Supercon Talks That Inspire You To Take On Something New

There’s wealth of activities at the Hackaday Superconference but we’ve saved a few for today’s announcement that will inspire you to take on something new and different. Check out the eight talks below that will push you to try the unexpected, to look at old things in a new way, and to propel your hardware adventures for another year.

This is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops as final confirmations come in. Supercon will sell out so grab your ticket now before it’s too late.

Samy Kamkar
Ultra Low Cost, Low Power, Low Weight, Light-up Mesh Networkings

How to “float” a mesh network with light-up balloons in the air without re-powering.

Carl Bugeja
Building Motors from PCBs

Ongoing design and prototyping experiments that use Printed Circuit Boards (either rigid or flexible) as a coil in conjunction with rare earth magnets to create interesting motors and actuators.

Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron
Hacker Calculus

Travel back to Isaac Newton’s work to rethink calculus and make it intuitive using 3D printed open-source designs.

Rob Ryan-Silva
Making it Matter for Developing Countries

Building hardware in support of foreign aid projects. Learn what considerations really matter when designing for developing country contexts.

Dominic Spill
Ridiculous Radios

RF engineers put great effort into crafting high quality radio systems. I am not one of those engineers. Experimenting with radio protocols using SDR.

Michael Rigsby
Connect the Dots; Choices Make a Life

How does life unfold if you create things? Nothing created is wasted — following your dreams will lead you somewhere (maybe not where you planned), but to a good place. How I quit my engineering job and built interesting things as a career.

Hunter Scott
Why Phased Arrays Are Cool and How to Build One

At the intersection of the two black arts of RF engineering and antenna design is the phased array. But don’t worry, they’re not as hard to understand as you might think.

 

Charles Alexanian
Small Scale Vacuum Tube Construction

Showing the process for the construction of vacuum tubes. Tubes will be built and tested on site using glass working torches and other specialized tools

We Want You at Supercon!

The Hackaday Superconference is a can’t-miss event for hardware hackers everywhere. Join in on three amazing days of talks and workshops focusing on hardware creation. This is your community of hardware hackers who congregate to hack on the official hardware badge and on a slew of other projects that show up for the fun. Get your ticket right away!

Supercon: How Many Hardware Talks Can Be Packed Into One Conference?

How can we fit so many impressive talks onto two stages at the Hackaday Superconference? We’ll be bursting at the seams in November as the hardware world gathers in Pasadena for this annual pilgrimage. This year’s Supercon will have more talks and workshops than ever before!

This is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops as final confirmations come in. Supercon will sell out so grab your ticket now before it’s too late.

Ken Shirriff
Studying Silicon: Reverse Engineering Integrated Circuits

From the outside, integrated circuits are mysterious black boxes. Here’s how to open up some famous analog and digital chips including 8008 microprocessor, 555 timer, the first FPGA chip, Intel’s first RAM, the 76477 sound effects chip, and a counterfeit RAM chip.

Jennifer Wang
Building IMU-based Gesture Recognition

If you combine IMUs with machine learning (ML), you can detect gestures! Experimenting with these devices that sense both motion and orientation is a great way to get ML into your hacker toolkit.

Michael Schuldt
Adventures in Manufacturing Automation

A software engineer explores manufacturing automation, featuring complex software solutions and redemption in the form of reusable hardware components.

Adam McCombs
A Hacker’s Guide to Electron Microscopy

Working on electron microscopes means learning about everything from analog and digital circuit repairs, to how to rig and transport scopes, servicing 120KV+ high voltage tanks, and working on complex high vacuum systems.

Justin McAllister
Simple Antennas to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse

From $10 USB software defined radios to cheap imported transceivers, it’s easier than ever to have a multi-purpose radio in your lab. Low cost antennas can be built by beginners easily to send and receive radio signals from frequencies covering worldwide HF to local VHF, UHF, and microwave.

Alex Glow
What Went Wrong with Archimedes (the Robot Owl)?

Building a wearable, AI-powered robotic owl, is both easier and harder than it looks. Explore the challenges of 3D printing, coding, and how to confront them with creativity.

Kerry Scharfglass
The Economics of Conference Badges at Medium Scale

Discover manufacturing processes and make decisions with an eye towards economics. Buying 30,000 RGB LEDs, using big red arrows to communicate through a translator, and more!

 

Jeremy Hong
Electronic Warfare: A Brief Overview of Weaponized RF Designs

Whether you are trying to avoid having a multi-million dollar fighter jet from being shot down or avoid a speeding ticket from law enforcement , the same radar and electronic warfare equations and concepts apply.

We Want You at Supercon!

