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Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

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Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#461

Post by aquaphile »

tadfisher wrote: post #258
sitkack wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strap is a single point of failure. Each mount should be attached to the seat brackets individually. Those brackets need to be braced and not just bolted through plywood. Having patents on innovations is necessary, but if you have innovations that will save kids lives, you should find a way to make those broadly usable by all. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10967762B2/en?oq=1096776... This this TOS usual for…

> The strap is a single point of failure. Each mount should be attached to the seat brackets individually. That's not how our Recaro seat works, nor our original baby seat, nor the booster for our older son. Each of them attaches to the seat anchors using a single strap with clips on either end, one on a length adjuster. This design looks pretty much the same; the plywood is just protection for the car upholstery, an…

Yes to this.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#462

Post by Solvency »

gambiting wrote: post #199
fsckboy wrote: post #192

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…

>>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?

I have zero alternative to cars where I live. I do everything possible to minimize my sons exposure to chemicals, which run rampant in our society.

Every single purchase I make, I try to be as informed as possible.

Does this offend you?

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#463

Post by fsagx »

farhadnoorzay wrote: post #283

We're building Hoopfit, the most advanced basketball shooting machine ever. It's battery powered and ultra portable so it can be used in your driveway hoop or you can take it to the park. It's powered by iPad Air so we heavily leverage the cameras for computer vision and AI to automatically track a players shooting stats and provide real time feedback on shooting form. I'm a software engineer but I have to admit, des…

How will you price it relative to a dr dish?

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#464

Post by Solvency »

aquaphile wrote: post #206
Solvency wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, I'll bite. I don't want to expose my child to exotic glues, adhesives, PFAS, or any other foreign molecules in their car seat. How does your product stack up?

I assume you are worried about off-gassing, and direct ingestion of harmful chemicals. TLDR: We stack up really well. 1) No flame retardants are used in the upholstery. We worked really hard to meet the flammability requirements with materials that aren't doped in endocrine-disrupting flame retardants. So that was a big win, because that is the largest chemical exposure in legacy car seats (in my opinion) and it is o…

Thank you so much for this response.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#465

Post by pinkmuffinere »

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

Thanks!

Just for posterity: Steve Irwin’s death was really very unusual. Stingrays can be scary, but deaths directly due to stingray stings are pretty rare. Contaminated wounds are more common and can lead to serious issues, but even that is not normal. We’ve met multiple people who’ve gotten 10+ stings, but I only know one person who had serious issues due to contamination.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#466

Post by bryanmgreen »

whywhywouldyou wrote: post #460
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…

These look great. I went to order a pair of the tumblers, but the hacker discount code didn't work: > HACKER discount code isn’t valid for the items in your cart

Ah, should have been more clear. The code is just for the stems.

The new tumblers are 33% off (automatically) though since they're on a pre-order special right now!

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#467

Post by bryanmgreen »

c54 wrote: post #431
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…

Neat! Ordered a pair. I especially love the dishwasher safety and lead-free elements

Love it! Thank you!

Usability was very important in development. The crystal is dishwasher friendly and as is the design itself (I wanted them to be able to fit in the top-racks of consumer dishwashers as most wine glasses are too tall.)

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#468

Post by missedthecue »

lionkor wrote: post #338
MagicMoonlight wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those chips should come in special packaging saying they're eco friendly

plastic packaging, of course

Plastic packaging is more eco-friendly than any alternative. Lightweight, carbon sink, and as long as it's not dumped in the ocean, has a very small and environmentally friendly waste footprint.

The dumping in the ocean part is an issue in countries with under-developed waste management infrastructure, not something inherent to plastics.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#469

Post by i-use-nixos-btw »

tetromino_ wrote: post #416
Firmwarrior wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can tell that guy's not a parent, haha. It's a shitload of money, but at least in this case I know that I'm getting value out of it. It's very easy to piss away a fortune on badly-made Chinese plastic trash in the world of baby accessories.

I am a parent, and in my opinion, spending $1k on a car seat is completely unreasonable. (We bought ours used as part of a package deal with some other used baby stuff. It would have been nowhere near $1k when new.)

It depends.

The thing about the baby market is that, because it’s driven by emotional decisions, there are buyers at every price point - and it isn’t even directly related to wealth. Some people get into debt trying to make this harsh world safer for their newborn, even though safety benefits taper off as the price increases.

For me, I picked the lower bound and my wife picked the upper bound on the price range we were looking at. She is frugal above all else, I am safety conscious above all else. We met in the middle and found one that suited.

It required some negotiation to begin with though, because her upper bound was lower than my lower bound - and was firmly in the “dodgy unbranded wholesale, sold on a website with an invalid SSL certificate, claiming to be UK based but registered to a Chinese address” territory.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

#470

Post by aquaphile »

Jun8 wrote: post #452
aquaphile wrote: post #23

We make the world's best baby car seats. https://www.kioma.us Fatherly Magazine calls it "The Car Seat of the Future". It's been crash tested, flight inversion tested, flammability tested and mom tested. It is full of patented innovations to make kids safer and parenting more enjoyable. It required lots of material science, production techniques, supply chain adjustments, and a surprising amount of software (to model…

One big problem with all car seats is that after 3-4 you have to dump an expensive and still usable seat. And I mean dump, since they cannot be donated AFAIK. It would be great if the seat can be disassembled to be used for another purpose.

Think of the dollar cost amortization! You need to have more children to average down the cost. So you can use the car seat across 3-4 kids.

In all seriousness, the problem with donations is people are afraid of attached liability. It is a shame, because car seats can often be used for several years across multiple children. If you keep it in the family and use it across your own kids, everyone is cool with it. As soon as you donate it to someone else, people worry about liability.

I know it isn't much solace, but we try to minimize use of non-recyclable material. The 5 pounds of aluminum in a Kioma car seat is recyclable and will net about $4.00 at current Al spot rates. So you could disassemble it.

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