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The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

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Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#61

Post by taneq »

ben_w wrote: post #25
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…

That's mildly surprising to me, given what I've seen when I ask current models to make an SVG of something. Would I be on the right track if I guessed there's a DSL for designing PCBs that would help enforce functional correctness?

Maybe there’s more PCB designs on the internet than there are pelicans riding bikes? ;)

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#62

Post by chasd00 »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #59
chasd00 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

haha not really, so in larger model rockets they go so high that you use two parachutes. The first is deployed at apogee but it's very small so the rocket descends fast and doesn't float (miles in some cases) away, the second is larger and deployed at a pre-set altitude to slow the rocket enough to hit the ground without causing damage to itself or whatever it lands on. To do this you have an onboard altimeter and small blackpowder charges that are used to "pop" out the parachutes.

The altimeters are available OTC but i wanted to use my pi-zero and an IMU with a barometer. What I was designing was an i2c pyro board that could ignite up to 4 e-matches that sets off the blackpowder charges.

I've met the guy that made this altimeter, it's pretty amazing. The hobby is filled with engineers so some of the stuff they come up with is impressive. https://www.featherweightaltimeters.com/blue-raven-altimeter...

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#63

Post by nerdsniper »

embedding-shape wrote: post #50
nerdsniper wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hook it up so it can experiment away by itself with tools, provide a end goal and ask it to iterate until it reached it Those "tools" you throw out so cavalierly cost around $50,000 to $300,000 per annual seat license with all the optional packages needed for 40GHz signals (like Cadence Allegro + Sigrity X Speed / SystemSI). Even if AI could do it it'd be much cheaper ($3-8k) to get someone in China to use their li…

But how is cost related to "AI's ability to do X"? Of course if you can't afford the required tools, or inference for that part, remote or local, then you can't do any of that stuff. The same if you don't speak/know the language the specifications/manuals/guides are done in, and you can't afford a translator, but kind of besides the point when we're trying to discuss AI's ability to do something.

For hobby stuff, I'd like to create some boards that involve a bit more than the usual MCU. Things like PCIe or USB4 or HDMI. If AI can't do those things for At some point the cost makes it irrelevant. If you drive a Bugatti Chiron, you don't care about the price of petrol. Humans or AI, there's not really a difference if the capital costs vastly outweigh the labor costs.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#64

Post by KaiserPro »

DoctorOetker wrote: post #60
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 o…

> AR glasses coupled to consumer hardware should actually consume less power,

Just on that point, if we are talking about a monochrome screen that is just displaying text, that is just an IO device for a mobile phone, I can see the argument but its not really the case.

Screens _eat_ power, waveguides are really not that efficient, so need mini projectors that are overdriven to produce enough light. Current off the shelf for VGA/25 degree is 95mw for the projector only, none of the other hardware. (https://www.jb-display.com/product_des/17.html)

that gives you 4000 nits to the eye. Which is about enough for normal day to day tasks in normal light. (assuming you've cracked waveguides, and thats an active area of research)

But, thats a poor experience, as its not "world locked" as in being able to attach things to real world objects. For that you need a whole new rendering system along with a SLAM stack to know where you are, a machine perception stack to work out what you are looking at. Bear in mind that 90mw for the projector is about 2/3rds of your entire power budget. bear in mind that even Bluetooth LE is quite expensive ranging from 12-40mw for streaming something like 1mb (although through LE thats a tough ask)

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#65

Post by KaiserPro »

flerovium114 wrote: post #57
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

adds animation

Battery life decreases by 25%

Adds telemetry to see why battery life is suffering

Battery lasts 10 minutes and the device gets hot to touch.

Thats going to be a brutal intro into embedded hardware

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#66

Post by qup »

xikxp1 wrote: post #22
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, by reasonable definitions that's doable too. My phone runs an OS I chose, that I have admin access on, that runs any app I tell it to run. And, y'know, it's my property that I bought with my own money, but that's probably aside your argument.

One can say that he chose iOS by buying iPhone. I don't see any strong argument here

One of them can change the OS, one of them can't.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#67

Post by ben_w »

taneq wrote: post #61
ben_w wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's mildly surprising to me, given what I've seen when I ask current models to make an SVG of something. Would I be on the right track if I guessed there's a DSL for designing PCBs that would help enforce functional correctness?

Maybe there’s more PCB designs on the internet than there are pelicans riding bikes? ;)

Could well be, but my case was "illustrate this orbit" rather than copying Simon Willson.

After a few rounds, I gave up on asking the LLM and just drew my SVG in BBEdit.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#68

Post by DoctorOetker »

javchz wrote: post #13
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…

Im surprised by how bad LLMs are with SVGs but somehow are oke-ish with CAD and other weird files.

An SVG is like a cartoon, and throws away a lot of information, a "good SVG" of some subject chosen to be familiar to both animals and humans might look good to one but not the other. The cycling flamingo is a kind of art curation test.

Functional PCB "artwork" is actually not intended for visual consumption, it must meet constraints and advice scattered in documentation, prior "art" in the training corpus, etc.

It doesn't need to be surprising at all

A good static SVG cartoon can be viewed as a multispectral photographic video, with a lot of information thrown away and distorted or oversimplified. Different species will disagree about what information should have been kept vs thrown away. A bee would "complain" it can't see any of the plant's UV markers when presented with plant imagery. Many animals depend on motion or movement to identify predator or prey.

At a certain point culture and personal life experiences start conflicting even within the human subgroup, and we see people argue why this or that flamingo is better than the other.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#69

Post by DoctorOetker »

KaiserPro wrote: post #64
DoctorOetker wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

> AR glasses coupled to consumer hardware should actually consume less power, Just on that point, if we are talking about a monochrome screen that is just displaying text, that is just an IO device for a mobile phone, I can see the argument but its not really the case. Screens _eat_ power, waveguides are really not that efficient, so need mini projectors that are overdriven to produce enough light. Current off the sh…

just to be clear, I am largely disinterested in standalone glasses for the immediate future for both the precise complaints you aired as well as my lack of need for them to be standalone, I prefer the modularity of display system vs computational platform, which brings its own batteries.

Re: The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming

#70

Post by willtemperley »

fragmede wrote: post #55
willtemperley wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Nobody is questioning the longevity of AI. The internet itself wasn’t affected by pets.com but a lot of retail investors got burned. It’s going to happen again, I think perhaps in a different way.

For example many are treating vibe coding like slot machines and the app monetisation gamble is unlikely to pay off.

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