The Hackaday Superconference is a can’t-miss event for hardware hackers everywhere. Join in on three amazing days of talks and workshops focusing on hardware creation. This is your community of hardware hackers who congregate to hack on the official hardware badge and on a slew of other projects that show up for the fun. Get your ticket right away!

Supercon On The Rise: More Amazing Talks Revealed

The drum beat of the Hackaday Superconference grows louder. Are you ready for it? We’re spending the week revealing the talks and on our third day we’re barely half-way through. Check out the incredible speakers who will be at Supercon to share tales of hardware creation.

This is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops as final confirmations come in. Supercon will sell out so grab your ticket now before it’s too late.

Jeroen Domburg
Magic Paintbrush: Everyone Can Paint with Printer Cartridges

Always wanted to paint like Bob Ross, but have the artistic skills of a wet cardboard box? Perhaps you can be helped by a printer cartridge and some electronics.

Bryce Salmi
3D Printing An Orbital Class Rocket

Challenging traditional manufacturing techniques used to build orbital class rockets. Here’s how Relativity Space 3D prints rocket engines (104 tests already) and avionics.

Sarah Petkus
Sensing and Indicating a Sensual State

“SHE BON” can sense and indicate the wearer’s level of arousal/excitement. It explores ways in which we can use our bio-data to communicate aspects of our being that would otherwise go unnoticed, as well as how technology can help us add another layer of texture to how we express our individuality.

Zach Fredin
Novelty Soldering

Novel soldering techniques for building art, prototypes, and short hand-built production runs using techniques like SMT cordwood, carved FR4, and small scale free-air.

Kelly Ziqi Peng
Diffractive Optics for Augmented Reality

Learn to design optical elements like diffractive waveguides (Magic Leap, Hololens, Akonia, Digilens), and electronically controlled elements that can changing depth in real-time. More importantly, learn how to make your own with accessible machine shop equipment.

Brett Smith
Why Do It the Hard Way?

Microcontrollers have lots of built-in functionality that goes unused because long datasheets can be overwhelming. That ends now.

Chris Gammell
Improve Your Circuit Toolbox

Simple designs will save your next product if you know which circuits to piece together. Utility circuits practical for everyday electronics.

 

Arsenijs Picugins
DIY Linux Portables

From powering it efficiently, to software constraints, picking the right hardware, and connecting it all in a fail-safe way, know the pitfalls of designing a Linux-powered portable.

We Want You at Supercon!

The Hackaday Superconference is a can’t-miss event for hardware hackers everywhere. Join in on three amazing days of talks and workshops focusing on hardware creation. This is your community of hardware hackers who congregate to hack on the official hardware badge and on a slew of other projects that show up for the fun. Get your ticket right away!

Eight More Speakers You’ll See At Supercon

Level-up your hardware chops at the Hackaday Superconference. We’re delighted to share more of the amazing speakers who are headed to Pasadena in just a few weeks. Scroll down for eight incredible talks that will inform, inspire, and excite the engineering muse inside of you.

This is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops as final confirmations come in. Supercon will sell out so grab your ticket now before it’s too late.

Kitty Yeung
Tech-Fashion Designs and the Wearables Industry

Driven by creative designs, the wearables industry has tremendous opportunities but also faces significant challenges in scaling and scientific research. Building programmable garments and what the future will bring.

Erika Earl
How to Stay Grounded When You Have Zero Potential

Why “ground” is critical and important for developing electronic hardware and how to approach a grounding scheme in your designs.

David Prutchi
DIY Ultraviolet Photography

Modifying cameras, building lenses, and selecting filters to see like the bees. Exploring ultraviolet spectrum for the artistic and technically-minded.

Brad Luyster
Communication, Architecture, and Building Complex Systems for SPAAACE

Building the first dual-rotor modular centrifuge to fly on the ISS. Ingenuity and standing on the shoulders of giants to build complex systems.

Estefannie
Daft Punk Is Playing In My Helmet

A whirlwind tour of tools and techniques for fabricating amazing reproductions in the home workshop; electronics, vacuum forming, 3D printing, and sooooo much sanding bring a faithful Daft Punk Helmet clone to life.

Scott Swaaley
Lessons Learned in Designing High Power Line Voltage Circuits

Practical tips for designing with high-power line voltage circuits to make AC design and tinkering safe, effective, and just as cheap as DC.

Alex Hornstein
Hacking the Lightfield

Taking holographic photos and video with regular cameras and panache. Custom photo rigs and the crazy problem of making a lightfield video rig.

Ted Yapo
Dealing with a Cheap Spectrum Analyzer

A surprisingly simple circuit, some interesting math,
and an article in the inaugural edition of the Hackaday Journal of What You Don’t Know.

We Want You at Supercon!

