514: Just Turn Off All the Computers
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Philip Koopman joined us to talk about embedded systems becoming embodied and intelligent. We focus on the safety considerations of making an intelligent and embodied device. Phil’s new book is . It uses robotaxis as an example as it discusses safety, security, human/computer interface, AI, and a bit of legal theory for tort negligence. If you’d like a taster, Phil gave a wonderful summary in his video: This new book is intended for a wider (less devotedly technical) audience than his book . Phil was last on the show in episode where we spoke about his book Thank you! ...
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513: I’m Sorry You Learned Something
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Jason Turner of C++ Weekly and Empty Crate spoke with us about the joy of puzzles, the changing directions of an interesting career, and the C++ programming language. I mean, of course we talked about C++. But only a little. Jason recently published , a book of puzzles for the logically minded. It teaches programming concepts as engaging puzzles: recursion, binary, assembly, Lisp, regular expressions. You may not know what you are learning but you’ll likely find you know a lot more about how computers work afterward. For the puzzles, paper is better than electronic. But you can...
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512: What if I Didn’t Stop?
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Katherine “Smalls” Connell spoke with us about making thin and flexible circuits, making stretchable electronics, and running a successful Kickstarter. Katherine’s Kickstarter: . Katherine shares her makes, describing her build process for companion robots and other projects. You can find her as The Small Wonder on and . She often goes by Smalls on other social media. We talked about a paper on making stretchable circuits: . If you’re interested in how 3D printing is changing design engineering, Mouser Electronics has some great resources to check out. Their Empowering...
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511: Forty Trillion Divides
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Chris and Elecia talk about the show overflowing to another bit, fight over vim vs nano, consider awards, discuss writing (and self-motivation), consider linear algebra on AI cores, encourage remote device quality assurance, describe design documentation, review timer multipliers, and consider changing chip vendors. Support the show and get goodies: and book (currently on chapter 8 and working through the ) Not mentioned but related to the Cozy Science announcement: Elecia found , a 10-episode podcast that is nicely soothing and science. If you’re interested in how 3D printing is...
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510: The Secret Chip
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Christina Cyr spoke with us about building cell phones, entrepreneurship, social purpose corporations, awards, lithium recycling, and her interesting career path. We talked about Christina’s , the related kit from dTOOR, and her . We also mentioned in the section about . There is a great paper from Nature about lithium-ion battery recycling: (formerly AngelList) is a startup focused job site that may lead to non-fulltime positions. may help you figure out is the startup has capital (also thought that generally has a cost). and the The quote was from and it was a...
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509: Swarmed by Engineers
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Steve Hinch wrote a book about engineering, innovation, and business. He shares decades of wisdom gleaned from his career at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent as an engineer, manager, marketing director, and general manager. Steve’s book is . While mostly retired, Steve is an executive consultant, see his website to get in touch: . We also touched on some of . While Elecia is reading , Steve suggested works by might be of interest. Elecia and Steve both received copies of Bill Packard’s while at HP. ...
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508: Descartes' Demon
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William Griffin spoke to us about hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, terminology, learning complex topics, and books. We don’t usually expand upon the show title but Wikipedia has a rabbit hole called so there you go. Books mentioned: (though we then talked about a different Jeffrey Pfeffer book: . William Griffin and Bailey Steinfadt () have started , an embedded software and simulation consultancy. Mouser Electronics has a dedicated Empowering Innovation Together hub that covers the latest breakthroughs in tech. Their new series explores how AI is...
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507: Turn Our Data Into Predators
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Chris and Elecia chat about books, courses, alternate podcasts, electronics, statistics, kidnapping Roo, and journaling failures. The Embedded Patreon book club is reading Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control by Steven L. Brunton, J. Nathan Kutz. PDF book and links to lectures are at . Some recent links of interest: : a collection of different small data sets that have the same summary statistics. You can . From . The YouTube video was really neat, which led to as well as making a $40 bird identifier with an RPi and some...
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506: How Do I Fit a Whale Into an Apartment Building?
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Dmitry Grinberg joined us to talk about running Linux on small microprocessors (physically small and/or 4-bit). Dmitry does this by emulating a MIPS processor. Boot times vary between minutes and days, depending on the processor. Dmitry’s projects are on his website () including: (Cortex-M0+!) Dmitry recommended , an online game about building up a processor. We mentioned Eric Schlaepfer of . He was on the show on , with EMSL’s Windell Oskay, talking about their book Open Circuits. Mouser Electronics has a dedicated Empowering Innovation Together hub that covers the...
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505: Potato in a Number Field
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We spoke with Peter Griffin about Jumperless Breadboards, no-install GUI development, Excel, and puppies. Excel GUI for Jumperless Breadboard (though it has some USB DTR issues as noted in the show: . Note Microsoft is a serial interface to Excel will have talks up soon! . We didn’t bleep the word for this episode since it’s becoming an essential part of tech criticism. . You know what you did. Miso Come Here (, ) shows puppy communication buttons. Mouser’s Empowering Innovation Together hub dives into all sorts of topics like renewable energy, energy-efficient...
info_outlineChris and Elecia chat about books, courses, alternate podcasts, electronics, statistics, kidnapping Roo, and journaling failures.
The Embedded Patreon book club is reading Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control by Steven L. Brunton, J. Nathan Kutz. PDF book and links to lectures are at databookuw.com. Some recent links of interest:
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Datasaurus dozen: a collection of different small data sets that have the same summary statistics. You can see all the graphs here. From Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors.
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The I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird YouTube video was really neat, which led to AudioMoth ultrasonic recorders as well as making a $40 bird identifier with an RPi and some software (BirdNET-Pi).
Chris is taking a course from Dogbotic. See their workshop list. We interviewed Kirk Pearson from Dogbotic on Episode 491.
Mouser Electronics has a dedicated Empowering Innovation Together hub that covers the latest breakthroughs in tech. Their new series explores how AI is reshaping engineering—from design automation to rapid prototyping and predictive maintenance. You’ll find insightful articles, podcasts, and videos that showcase real-world applications across industries. If you’re ready to see how AI is powering the next generation of engineering, head over to Mouser.com/empowering-innovation.