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The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

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Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#51

Post by StrLght »

engineer_22 wrote: post #49
StrLght wrote: post #48

I feel like the article ignores the elephant in the room — production costs. Producing PCBs (say, 5 or 10 units) is pretty expensive, and components are also costly on such a small scale. Combining these two requires additional money or time. Beyond that, you need to consider that you probably won't get it right the first time, and every attempt multiplies the cost. It'll be a deal-breaker for many people — the risk…

Pcbs are basically rolling off a laser jet printer in shenzhen and they’ll do pnp for a few dollars more. Pcb cheap. Have engineer sit there to design pcb is expensive

Last time I tried JLCPCB, it was way too expensive on a smaller scale. Simple PCB with a cheap Nordic nRF, a few other basic components, 10cm x 5cm: ~17 euros/unit (including shipping) at 5 units which was the minimum amount to order.

Do you have a different experience?

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#52

Post by davemp »

rusk wrote: post #29
mapontosevenths wrote: post #6

I don't think people have realized it yet, but AI can do hardware too. That's what I had hoped this was about. I had Claude design an entire 4 layer rp2040 based PCB from scratch and PCBWay build it. It worked on the first go, other than some silkscreen overlapped, which doesn't hurt anything. That was before Fable. Then I had it design a case for the new pcb to 3d print. Also worked the first go, but with minor cosm…

In so far as AI can do hardware reliably you can bet your bottom dollar the big chip fabs have already been doing that. They don’t call it AI though and the models aren’t language based, surprisingly enough /s

EDA tools have been using ML techniques for >10yrs afaik

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#53

Post by chasd00 »

mapontosevenths wrote: post #6

I don't think people have realized it yet, but AI can do hardware too. That's what I had hoped this was about. I had Claude design an entire 4 layer rp2040 based PCB from scratch and PCBWay build it. It worked on the first go, other than some silkscreen overlapped, which doesn't hurt anything. That was before Fable. Then I had it design a case for the new pcb to 3d print. Also worked the first go, but with minor cosm…

I tried my hand at making a pcb for a project in high power rocketry but I gave up in frustration. Maybe I’ll try again and see if claudecode can help me get over the hump.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#54

Post by rzerowan »

KaiserPro wrote: post #26

The author is missing the _hardest_ part of small hardware: power management. The reason why AR glasses are not a thing yes is because there isn't a big enough battery to allow them to function for more than a few minutes. Glasses form factor have space for about .9watt hours now, and ~2 in 4 years time (assuming current trends) Assuming a 14 hour day, that means that your have 140mwhr to spend every hour. A not very…

I think one of the issues is premature optimization/minimzation(?) . All the wearables so far that feature some human interactive display are essentially cramming the mobile concept into different device classes. Take the AR glasses , they are essentially a computing unit output display , input (joystiicks/sensors) all being crammed into one unit with a powerpack to drive it all. I believe the desktop concept, or in this case 'Walkman' concept would be better fit for wearables .Where one can separate the processing from the display/output and power each separately.Having a cable from your hip pack to the headunit is not so strange/difficult as previous gen of walk/discmans can attest. However the current ruling desing is wireless everything , super slim devices and all unified with the power supply.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#55

Post by fragmede »

willtemperley wrote: post #19
zkmon wrote: post #2

While personalization is definitely the trend, I don't think people are going to build code just to personalize. A tiny few of all who bought the device could do that. A few more could flash the device with some open firmware that gives more features and personalization and most will stick with the range of the personalization provided by the vendor. For the most people, the risks outweigh the desire for tinkering. P…

> Personalization will grow right at the vendor offering I think so. There will be a short period, like now, where many will attempt to build their own products and the five good ideas out of five thousand will be incorporated into products built by those who know what they’re doing. An absolutely technophobic friend asked me what agentic AI was today. I think Charlie Munger said “When even your barber is talking abo…

I'd bet Charlie Munger and his barber talk about cars and don't run. When we're talking random stock tips that's one thing but if it's possibly a foundational society changing technology like plastic, maybe your barber talking about it isn't the "get out now" signal that neat little story purports to be.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#56

Post by fragmede »

duttish wrote: post #38
Arainach wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd include the geeks in that. I've been programming computers and tinkering with all sorts of hardware for more than 30 years. I first used FreeBSD in.....2001? and Linux not long after that. I've programmed OS code, I've grudgingly written VHDL, I've assembled a sound card for the Apple II I still have running - all this to say that I believe I'm in your tiny few. And I'm so tired. Tired of having to debug all the…

I get where you're coming from, though I'm not quite at 30 years yet. I like building stuff, I don't like configuring, debugging or troubleshooting my OS or computer. I just want it to work and get out of the way. For me this has translated into a slightly different outcome: stock ubuntu with basically just zsh/powerlevel10k, I add component assembly when I buy a new desktop, I'm about to probably replace my home ser…

Yeah I don't care how exactly my Linux laptop gets two finger scrolling going the right direction, all I know is that I can tell AI what I want and it'll go and change the setting for me.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#57

Post by flerovium114 »

KaiserPro wrote: post #26

The author is missing the _hardest_ part of small hardware: power management. The reason why AR glasses are not a thing yes is because there isn't a big enough battery to allow them to function for more than a few minutes. Glasses form factor have space for about .9watt hours now, and ~2 in 4 years time (assuming current trends) Assuming a 14 hour day, that means that your have 140mwhr to spend every hour. A not very…

The idea of "pythonizing" resource-constrained environments like embedded seems feasible to me, and even a good idea if executed well (e.g., numpy, torch, jax, etc.), but it does have me cackling imagining the first encounters of modern web devs with performance/power economy constraints

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#58

Post by rusk »

davemp wrote: post #52
rusk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In so far as AI can do hardware reliably you can bet your bottom dollar the big chip fabs have already been doing that. They don’t call it AI though and the models aren’t language based, surprisingly enough /s

EDA tools have been using ML techniques for >10yrs afaik

Yes they don’t call it AI

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#59

Post by MSFT_Edging »

chasd00 wrote: post #53
mapontosevenths wrote: post #6

I don't think people have realized it yet, but AI can do hardware too. That's what I had hoped this was about. I had Claude design an entire 4 layer rp2040 based PCB from scratch and PCBWay build it. It worked on the first go, other than some silkscreen overlapped, which doesn't hurt anything. That was before Fable. Then I had it design a case for the new pcb to 3d print. Also worked the first go, but with minor cosm…

I tried my hand at making a pcb for a project in high power rocketry but I gave up in frustration. Maybe I’ll try again and see if claudecode can help me get over the hump.

Yeah lets just take the human out of the loop in regards to the DIY missile. Sure.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#60

Post by DoctorOetker »

KaiserPro wrote: post #26

The author is missing the _hardest_ part of small hardware: power management. The reason why AR glasses are not a thing yes is because there isn't a big enough battery to allow them to function for more than a few minutes. Glasses form factor have space for about .9watt hours now, and ~2 in 4 years time (assuming current trends) Assuming a 14 hour day, that means that your have 140mwhr to spend every hour. A not very…

AR glasses coupled to consumer hardware should actually consume less power, since the eye box is relatively small compared to a monitor's "eye box". 99.99% of light emitted from a pixel does not enter the user's pupil for monitors.

Also, I think many consumers wouldn't mind if the rims, frame arms, or frame generally (and optionally a VR mode visor) where covered photovoltaically. if the total area exceeds the area of both pupils (divided by efficiency) the environmental light could power an additive display. (with additive I mean for example pixel-wise LED's so dark doesn't consume power compared to subtractive displays which generate a uniform backlight and then block needless light).

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