The Hackaday Superconference is a can’t-miss event for hardware hackers everywhere. Join in on three amazing days of talks and workshops focusing on hardware creation. This is your community of hardware hackers who congregate to hack on the official hardware badge and on a slew of other projects that show up for the fun. Get your ticket right away!

Just A Taste Of The Talks At Supercon

The Hackaday Superconference is taking on a life of its own. Speaker selection is done and invitations are on the way out. Below is a taste of the confirmed talks in store for you this November in Pasadena.

This is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops as final confirmations come in. Supercon will sell out so grab your ticket now before it’s too late.

Ben Krasnow
Depositing copper circuitry and optical displays onto 3D-printed parts

Producing printed circuits on plastic mechanical parts can be accomplished with a standard laser cutter and a handful of chemicals available from online retailers.

Ruth Grace Wong
Firmware From the Firehose

Practical tips for people who don’t know anything about firmware for deciphering the code and tracking down bugs.

Amie Danielle Dansby
Swords and High Voltage: Creating 3D Printing Designs for Electronics Props

You can easily bring digital video game assets to the human world with 3D printing, but what about modifying files, or adding electronics?

Sam Zeloof
Home Chip Fab: Silicon IC Fabrication in the Garage

IC and semiconductor fabrication techniques, tools, and processes that allow for mid 1970’s era device fabrication on a small budget in the home workshop.

Zach Archer
Live Coding a 40-Foot LED Sign

This is the story of how the massive 500-watt LED Toorcamp sign was designed, developed, and constructed inside of 3 weeks.

Leigh Johnson
Portable Deep Object Detection

The fundamentals of deep learning modules and object detection using Tensorflow and Keras on a Raspberry Pi.

We Want You at Supercon!

The Hackaday Superconference is a can’t-miss event for hardware hackers everywhere. Join in on three amazing days of talks and workshops focusing on hardware creation. This is your community of hardware hackers who congregate to hack on the official hardware badge and on a slew of other projects that show up for the fun. Get your ticket right away!

Workshops Announced For Hackaday Belgrade

Hackaday is hosting a full conference in Belgrade, Serbia, on 26 May. Today we’re excited to announce the workshops that will take place at Hackaday Belgrade. Workshop tickets are available now, but space is extremely limited and we expect these workshops to fill up fast so purchase your ticket right now!

Details of each workshop are listed below. Topics this year include bringing art to your PCB designs, learning the fundamentals of e-textiles, and getting up-to-speed with FPGAs.

You must have a Hackaday Belgrade ticket in order to purchase a workshop ticket. This is our premier European conference, with the best hardware and technology culture you’ll find anywhere. We think of it as a Hacker Village that comes together for one incredible weekend in May. There will be a bar meetup the night before, talks and workshops all day on Saturday, followed by IDM and DJ sets during the hardware badge hacking which goes late into the night. In addition to the experience of being around a critical mass of excellent people, we’ll have refreshments and food throughout and the conference badge you’ll get is a piece of custom electronics for you to play with and hack on throughout the day.

It’s entertainment. It’s professional development. It’s the crowd of people you’ve always wanted to hang out with. This isn’t hype, it’s Hackaday Belgrade.

Creating Art in PCB

Brian Benchoff

This workshop will guide attendees through the process of creating art in PCBs. Topics covered will be the layer stackup of the modern PCB (copper, fiberglass, soldermask, and silkscreen), the current state-of-the-art using Chinese board houses, and how to implement graphics in PCB art using KiCad.

Interactive Poetic Glove

Lavoslava Benčić

In this e-textile workshop, participants will create a unique interactive wearable that generates sounds of various frequencies and responds to the touch (pressure). This includes learning about electronic elements and circuits with emphasis on the capacitive, conductive, and resistive properties of fabrics and yarns.

FPGA Development 101

Miodrag Milanovic

This workshop will show the capabilities of FPGA devices, providing an introduction into FPGA tools used and the Verilog hardware description language. We will go through prepared examples and show the differences in approach when doing design for FPGA and MCU.

Hackaday events always sell out so don’t wait to buy a ticket. Of all the things you could do this year, the Hackaday Belgrade Conference is one that’s worth disrupting your normal routine and making a pilgrimage — we “get” you and we want to see you at the con!

Get Hands-On At Supercon: Workshop Tickets Now Available

Build something cool and pick up new skills from the workshops at the Hackaday Superconference. Last week we announced all of the talks you’ll find at Supercon, and starting today you can reserve your spot at one of the workshops.

You must have a Superconference ticket in order to purchase a workshop ticket; buy one right now if you haven’t already. You can get mechanical with Haptics and Animatronics, take your product design from schematic to PCB and enclosure, brush up your embedded development on several choices of platform, make cell towers do your bidding, or dump way too many volts into a block of wood.

