"Impedance Matching" with Davidson and Vandenbout - Presbytes Pushing Portfolios

Welcome Bob Davidson of Ambient Sensors and Dave Vandenbout of XESS corporation!

• Bob has been developing products, including a new project that will only fit one way in a project box.
• A software asked about building hardware and why it wasn't as "errorless" as how they build a skyscraper. Chris mentioned that the Peter B Lewis building at CWRU has a design flaw...it dumps snow on kids walking by.
• Dave says Harrelson Hall at NC State is circular so the classrooms are wedge shaped.
• This episode was inspired by a Twitter conversation between Bob and Dave talking about Shop Class As Soul Craft.
• Bob used to work at HP. Dave used to work at Bell Labs.
• At Bell Labs they tried doing too much vertical integration...instead of being allowed to effortlessly design in a 6801 2K rom...the internal chip design group wanted them to use the Mac4 microcontroller.
• Dave (who owns/runs XESS) has been working in the ZPUino developed by Alvaro Lopez. It allows you to slide in a range of peripherals.
• The ESP8266 is a simple wifi model (with dubious CE certs). Costs $2.70, has an LX170 from Tensilica. However, it's not low power, it uses 100 mA in transmit. Dave wrote about the ESP8266 here.
• Bob has been working on a sensor array for a grape vineyard. It is networked in a hub and spoke model. It has energy harvesting using the the LTC3330 and solar cells.
• The project stores energy in industrial batteries, the Tadiran TL4935 (about $8 each).
• Both Bob and Dave used to be university professors but stopped because the focus is on grant writing and not building things.
• Dave says that he is looking for all Fs and one A...because that means they're invested in that one thing.
• Furthermore, the university only rewards one way of success.
• Dave says, "I'll renounce cynicism when it ceases having predictive powers"
• When asked about how young engineers can excel, both list ham radio and developing embedded hardware as ways to get ahead. Mostly building up a portfolio of projects.
• When a project was cancelled at Bell Labs (often), Dave and a co-worker would sing a song that sounded like the Johnny Carson (tonight show) theme song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keiuXB3dJ0E
• Bob says that they used to have "Next bench syndrome", solving a problem for an internal customers.
• Patents cost $10K to get it, $100K to defend it the first time
• Management by wandering around.
• Dave mentioned a book by Quigley about civilization. It takes three things:
  • People with innovative ideas
  • A surplus of resources
  • An agency willing to invest surplus
• Where do new innovations come from?
  • Dave says, "What's close to what?"
  • Bob says, "find problems that people have"
• Bob developed an award winning system for how hard football players get hit and whether they have concussions. But it was not a guaranteed commercial success.
• When it comes to quickly iterating hw, Bob brought up our interview with Erie Ries.
• Lean Hardware is possible, it's all about how much you're willing to pay.
• Bob uses both OSHpark and Sunstone for quick turn PCBs.
• For CMs, Bob uses Western Electronics and Computrol.
• Saleae recently wrote about their issues with costs and doing in-house manufacturing (specifically by buying a PnP machine). Bob has a Pro16 and says they are doing things right.
• Bob was a co-author on "Getting started with bluetooth low energy" book. It was written in less than 6 months in order