503: The Tiniest Laptops
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Emily Lovell spoke with us about teaching how to contribute to open source, including her own experience creating the LilyTiny as a Master’s student and researching the impact as a PhD student. The LilyTiny work was done in conjunction with Leah Buechley (). See the paper or watch . (note this is different from the Center for Research in Open Source Software () that we spoke about with Carl Maltzahn (). Emily recommended the curriculum from . Emily’s other life is at and . She spoke on . Mouser’s Empowering Innovation Together hub dives into all sorts of topics...
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502: Chat, J'ai Peté!
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Chris and Elecia talk about Murderbot, LLMs (AI), bikes, control algorithms, and fancy math. The website with the ecology jobs is from with Meredith Palmer and Akiba.. The algorithm Elecia mentioned was from . The is a great introduction to control systems beyond PIDs There is also a book from the same folks (with matlab and some python code): . Finding bad AI interactions is too easy. that was discussed. . . Nordic Semiconductor has been the driving force for Bluetooth Low Energy MCUs and wireless SoCs since the early 2010s, and they offer solutions for low-power...
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501: Inside the Armpit of a Giraffe
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We spoke with ecologist Dr. Meredith Palmer and embedded engineer Akiba about lions, terror, and technology. Akiba works for on global conservation projects. We talked about their which Meredith uses to create experiments to map the landscape of fear in predator/prey relationships. While this may look like pranking animals with jump scares, well, there is real science being done. What would it look like to be smooched by a lioness? () Bird hears lion, decides to go over there () Checking the reflexes of some zebras and other critters () Hyena eating camara () These are...
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500: Nerding Out About the Ducks
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Komathi Sundaram spoke with us about her enthusiasm for tests and test automation. We talked about the different joys of testing vs. development, setting up CI servers, and different kinds of tests including unit, hardware-in-the-loop, and simulation. It may sound dry but we had a lot of fun. Komathi’s site is which hosts her blog as well as contact info. She will be speaking on . Nordic Semiconductor has been the driving force for Bluetooth Low Energy MCUs and wireless SoCs since the early 2010s, and they offer solutions for low-power Wi-Fi and global Cellular IoT as well. If you...
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499: This Is Your Problem
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We spoke with Janet Hansen about the world of professional costumery (with electronics) and becoming an artist. Janet’s business is where you can find custom illuminated clothing as well as Janet’s ready-made art. Janet’s personal site is which is more focused on her artistic pursuits. Janet mentioned Seeed’s . We talked about Janet’s light up pillow with Debra Ansell on . If you’re interested in the intersection of neuroscience and engineering, you might want to check out what Mouser Electronics is doing with Brain-Computer Interfaces. It’s all about how you can control...
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498: To Consume Stickers
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At the end of this week’s show, Elecia reads a Winnie the Pooh poem as Cookie Monster death metal. Before that, Chris and Elecia chat about mental health, journaling, personal projects, and listener questions. Please sign up for the ! You can also sign up for the . Maybe now with job postings? Elecia’s journaling notebook is (which is where she gets her nice pens and some of her stickers and washi tape). From discussing some listener messages, we mentioned: Matt Keeter’s talk on debuggability in production where you don’t have access to the system that is...
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497: Everyone Likes Tiny
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OpenMV has a new Kickstarter so CEO Kwabena Agyeman chatted with us about more powerful (and smaller!) programmable cameras. See ’s site for their existing cameras. See for the super powerful N6 and the ridiculously small AE3. Note that OpenMV still is committed to open source. See their if you want to know more. Edge AI is the idea of putting intelligence in the devices (instead of in the cloud). There is an advocacy and education foundation called . This organization was formerly the TinyML Foundation. and are companies that aid in creating and training AI models that can be put...
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496: Beauty, Elegance, Consistency
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Professor Shimon Schocken spoke with us about teaching computer science from NAND logic gates to arithmetic units, micro assembly, virtual machines, compilers, operating systems, and the Tetris games. We also talk about good design, good interfaces, and good tests. Shimon’s book is and the website with the course lecture notes, slides, videos, simulators, and everything you need is . Shimon mentioned his work with teaching math, that is . You can find out more about Shimon’s other projects on his site (including his fascinating TED talk: ). Shimon’s co-author is Noam Nisan who...
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495: Shortcut the Difficulties of Reality
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Professor Cindy Harnett spoke to us about new and different sensors and actuators, primarily designed for soft robotics and fabricated with relatively low cost materials. Cindy is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the where she runs the . The papers we discussed are . You can find a longer list of Cindy’s papers on . The is especially interesting. Nordic Semiconductor has been the driving force for Bluetooth Low Energy MCUs and wireless SoCs since the early 2010s, and they offer solutions for low-power Wi-Fi and global Cellular IoT as well. If you plan on developing...
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494: All Tech Is Wearable
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Debra Ansell joined us to talk about finding friends and exchanging neat gifts, accidentally tricking people into making unmanufacutable boards, and happy, blinking lights. Debra is usually known by the moniker GeekMomProjects (also her website is ). She has been writing for . Debra won one of the SuperCon badge so her poseable will be available at SuperCon Europe. Some other things we mentioned: Martin Oehler is Maketvee on and Janet Hansen is on and has an incredible wearables website. #makergiftexchange on your favorite social media platform And some...
info_outlineEmily Lovell spoke with us about teaching how to contribute to open source, including her own experience creating the LilyTiny as a Master’s student and researching the impact as a PhD student.
The LilyTiny work was done in conjunction with Leah Buechley (Embedded episode 382). See the paper The LilyTiny: A Case Study in Expanding Access to Electronic Textiles or watch the video.
UCSC Open Source Program Office (note this is different from the Center for Research in Open Source Software (CROSS) that we spoke about with Carl Maltzahn (Episode 285).
Emily recommended the curriculum from TeachingOpenSource.org.
Emily’s other life is at EP Custom Pickups and Aberdeen Guitars. She spoke on a lutherie panel at NAMM.
Mouser’s Empowering Innovation Together hub dives into all sorts of topics like renewable energy, energy-efficient systems, and sustainable design. Whether you’re looking for the latest in clean tech trends or just need some inspiration, you’ll find articles, videos, and podcasts all geared toward engineers who want to make a difference. Head over to Mouser.com/empowering-innovation and check out their clean tech content.