Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
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Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#2This is impressive. The nerd in me wants to play with it right away, but the skeptic me just doesn't see that this will be mass produced anytime soon. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#3https://pockit.ai/ - main website
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#4Pretty crazy for what seems to be a one person project.
How do you even get your hands on/produce such a weirdly sized trackpad?!
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#5Slick.
I have a lingering suspicion though that the cross connector pads, despite looking identical, serve their own specialized functions and cannot be freely mixed. I.e. it would be highly challenging to have all the pads accept USB or HDMI.
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#6Hey HN,
Thanks @Aissen. Didn't know whether the project's unfinished state was worthy of it, but happy to see this appear on my favorite minimalistic website : - )
Here is the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Ui-y8ajJ0&list=UU49EYw900L..., which also provides a bit of the background. And the project website has more of the story + demos.
I'll answer the existing comments, and welcome any new questions, whether deeply technical or completely casual. (After all, the project's goal lies at the intersection of these two!)
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#7This is impressive. The nerd in me wants to play with it right away, but the skeptic me just doesn't see that this will be mass produced anytime soon. Hopefully I'm wrong.
"Play" sounds about right. I've enjoyed the exponential multiplier in prototyping+design speed I've gained as each new block was made.
"Mass produced" -- no mass-production plans yet, however... will be ordering and assembling at least a small-batch of boards for early-testers/adopters. Stay tuned through the website if you want to get on the list, depending on your use-case and experimental willingness.
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#8Slick. I have a lingering suspicion though that the cross connector pads, despite looking identical, serve their own specialized functions and cannot be freely mixed. I.e. it would be highly challenging to have all the pads accept USB or HDMI.
He mentioned in the comments that those two have specific positions for routing purposes.
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#9Hey HN, Thanks @Aissen. Didn't know whether the project's unfinished state was worthy of it, but happy to see this appear on my favorite minimalistic website : - ) Here is the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Ui-y8ajJ0&list=UU49EYw900L... , which also provides a bit of the background. And the project website has more of the story + demos. I'll answer the existing comments, and welcome any new questions,…
This is very cool. I am
amazed that this is a one man project
Re: Pockit Modular computing demo [video]
#10Pretty crazy for what seems to be a one person project. How do you even get your hands on/produce such a weirdly sized trackpad?!
Used to be just me. But two amazing people assisting me now (one of them full-time); immediately took this decision upon recognizing the significant community interest from Reddit, et al.
The trackpad is one of my favorite recent Blocks. It's a great instance of circuit scalability. I use standard projected-capacitive-touch with a sensing IC that reads a rectangular grid of electrodes -- but they are all printed on the PCB, thus adding no significant cost whether small or big, sparse or dense.
The difficult part was two things:
- optimizing SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) at the sensing stage of the code
- and converting the input data to actual action-coordinates (relative) that are submitted as emulated-input to the OS.
Software filtering helped with the former. For the latter, I started with and customized an algorithm documented in an a manufacturer's application-note document (I think it was Microchip or Azoteq).