizing that good design is unnoticed and feels right. He details the iterative design process for his…
How Protolabs turns CAD files into parts in under 24 hours
Marc Kermisch, CTO and AI Officer at Protolabs, explains how the company uses AI and simulation to turn CAD files into physical parts in under 24 hours across CNC machining, 3D printing, injection molding, and sheet metal. He details how…
Designing for Joy: Finding Meaning in Industrial Design with Daniela Garcia | S3E04
Industrial designer Daniela Garcia, who revitalized the Boston IDSA chapter and works with companies like G appliances and Medea, explains her design philosophy centered on 'joy' and reducing user stress. She details her workflow, which…
STL360: Veneer Glue—Stirred, Not Shaken
Steve Der-Garabedian, author of 'Veneering Essentials', joins hosts Vic and Ben to demystify veneering, discussing why it eliminates wood movement and extends resources like White Ash. The conversation covers practical techniques…
#393: Engineering MedTech Success: Simplifying Prototypes, Pivoting Strategy, and Creating Complex Designs with Justin Bushko
Justin Bushko, president of Concise Engineering and founder of MedTech Man, discusses engineering strategies for medical device startups and established players, emphasizing the importance of 'prototyping with purpose' to mitigate…
S7E16 Chad Walters | Constraints, Iteration, & Industrial Design in Product Development
Chad Walters, an industrial design leader with experience at companies like APR, LLC and Viking Range, LLC, discusses the role of industrial designers in product development, emphasizing user research, storytelling, and collaboration with…
506: How Do I Fit a Whale Into an Apartment Building?
Dmitry Grinberg, a software engineer known for running Linux on extremely constrained hardware, explains his projects including 8-pin Linux and Linux on the Intel 4004. He details how he emulates a MIPS processor on small microcontrollers…
Ep. 38 - Taking Prototypes to Production
Stephen Haus and Lucian Chea Hunt of Opulo discuss the Engineering Validation Test (EVT), Design Validation Test (DVT), and Production Validation Test (PVT) phases of new product introduction. They contrast the rigid, high-stakes processes…
#248 - How to Work with a Formulator with Rebecca Urciuolo from BevSource (FB Solutions Group)
Rebecca Urciuolo, a formulator with 23 years of experience at BevSource (FB Solutions Group), explains the critical importance of writing a detailed project brief and using reference products to guide beverage development. She details the…
Deep Dive into Arm’s Physical AI and Robotics Strategies with Drew Henry
Drew Henry, Executive Vice President of Arm’s Physical AI business unit, explains how Arm is shifting from component-level design to system-level architecture for robotics and autonomous vehicles. He details the critical engineering…
246. Future of Bone Repair Starts with a 3D Printer
The hosts discuss a breakthrough by researchers from ETH Zurich, Empa, and the University of Freiburg in creating a 3D printable bone scaffold that hardens at room temperature. They explain how this enzyme-driven process using alkaline…
S7E11 Brad & Aaron | How To Accelerate The Speed of Engineering (Episode 1 of 3)
Aaron Moncur, founder of Pipeline Design & Engineering, and guest Brad Hirayama discuss seven strategies to accelerate engineering speed without sacrificing quality. They emphasize using direct communication for urgent issues, asking for…
Industrial design prototyping vs simulations - IDology #21
Piotr Dalewski and Mikołaj Wiewióra of Mindsailors discuss the strategic balance between physical prototyping and computer simulations in industrial design. They explain that while prototypes validate ergonomics, assembly, and tactile…
S2 E5: Rapid Prototyping Deep Dive with Greg Paulsen
Greg Paulsen, Director of Applications, Engineering and Marketing at Xometry, discusses the complexities of rapid prototyping and the transition to mass production. He details the pros and cons of various 3D printing technologies…
Episode 109: Building robots at home - Dan Nicholson
Dan Nicholson, founder of MakerForge.tech, discusses his journey from a software engineer to building a large-scale open-source bipedal companion robot. He explains how he transitioned from a simple cube design to a complex, 3D-printable…
Why Electric Aviation Is Finally Becoming Possible | Anders Forslund
Anders Forslund, Co-founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace, explains how the company is developing the ES-30, a 30-passenger hybrid-electric regional aircraft, to decarbonize short-haul flights. He details the economic viability of the…
MicroPython with Matt Trentini
Matt Trentini, Principal Software Engineer at Planet Innovation, explains how his team uses MicroPython for professional embedded development, including Class B medical devices. He details the benefits of the interactive REPL and the Unix…
250. MIT’s Injectable Mini Liver Could Save Thousands of Lives
MIT researchers Professor Sangita Batia and post-doc Vardhan Kumar developed INSIGHT, an injectable 'satellite liver' using hydrogel beads and hepatocytes to support failing livers without surgery. The hosts discuss how this material…
Episode 117: Robots in orbit - Jeremy Hadall
Jeremy Hadall, robotics development lead at the Satellite Applications Catapult, explains the ISAM facility's mission to enable in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) to address space debris and sustainability. He details…
Fail culture in product design - IDology #16
Voytek Holysz and Mikołaj Wiewióra of Mindsailors discuss 'fail culture' in industrial design, arguing that embracing failure is essential for innovation. They use the metaphor of a toddler learning to walk to illustrate how early…
164: The 3 Prototyping Phases for New Product Development
Tim Uys, Head of Design at Mako Design + Invent, outlines the three critical phases of prototyping for hardware startups: mock, mechanical, and refined prototypes. He explains that starting with low-cost 3D printed mockups allows for rapid…
The Power of Proto Boards!
Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, and the Oxide Computer Company engineering team review a gallery of custom prototype boards built to accelerate the development of their rack-scale servers. The group discusses the evolution from the highly…
Going Big on Clean Energy with Small Fusion Reactors with Robin Langtry, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy
Robin Langtry, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy, explains the company's strategy of building the world's first fusion microreactor, which is roughly the size of a microwave. He details how his background in aerospace engineering at…
IDology #2 - Prototyping in product development
Anita Rogoża and Mikołaj Wiewióra from the industrial design studio Mindsailors discuss the critical role of prototyping in product development. They categorize prototypes by stage—proof of concept, looks-like, and works-like—and detail…
149: How to Professionally Prototype your Invention Idea
Mike Morton, former Senior Principal Industrial Designer at Dell, HP, and Sunbeam, explains the critical role of prototyping in product development. He details the progression from rough mock prototypes to refined mechanical and…
241. Moby Dick Finally Gets a Fitbit
The hosts discuss Ocean Alliance's innovative use of drones and 3D printing to study whale health non-invasively. They detail the evolution from the 'Snotbot' drone for snot analysis to 'smart darts' that act as Fitbits, monitoring whale…
The Ugly Truth About Prototyping a New Product
Host John Teel explains the iterative stages of prototyping electronic hardware, emphasizing that no single prototype suffices for mass production. He details the progression from low-cost Proof of Concept (POC) prototypes using…
Where it comes up0:15
199 - How Modeling Can Cut in Half for Combination Products, V&V 40, and Cutting Dev Time with Mark Burchnall
Mark Burchnall, Director of Engineering at PSN Labs, explains how mechanical modeling and simulation can reduce prototype iterations by 50% in combination product development. He details the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and…
Episode 153: Origami-inspired robots - Chenying Liu
Chenying Liu, a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, explains how embedding intelligence into robot bodies through geometry and materials enhances autonomy. She details the design of an origami-inspired robotic gripper that…
IDology #9 - NASAs TRL scale in product development
Voytek and Mikołaj from the industrial design studio Mindsailors discuss adapting NASA's Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale for product development to manage client expectations and clarify the definition of 'prototype'. They walk…
237. Vibe Manufacturing: MIT’s AI Text-to-Manufacturing System
The hosts discuss MIT's 'Vibe Manufacturing' system, an AI-driven platform that converts speech into physical objects using robotic assembly. They analyze the technology's pipeline, which integrates natural language processing, text-to-CAD…
Where it comes up13:34
S5E18.5 PDX: James Rogers
James Rogers, a staff design engineer at Johnson & Johnson specializing in surgical robotics, discusses his upcoming presentation at the Product Development Expo (PDX). He advocates for 'manufacturing for design,' arguing that…
Where it comes up10:29
Episode 147: Miniature living robots - Maria Guix
Maria Guix, a senior researcher at the University of Barcelona’s ChemInFlow lab, discusses her work on miniaturized living robots that combine synthetic structures with living muscle cells. She explains how these biohybrid entities…
223: Mechanical Prototype Parts vs. Pre-Production Parts for Plastic Inventions
Tim Uys, Director of Design at MAKO Design + Invent, explains the critical differences between mechanical and pre-production prototypes for plastic hardware. He details how mechanical prototypes validate function and material strength…
Episode 120: Evolving robots to explore other planets - Emma Hart
Emma Hart, a professor at Edinburgh Napier University, explains how evolutionary algorithms can evolve both the physical design and control systems of robots for planetary exploration. She describes a proof-of-concept project involving a…
S5E16 James Rogers | R&D Engineering Series – Interview 1 of 6
