05-29, 16:15–17:00 (America/Los_Angeles), Theater
Unlock faster and cheaper prototype development and gain confidence earlier in your project using KiCad project templates to create interchangeable and interlocking boards.
In hardware development the prototyping stage is often skipped–or it is made and then shoe-horned into a final product instead of being redesigned–because the person in charge of the budget (that may be you!) feels like prototypes are expensive and time consuming. When counting pennies it may seem better to get to work on the 'real thing' right away. When the design is simple enough and the team is experienced enough that may be the case, but with today's technology and new engineers entering the field every day, when is that combination really going to be the case?
At Appaloosa Computing we developed a system of templates for prototype development that allow us to change boards and part layout on the fly using a few simple 'puzzle piece' boards that fit together in a variety of ways. This allows for reuse of the boards that work and quickly spin only the boards that do not, speeding up prototype development and reducing costs.
Join me as we discuss the problems faced when designing prototypes for complex projects and the lessons we learned in our own journey that led to developing this puzzle piece system.
Self proclaimed computer nerd. Born with computers overflowing from the garage, the shed, the basement and from under my bed, now spending my time working on ways to make what I had more accessible to the rest of the world so all can figure out how computers work without having hundreds of them piled around, or breaking their parents brand new laptop.
I love spending time with my wife and kids taking walks to the park, reading, and learning new things together.