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1373 Articles

Kipp Bradford Discusses The Entanglement Of Politics And Technology

November 17, 2020 by 8 Comments

Kipp Bradford wrapped up his keynote talk at the Hackaday Remoticon with a small piece of advice: don’t built bridges in the middle of the ocean. The point is that a bridge must connect two pieces of land to be useful and if technology isn’t useful to humanity, does it matter at all?

In reality we build bridges in the middle of the ocean all the time as each of us finds nonsensical reasons to learn new skills and try things out. But when it comes time to sit down and make an organized end goal, Kipp wisely asks us to consider the impact we’d like that work to have on the world. Equally importantly, how will we make sure completed work actually gets used? This is where the idea of politics in technology comes to play, in the sense that politics is a major mechanism for collective decision-making within a society.

Currently the CTO of Treau, and a Lecturer and Researcher at Yale, Kipp delivered this keynote live on November 7th. Kipp was an expert judge for the Hackaday Prize in 2017 and 2018. The video of his talk, and a deeper look at the topics, are found below.

Continue reading “Kipp Bradford Discusses The Entanglement Of Politics And Technology” →

Today At Remoticon: Sunday Live Events

November 8, 2020 by 2 Comments

Hackaday Remoticon is a worldwide virtual conference happening now!

Public Livestreams (all times are PST, UTC-8):

Hackaday YouTube and Facebook Live:

  • 12:00pm SDR Workshop
  • 2:15pm Hacker’s Guide to Hardware Debugging Workshop

Hackaday Twitch:

  • 11am SMD Challenge: Remoticon Attendees (Heat 2)
  • 1pm SMD Challenge: LayerOne Badge Team
  • 3pm SMD Challenge: Remoticon Attendees (Heat 3)

Hackaday Twitch Two:

  • 12:00pm Design Methodology Workshop
  • 12:45pm 0 to ASIC Workshop
  • 2:45pm IC Reverse Engineering
  • 3:30pm How to Create Guides People Will Actually Use

Today At Remoticon: Saturday Live Events

November 7, 2020 by 1 Comment

Hackaday Remoticon is a worldwide virtual conference happening now!

Public Livestreams (all times are PST, UTC-8):

Hackaday YouTube and Facebook Live:

Hackaday Twitch:

  • 6am SMD Challenge: Badge.team
  • 8:15am Solder Techniques Demonstration
  • 12pm SMD Challenge: Hackaday Writers
  • 2pm SMD Challenge: Remoticon Attendees (Heat 1)
  • 4pm SMD Challenge: Queercon Badge Team

Hackaday Twitch Two:

  • 12:00-2pm Demos
  • 5:30pm World Tour Robot

Today At Remoticon: Bring-a-Hack

November 6, 2020 by No comments

Last Chance Tickets:

General admission tickets for this weekend’s Hackaday Remoticon are only available for two more hours! These are free, but you need to have one to get in on tonight’s Bring-a-hack.

Today’s Live Events:

The Community Bring-a-Hack meetup for all general admission ticket holders begins today at 16:00 PST. Check the ticketing hub page for your link to the event which is being held on Remo.

Live streaming events open to the public will begin on Saturday at 10:00 PST with open remarks and Kipp Bradford’s keynote talk. Workshops and the SMD Challenge will live-stream all day. And Alfred Jones will present his keynote at 18:30 PST followed by the Hackaday Prize Ceremony. Follow our media channels to be notified of all live streams:

Flexible Actuators Spring Into Action

November 1, 2020 by 12 Comments

Most experiments in flexible robot actuators are based around pneumatics, but [Ayato Kanada] and [Tomoaki Mashimo] has been working on using a coiled spring as the moving component of a linear actuator. Named the flexible ultrasonic motor (FUSM), [Yunosuke Sato] built on top of their work and assembled a pair of FUSM into a closed-loop actuator with motion control in two dimensions.

A single FUSM is pretty interesting by itself, its coiled spring is the only mechanical moving part. An earlier paper published by [Kanada] and [Mashimo] laid out how to push the spring through a hole in a metal block acting as the stator of this motor. Piezoelectric devices attached to that block minutely distorts it in a controlled manner resulting in linear motion of the spring.