James Rogers, a mechanical engineer with a master's in additive manufacturing, discusses the unique mindset required for R&D engineering, emphasizing the need to embrace ambiguity and failure as learning opportunities. He contrasts R&D…
233. Reading a Fish’s Mind to Build Smarter Robots
Researchers from EPFL and Duke University reverse-engineered zebrafish navigation by using transparent larvae to map live neural activity, creating a simulation called SimZFish that matched real fish behavior. They validated this model by…
CELUS: Simplifying Circuit Design with AI
Mohammad Matin, Technical Sales Solution Architect at CELUS, explains how the company uses AI to streamline circuit design by generating block diagrams and schematics from manufacturer reference designs. He details how CELUS breaks down…
230. 3D Printing Gets the Hannah Montana Treatment
The hosts discuss 'SustainUp Print,' an open-source software tool from MIT that enables dual-extruder 3D printers to mix strong virgin oil-based plastics with weaker, eco-friendly recycled or biodegradable filaments. By using finite…
Leatherman Tool Group: Tim Leatherman
Tim Leatherman, founder of Leatherman Tool Group, explains how he spent seven years prototyping a folding multi-tool in his brother-in-law's garage before making his first sale. He details the rejection from knife companies like Gerber and…
Ep 384: OCR MOD Records, Magical PCBs, and the Gravity of Space Stations
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams discuss a wide range of DIY projects, including a 3D-printed thermoacoustic Stirling engine, optical reading of MOD tracker files, and home fabrication of LEDs. They also cover the history…
Live Recording: the Missing Data for Physical AI
Eduardo Torrealba of Lumafield, Vikram Pavate of Tacta Systems, and Pari Singh of Flow Engineering discuss how physical AI is bottlenecked by the lack of specific, non-public data. They argue that while software AI thrives on open internet…
Where it comes up17:56
522: Koo Koo Koogley
Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto discuss their current projects, including Bob's electric go-kart build, David's giant wooden cassette sculpture, and Jimmy's PVC kayak rack. They also share personal updates on vacations, car…
#006: Pebble’s Code is Free: Three Former Pebble Engineers Discuss Why It's Important (PART 2/2)
Brad Murray, former head of Pebble firmware, and Tomas, former developer evangelist at Pebble, discuss the risks and decisions behind building firmware for Pebble smartwatches. They detail a critical OTA update bug that nearly bricked…
123. Augmented Bad Drivers Turbocharge Autonomous Vehicle Development
Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss research from the University of Michigan that uses mixed reality to accelerate autonomous vehicle (AV) testing. By superimposing virtual 'bad driver' vehicles onto real physical cars on the MCity test…
Tool of the Week | Episode 32
Host Scott Wilcox demonstrates Alloy, an AI-powered prototyping tool that allows non-technical users to create interactive software prototypes from screenshots using natural language prompts. He shares a specific instance where he used…
Smart Water Heaters Could Replace New Power Plants | Luke Winston-Almanzar
Luke Winston-Almanzar, CEO and Co-founder of Reservoir, explains how his company’s intelligent heat pump water heater uses predictive software and industrial controls to optimize energy use and user comfort. He details the hardware…
Productive Pi Hacks, Amazing Arduino Inventions, New Hardware Galore!
The host of The Electromaker Show reviews several maker projects, including Matthias Wandel’s RP2040-based microwave current sensor and Alisdair Allan’s hack of an IKEA Vindriktning air quality monitor using a Raspberry Pi Pico W. The…
203: Design for Manufacturing for a New Invention Product
Paul Davis, a senior industrial designer at Mako Design, explains the critical importance of integrating Design for Manufacturing (DFM) early in the product development process. He contrasts basic visual CAD with manufacturing-grade CAD…
517: Imagine Making That Much Art
Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto discuss the value of working off-camera to learn new skills without the pressure of content creation. Jimmy experiments with pottery, learning clay chemistry and using Vectric Aspire to create…