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Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

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Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#381

Post by xenospn »

StephenSmith wrote: post #60
Topgamer7 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if these got to the point of "worker stared at floor for 7 minutes" it would be invasive. If it tracks when a vehicle shows up to site and leaves. That being said, as someone with digestion issues, tracking bathroom habits is offensive. In short, yes this is invasive. But much like AI, this type of thing isn't going away, there is just going to be more lawsuits about it in the future.

We don't track port-o-potty use, just if they move. Vandalism is at an all time high on construction sites, tipping port-o-johns is a common teenage prank and the GC needs to know if and when this is happening on sites (and hopefully catch the perpetrators).

Hmmm… going to start a company that makes portapotty anchors!

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#382

Post by bryanmgreen »

mosquitobiten wrote: post #370
bryanmgreen wrote: post #273

Hand-blown titanium crystal glassware for whisk(e)y and spirits. Produced in Europe by a glass factory that has been operating since the late 1700's. PG's mantra "do things that don't scale" has been a great inspiration. I wanted something comparable to high-end wine stemware and it shockingly did not exist, so I designed it during COVID. This is my first physical goods venture and my goodness, it comes with a lot of…

What's the brittleness like compared to glass? Is it more/less shatter resistant than other crystals?

Crystal is stronger than standard glass which is why it can be so thin.

Modern production of lead-free crystal is generally pretty good now. Old leaded crystal is extremely brittle and prone to chipping and fractures which definitely soured people's perception of its durability. Our glassware uses titanium as a strengthening additive which really helps durability as well as sparkle.

Most of our hospitality partners use them in service every day in commercial dishwashers with very little breakage. Having a shorter stem also greatly reduces both tipping and twisting scenarios which are the most common sources of breakage.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#383

Post by bdavbdav »

aquaphile wrote: post #304
sgt wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also have a baby seat that can pretty much say all the same things. There must be tons of these on the market with swivel etc. What makes this better than the rest?

1. Safety (* see below) 2. Ease of Installation (* see below) 3. Bauhaus Design 4. 1-Hand Operation 5. Ease of Cleaning 6. Built in Rocker (a full one) 7. Quiet (* see below) * Safety > The US regs are pass/fail so lots of seats on the market have mediocre test scores that don't reflect the real danger of severe concussions. For those of you interested in digging into the obscure world of Head Injury Criterion: great…

Why only lap belt? Isofix is so easy.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#384

Post by xenospn »

yardie wrote: post #215
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #117

We make stingray resistant booties! Stingray stings are painful and can be dangerous, and the fear of getting stung can take the enjoyment out of the beach. We’ve mainly targeted surfers so far, but they could be useful for any beach-goer. Definitely been dealing with the fact that “hardware is hard”. We had a design we were fairly happy with about two years ago, but have been struggling to get it manufactured since…

Steve Irwin's death[0] has never not been on my mind anytime a stingray gets near me. I'm like "hey little fella, I'm going to slowly back away to avoid both of us freaking out and one of us may end up dead." Best of luck with your startup! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin

How often do you find yourself near a stingray?

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#385

Post by gizmo »

bbor wrote: post #365
gizmo wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“We don’t give years of R&D away for free” is a pretty flippant response. You make money selling car seats, and if another company can produce better seats at a lower price then consumers win and lives are saved. Which is ostensibly exactly what you want to happen? Otherwise why even be in the car seat business?

Cmon be nice to the car seat people :). Let’s say it cost $10 to develop this groundbreaking car seat technology, and $1 to make a car seat, so the company charges $1.50 to make up their investment in 20 sales. If they gave away their patent, then another company (who didn’t have to pay that initial cost) could sell the same seats for $1. This is episode 1000 in our favorite series: why and how capitalism strangles i…

The flip side is that R&D is a lot easier and cheaper when you don’t have to worry about accidental infringement. But your last paragraph suggests we’re already in agreement.

In any case, I’m fine with companies making the pragmatic choice to pursue patent protection. But being defensive and flippant about it isn’t a good look. It’s much better to argue for instance that you put yourself at a disadvantage if you’re the only business that doesn’t patent their innovations, and that a patent portfolio also has a defensive function.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#386

Post by clobmclob »

_boffin_ wrote: post #372
clobmclob wrote: post #337

I work for a hardware startup in NYC and HK called Looking Glass (www.lookingglassfactory.com). We create light field displays. Coming from a primarily software background, I quite agree that hardware is harder. We are venture funded but we are very lean due to the challenges of bootstrapping a display business and the capital requirements needed for manufacturing. We only have about 10 software engineers that are sp…

I actually had our chief innovation officer pick up a screen from you guys out in NY a few years back. I love your tech and wish you the best of luck

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#387

Post by kulahan »

pinkmuffinere wrote: post #117

We make stingray resistant booties! Stingray stings are painful and can be dangerous, and the fear of getting stung can take the enjoyment out of the beach. We’ve mainly targeted surfers so far, but they could be useful for any beach-goer. Definitely been dealing with the fact that “hardware is hard”. We had a design we were fairly happy with about two years ago, but have been struggling to get it manufactured since…

Is there any interest in your company on making the same thing for pets, or at least dogs? My pops takes his dog surfing most days, and there are lots and lots of urchins around. The extra safety would be nice.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#388

Post by leros »

devmunchies wrote: post #290
leros wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar background as you. How are you finding handling the mechanical side of things? I assume your toy is more than a PCB.

There are no motors, so more simple. There are mics, speakers, LEDs, LCDs, buttons, etc. I have a firmware engineer who also does electrical engineering, and a mechanical engineer who works with manufacturing, compliance, and industrial design.

Gotcha. You have a team of people helping out. Sounds super fun!

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#389

Post by prettygood »

gizmo wrote: post #354
aquaphile wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you are referring to about a strap being a single point of failure. Patents > We don't work for free, and we can't buy groceries by giving away years of R&D. Companies are welcome to license our safety innovations, and they know how to reach us. The invitation to do so is on our website. TOS > Kioma seats come with an industry standard 1 year warranty. The website TOS are different than the product warr…

“We don’t give years of R&D away for free” is a pretty flippant response. You make money selling car seats, and if another company can produce better seats at a lower price then consumers win and lives are saved. Which is ostensibly exactly what you want to happen? Otherwise why even be in the car seat business?

That’s a pretty naive way to look at it. A lot of patented products have a positive impact on the world, should all of these be shared?

What if a small player tries to break into a market with a nee solution? They should give away their IP to the big player purely because it has a positive impact on the world?

Just because their product is more safe doesn’t mean they automatically have to share this with everyone. They put time and a lot of effort into this, and that should be rewarded. The world rewards people with money. Sure some people might be happy with knowing they saved more lives, but eventually most people just want to be rewarded.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#390

Post by mNovak »

electroagenda wrote: post #302
mNovak wrote: post #92

Our company is developing affordable phased array antennas. The end goal is to serve the next-generation commercial wireless communications and sensing markets (e.g. 5G/6G, mmW imaging radar, etc), though as we're bootstrapped most of our work currently is in Defense. On the very off chance there's other RF or antenna engineers out there, we're hiring (US remote)!

What's the name of the company?

Novaa RF, website [1] though it's really just a splash page

[1] https://www.novaarf.com/

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