Sugru / oogoo / expandingFoam

Here are some great materials for making out of the ordinary objects.

Sugru                            moldable silicone
Oogoo                          DIY Sugru
Expanding Foam          great filler , lightweight anchor material

Sugru

Oogoo


Expanding Foam  ( EF)

Important:  keep it off your hands and other nice surfaces.  It is very sticky.
EF sets by absorbing water.  Spraying surfaces improves adhesion.  Spraying water on the foam accelerates the setting process.  Don't layer it too thick.  Water cannot penetrate center of EF and foam will stay soft and sticky.





Make it or buy it ?


Links:
Sugru


tags:  99guspuppet   oooogoo   eeexpandingfoam   diysugru   diyoogoo   dddiy

Producing a product

Here are some things that are central to a project focused on creating a new product.

Functional Specification
    This is the description of what the product does.  What is the User Experience ( UX ) ?   What are the advantages to the user of this product ?  What environment will this product be used in ?  How long lasting will it be ? 

UX    buttons ? dials ? display ?  sound ?  weight ?  dimensions ?  enclosure ?

Design Specification
    This is the description of how the product will designed and built.  What kind of chips ?  What kind of protocols ?  What kind of power source ?

Testing Specification
   This is the description of how the product will be tested.

Collaboration Website
    This is the website that supports the efforts of the those who are designing , producing and supporting the product.  How ill design decisions be shared ? How will customer feedback be collected ?

IP considerations 
    What will be the approach to OpenIP versus Proprietary IP.  What will be the philosophy about patents and copyright ?   How will the product be protected from patent trolls ?

Business Model
    How will this product be supported financially ?

Tools
   Collaboration
   Organization
   Design
   Testing
   Marketing




#HowToProduceAProduct   #ProductSpecifications

AppleWatch

I think Apple ( which controls it's closed environment ) is either holding back or has no real long term vision.  but hey , I hope I am wrong.  My perspective / POV is very geeky.

Does it require an iPhone ?
??
What can it talk to ?
??
What does it say about the future ?
  Not much




99guspuppet   tags:     #AppleWatch   AppleWatch      #AppleAfterSteveJobs   AppleAfterSteveJobs   #AppleMinusSteveJobs   AppleMinusSteveJobs

WickedWIOT

Broadcom appears to becoming more friendly to small developer companies.

WICED    pronounced "WICKED"
I have just learned about a $20 device for experimenting with tethered Bluetooth.
WICED Sensor  will be carried by Mouser
Product Brief  

Description:
Bluetooth / 802.15.1 Development Tools WICEDSENSE BT SMART Sensor Kit 

• Includes multiple low-power MEMS sensors and Bluetooth Smart radio, powered by a single coin cell battery
• Includes gyroscope, accelerometer, eCompass, pressure, humidity and temperature sensors
• No embedded software design knowledge or compiler required 

The red enclosure is about the size of a credit card.

There are other development offerings as well.
                                      

Time will reveal if this a real effort by Broadcom to get hot in the IOT & WIOT areas.

More info:
http://iot.sys-con.com/node/3178691

tags: WickedIOT   WickedWIOT         #WickedIOT   #WickedWIOT     99guspuppet

Nifty $4 Cypress Dev board

Cypress Semiconductor has offered a really great looking development board in the $4 CY8CKIT-049-42xx.  I really like this board because it is actually two boards in one.  The two sections snap apart.










 


Section 1 ========
The first section has a CY7C65211 chip.  This is a USB to serial interface bridge chip.  It is possible to make this into a
USB to UART bridge
USB to I2c       bridge
USB to SPI      bridge
Plus the chip has CapSense ( capacitive switches ), battery handling features , & GPIO
You can get chips with one or two serial channels.
Section2 ========
This section has an ARM^® 32-bit Cortex-M0™ to allow playing with the CY8C42xx device families.    The product selector is pretty nifty.  I had trouble discovering exactly which 42xx chip was on the dev board.  I could not find it in the documentation.  I had to use a magnifying glass which reveled a CY8C4245AXI-483 .  Company engineers sometimes forget that not everyone is as smart as they are.   Or as immersed in the corporate lingo and design culture.

ARM chip
Here is some data on the CY8C4245AXI-483 ARM chip.
32KB Flash , 4KB SRAM , 36 GPIOs , 12bit ADC....
http://www.cypress.com/?mpn=CY8C4245AXI-483


http://www.cypress.com/?docID=47877
www.cypress.com/CY8CKIT-049-42xx
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=92146


http://www.cypress.com/USBSerial/
CY7C65211

Drivers
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=83110


My Plans =============
I like to develop using a MacIntosh.  In this case I think I am going to be forced to use a Windows computer.  

I have hooked up with a Maker Space in Longmont Colorado ( Tinkermill.org ) which is a fantastic group.   I am working on a project to control access to doors and maker machinery in the two locations they have.   A bunch of sub-$50 Android tablets will be distributed around the spaces.  The tablets will use their cameras to read QT codes that identify users.  The CY8CKIT will connect to the tablet via the USB OTG port on the tablet and allow the tablet to control GPIO that is connected to power relays and door locks.
There is more about this at the Tinkermill site... but at present I do not know how to link to the TM site.

Comments to Cypress  ===========
( I recommend you donate some CYC8KITS to TinkerMill.org )

Make it easier to hit the ground running.  I feel the relevant information could be gathered in one place. ( At least the links to useful info )  It may just be me being brain-dead.... I have struggled to get going with this $4 board.

things I would like from Cypress....
Make the PCB layout in a format Eagle can read.
Make the schematic a little easier to decipher as far as labeling is concerned.
have more examples of 42xx projects.  ( more elaborate projects )
publish the source code for configuring the bridge chip.
publish the protocol for configuring the bridge chip.
publish code for controlling the GPIO on the bridge chip.


things I would like to value add
install the Forth Language in the ARM processor.
install Phratch on the ARM processor.


I am not yet a member of Tinkermill.org    I plan to join.  I am physically located 1 hour away.
I will correct any errors I have have made in this document.  Just let me know about them.



tags : xxCypress   xxPSOC