For closed-loop feedback, electrical resistance from the free end of the spring to the stator block can be measured and converted to linear distance to within a few millimeters. However, the acting end of the spring might be deformed via stretching or bending, which made calculating its actual position difficult. Accounting for such deformation is a future topic for this group of researchers.

This work was presented at IROS2020 which like many other conferences this year, moved online and became IROS On-Demand. After a no-cost online registration we can watch the 12-minute recorded presentation on this project or any other at the conference. The video includes gems such as an exaggerated animation of stator block deformation to illustrate how a FUSM works, and an example of the position calculation challenge where the intended circular motion actually resulted in an oval.

Speaking of conferences that have moved online, we have our own Hackaday Remoticon coming up soon!

Continue reading “Flexible Actuators Spring Into Action” →

Alfred Jones And Kipp Bradford To Deliver Keynotes At Remoticon Next Week

October 29, 2020 by No comments

There’s just one week left until Hackaday Remoticon, our online gathering in place of our traditional in-person conference during this time of social distancing. Joining the more than 20 hands-on workshops that make up the bulk of Remoticon, we’re excited to announce the two keynote speakers who will be taking the virtual stage: Alfred Jones and Kipp Bradford.

Tickets to see these keynote talks, to watch the SMD Challenge, to see hardware demos, and to take part in the show and tell are free, so get yours today!

 

Alfred Jones

Alfred Jones

Head of Mechanical Engineering at Lyft’s Self-Driving Division

Alfred Jones is the Head of Mechanical Engineering at Lyft’s level 5 self-driving division. Level 5 means there are no humans involved in operating the vehicle and it is still capable of driving anywhere a human could have. What goes into modifying a vehicle for this level of self-driving? What processes does his team use to deliver safe automation? And will cars in the near future completely get rid of the driver’s seat? Alfred knows and we’ll be hanging on his every word!

Kipp BradfordKipp Bradford

CTO fo Treau

Kipp Bradford is the CTO of Treau, a company bringing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) into the information age. These systems contribute as much as 20% of global emissions each year, so even small efficiency gains stand to have a huge impact. The industry has remained nearly unchanged for decades, and Kipp is at the forefront of evolving the hidden systems found in nearly every building. Will the air conditioner of tomorrow make the one we have today look like a rotary telephone? We look forward to hearing what Kipp has to say about it.

We’re so excited to have these two phenomenal speakers who have also both been involved as expert judges in the Hackaday Prize (Alfred in 2020, Kipp in 2017 and 2018). Help us show our appreciation by packing the virtual lecture halls for their talks on Saturday, November 7th! Get your free ticket now.

A Double Shot Of Vintage Computing This Weekend

October 8, 2020 by 1 Comment

Going anywhere interesting this weekend? No, of course you aren’t. None of us are. So why not tune your computer or smartphone to the online stream of one of the virtual Vintage Computer Festivals that will be taking place between October 10th and 11th. Granted only one of them is in English, but we’ve often thought of blinky lights as something of a universal language anyway.

Vintage Computer Festival East, which normally would have happened in the Spring, has finally decided that 2020 is a wash for any in-person meetings and has decided to switch over to virtual. Interestingly, it sounds like they’ll be live streaming at least some of the exhibitor tables from the InfoAge museum in New Jersey where the physical event would have been held. So from an attendee perspective, the virtual event should be a bit closer to the real thing than if everyone had to figure out their own streaming setups from home. Presentations will run from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern on both days.

On the other side of the globe, Vintage Computing Festival Berlin will be broadcasting their own exhibitions, workshops, and lectures. In an interesting use of the virtual format, they’ll be giving viewers an intimate look at vintage computers and technology that’s held in private collections, museums, or otherwise inaccessible storage and research facilities. Content will be streaming from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM CEST on both days, with a musical performance overnight.

While there’s an understandable tendency to bemoan the trend of moving events online in the face of COVID-19, there are certainly situations where the format can actually bring you more content than you’d have access to otherwise. Especially when they end up being free, as is the case with both of these Festivals. We’re still eagerly awaiting the point where we can get back to attending these events in person, but we certainly aren’t complaining when so many incredible people are willing to put on these presentations without seeing a dime.