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Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

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Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#401
If you're looking for a fun hardware project I'd recommend a buddy's company. As they don't have a HN account, here is their plug:

Exclosure is building a worldwide networks of space monitoring telescopes. We believe that space is for everyone, and that monitoring is the first step in keeping the outer space environment sustainable. We are actively seeking locations to host our observatories, and can compensate hosts with good viewing locations: https://www.exclosure.io/hosts

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#402

We're working on riderless and balance-assisted bicycles and motorcycles. We're working to ship our flagship bike and we're about to launch a balance-bike for kids that helps them learn faster and sets up virtual bumpers while they learn. Cool video of moto carrying stuff (just like the 2016 google prank vid) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sqyjag9yRUA

You should track down the one-man team from the first DARPA Grand Challenge who made an autonomous motorcycle. I was on a team with a real truck, so I didn't have to figure out how to balance a two-wheeled vehicle while also trying to figure out how to autonomously make it through an obstacle course. From an insiders view, we all thought he was the star of the show.

This will sound like a joke, but that was Anthony Levandowski

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You get both: isofix/latch as well as lap-belt. Each car seat is sold with an accompanying Latch (aka Isofix) base so you can roll with whatever you prefer. However, lap belts are ubiquitous and work really well.

Reasons to use a base:

1) Convenience. It is nice and fast to click-in, click out with a car seat. Super fast and easy.

2) Protect the seat cushions of the car.

3) More constraints on pitch rotation. Which can be good or bad depending on how the seat is designed and rotation is used.

Reasons to use a lap belt only (no base):

1) It is intuitive. Everyone -- including grandma, grandpa, and the babysitter -- knows how to use a lap belt (as opposed to a latch/isofix base).

2) It is ubiquitous. Every automobile and plane seat has one. So if you're hopping into an Uber, no problem.

3) Lab belts are designed to stretch which is actually really good in a collision. The stretching lowers peak acceleration, and therefore lowers the likelihood of injury.

4) Total system weighs less, which translates into less force in a collision (F=ma).

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#404
We are building smart Gastronomy Products.

First of all our Selfservice Bar (https://limifyze.com). This system enables hotels to offer up to 150 cocktails autonomously, eliminating the need for additional staff. And Ledovation (https://ledovation.at) revolutionizes service-guest communication in restaurants. We are located in Austria. Both the development and the assembly of the devices take place in-house.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GP's asking a legitimate question about chemical outgassing etc. Parents have concerns like this, and some parents more than others. let me go pedantic and teach: "The customer is always right" does not mean that no matter what a customer says, you give them a false smile, and pretend you agree with them. "The customer is always right" means "you are hearing actual feedback from your target audience; somebody giving…

>This customer is not only right, but is representative of a whole class of customers that you need to learn to win over. That's not always true. If a certain subset of customers wants something ridiculous, they can either go elsewhere or learn to adapt. For better or worse, companies often times have the ability to drive public sentiment just as much as they have the responsibility to pander to it. When Apple remove…

I didn't say cater to every whim of every person.

I said listen to the customer because it is a legitimate point of contact, and they are not going to be the only one thinking what they're thinking, and even if you want to ignore them, you don't want to create a scene in front of other customers, so you can still think about and learn from the experience. The customer is always right from the customer's perspective, and you need to understand your customers' perspectives.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>GP's asking a legitimate question about chemical outgassing etc. Parents have concerns like this, and some parents more than others. Obviously, and outgassing happens a lot in any car especially if it's brand new. So I'll ask again - why drive kids in a car at all if this concerns them this much?

> why drive kids in a car at all if this concerns them this much? do you want to be right and nyah nyah nyah the guy, or do you want to sell him a carseat that you worked hard on that's safer than any other car seat you know? If your car seat is made of the same materials as every other car seat, or if by chance your car seat is actually safer than other car seats, why wouldn't you want to let them know rather than y…

>>or do you want to sell him a carseat that you worked hard on that's safer than any other car seat you know?

I don't want to sell him anything. Have you confused me with the OP maybe?

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#408
We are building smart cameras for industrial automation and robotics. We are on our 3rd generation design with a 20.5TOPS Toshiba ASIC and Sony image sensors. A lot of sweat and tears have gone in the hardware and software design.

You can load AI models like YOLO, resnet, MiDAS onto it and we are working on porting some generative AI models onto it as well. We have tried to make this as easy as possible for non-devs to be able to use it:

https://docs.labforge.ca/docs/bottlenose-file-utility

We offer monocular and stereo versions. The current gen is 8MP/4K.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#409
We're in agtech building mushroom growing systems for the kitchen counter. After two years of limited production active systems, we're shipping a totally passive solution that can grow a wide variety of mushroom varieties.

Systems come with everything needed, including mushroom liquid cultures and growing media. We continue to iterate the design while testing new varieties and media.

More info at https://mycelerator.com

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Baby seats have expiration dates and it’s scary how many parents fall for the emotional manipulation around that. It makes the used car seat market dead as well as hand-me-downs

I wouldn't care about an expiration date, but I avoid the hand-me-down car seat market for the wreck reason. The carseats are only designed to be in one. I personally wouldn't know how to definitively say it had never been in one.

NHTSA guidelines on re-use post crash are at https://www.nhtsa.gov/car-seats-and-booster-seats/car-seat-u...
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