Space in these workshops is limited so make sure to sign up before all the seats are taken. The base price for workshops is $10 (basically a “skin in the game” price to encourage those who register to show up). Any tickets priced above that base is meant to cover the material expense of the workshop. Here’s what we have planned:

Embedded Programming with Black Magic and the Lights On

Piotr Esden-Tempski

Sunday Afternoon

Embedded systems programming has earned a bad reputation of being difficult to master. Especially in the open-source world, most people associate it with cut and pasted code that is difficult to debug. The usual tools we have to debug embedded systems are a blinking LED and, if we are lucky, printf statements through a serial port. In this self guided workshop we will show you how easy it can be to have full insight into your microcontroller using fully open source tools that are on par with expensive proprietary closed-source solutions.

Fun with High Voltage

Will Caruana

Sunday Morning

This workshop is about making Lichtenberg figures. A Lichtenberg figure is a piece of art though the multiplication of a few thousands of volts to burn wood. We will cover the science behind this art form as well as the safety and lastly we will be getting hands on experience in being able to using high voltage transformers to make these burnings into wood and make coasters you can take home.

Designing Electronic Textures

Noah Feehan

Sunday Afternoon

Participants will learn the physics behind electrovibration, and then get to play/design for it using a new open-source board called WEFT. After the workshop, you’ll know how to deploy electrovibration in your projects, and understand the feeling of different waveforms.

End to End Product Design with Eagle and Fusion 360

Matt Berggren

Saturday Morning

In this session, we’ll take you end to end, from building a new schematic, simulating a circuit using EAGLE’s built-in SPICE simulator, laying out a PCB, generating mfg files and include some tips & tricks for milling boards and making stencils. We’ll also take you thru the link between electronics and mechanics using Fusion360. Alongside EAGLE we’ll build an enclosure and generate the mfg outputs for your mechanical design (CAM, 3D prints, etc). We’ll look at library management across electronics and mechanics and bidirectional synchronization between both of these domains. This is more than an intro, as Matt’s always good for some essential, oft-missed background and tips with EAGLE you might never have known otherwise.

AVR® MCU Effortless Design Workshop: Prototyping with Sensors and BLE

Bob Martin, Senior Staff Engineer

Sunday Morning

This hands-on training session will walk you through how to develop an embedded sensor node prototype with Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) connectivity. You will speed through configuration of the AVR microcontroller, sensor interface and communications interface setup by using Atmel Start, a graphical programming interface. This tool will generate libraries with simple APIs so you can spend time working on your solution instead of messing with registers or communication protocols.

Rapid Prototyping and Linux Kernel Development with the PocketBeagle® Platform

Robert Nelson

Saturday Afternoon

The newly introduced PocketBeagle® is an ultra-tiny-yet-complete Linux-enabled, community-supported, open-source USB-key-fob computer. By leveraging the Octavo SIP, the PocketBeagle offers complete BeagleBoard functionality and includes 512MB DDR3 RAM, 1-GHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, 2x 200-MHz PRUs, ARM Cortex-M3, 3D accelerator, power/battery management and EEPROM. The board offers lots of GPIOs, on board peripherals and various expansion capabilities via multiple headers and the Mikroelektronika click board interface. During this course you will learn about pin configuration, how to create a Linux distribution, reconfiguring io on the fly and how to leverage expansion modules. Attendees will leave with their very own PocketBeagle and a couple other surprises as well.

Cellular Connectivity for Your Next Hardware Project

Ben Strahan and Chris Gammell

Saturday Afternoon

Your project shouldn’t be constrained by the range of a WiFi signal. This workshop will show you how to connect to cellular towers via a serial link, get connected into the cloud and reliably start transmitting data. This workshop is suitable for people just getting started in the firmware ecosystem up through advanced firmware engineers. Advanced members of the workshop will have the opportunity to hack their conference badge to connect to cell towers. Sign up for this workshop to add another connection method to your hardware development toolbox.

An Introduction to Animatronics with Laser Cut Tentacle Mechanisms

Joshua Vasquez

Saturday Morning

Animatronics are way cool, but the hacker community rarely ventures farther than a few hobby servos and “dem-blinkin’ LEDs.” In this workshop, I’ll get you cozy with tentacle mechanisms that you can build with just a laser cutter and a few hand tools. There are three big takeaways from this workshop. We’ll build up a two-stage controller reusable in other projects, muscle up our vocabulary of off-the-shelf parts for cable mechanisms, and discover a few laser-cut design techniques.

Superconference workshops tend to sell out extremely quickly. Don’t wait to get your ticket.