Time to read: 2 min
Happy New Year, and welcome to the latest edition of Fictiv’s Hardware Roundup! Read on for stories on AI in factories, production heaven, tin can openers, electric wire manufacturing, and more.
Want to share an interesting article, job posting, or event in Hardware Roundup? Submit your link here, and we’ll do our best to include it in the next issue with a credit to you.
Industry News
- The former head of Baidu and creator of the the Google Brain project project, Andrew Ng, is turning his focus to AI in factories with his new startup Landing.ai and is already working with Foxconn. [Via MIT Technology Review]
- Boeing unveiled its MQ-25 electric drone for refuelling fighter jets midair; it can reach flight speeds of 345-460 miles per hour. [Via dezeen]
- In AV news, the entire 16,359 public bus fleet in Shenzhen, China, is now fully electrified, and UPS placed the biggest pre-order for Tesla’s Semi, an all-electric, semi-autonomous truck. [Via Fortune] + Production Heaven: An inside look into a Volvo operated factory in Taizhou, China.
- NASA unveiled its 2018 to-do list, which includes studying the inside of Mars, flying closer to the sun than ever before, and celebrating its 60th birthday.
- Smart lock startup Otto suspended operations a month before it was supposed to ship its first device, and according to their CEO, the already-manufactured locks are sitting in a warehouse. [Via Slate] + 10 obsolete products that are still in mass production. [Via Foundry Mag]
Hardware Knowledge
- Tin can openers have taken many different shape and forms; take a look at their 200-year evolution. [Via Ars Technica]
- Fictiv manufacturing engineer Mo McBirney was interviewed for The Prepared podcast about her time at MakerBot and Tesla, as well as her views on the industry.
- Check out this regularly updated collection of over 2,700 mechanical mechanism videos created in Autodesk Inventor. [Via YouTube]
- Our friends at Instrumental put together a collection of their favorite hardware articles. [Via Instrumental]
- PCH Lime Lab released a white paper on Optical Heart Rate Monitor design and their measurement challenges. [Via PCH Lime Lab]
Events
- Women in 3D Printing turns 3 this month and is celebrating on Jan 25 at Autodesk Gallery.
- Fictiv’s Mo McBirney is speaking at the 26th Hardware Developers Didactic Galactic event on Jan 11.
- The 16th Deep Learning Summit in San Francisco takes place Jan 25-26 [Conference Website]
Community
- On the Fictiv Builders Group, Kruno is looking for advice on watertighting a plastic enclosure, and Casey needs help choosing a suitable laser cutter.
- We’re hiring! Check out our latest jobs here.
For the Love of Engineering
The hypnotic Japanese electronic music group Industrial JP released a music video on the process of manufacturing electrical wires, conductors, and harnesses.
Until next month!
Fin, Hardware Evangelist at Fictiv
