the truth, nothing more

I was at an event recently and the news I heard about the economy and the lack of available capital was so horrendous that some good old doom-and-gloom talk would have been a breath of fresh air. Job losses here…lack of capital there…blah, blah, blah. I keep hearing/reading/seeing, over and over, bad this and terrible that. Yeah, I understand it is rough. I don’t know how to fix U.S the auto industry or if it can be fixed. And, unless you are a Senior Executive at one of the Big Three (well, the entities formerly known as the Big Three) or a Union Leader, you probably aren’t in any position to do anything about it either. But, if you are recently unemployed, think you may become unemployed, or you just want to be part of the solution, what is there to do???

Perhaps it is just my hyperactive imagination but it sure seems like there are a lot of interesting opportunities that don’t require a lot of capital. I started typing this piece to highlight some interesting developments but it just kept getting longer and longer to the point of being unmanageable. In order to actually get something posted, I’ll just have to do it in segments…

Part I: Make Something

The idea, the core concept is this: Make Something. Take some materials and combine them in a way that creates value for somebody else. Don’t talk about making something. Don’t say that you need to raise capital. Just make something. Here’s how:

Take an inventory of your skills, ideas, interests, know-how, talents, etc. Do you have a bunch of ideas written in an idea book? I know people who have volumes. Is there something you really want to do but you are not sure how to go about it? What do you care about? For starters, just figure out what you want of would like to do. Do you have any friends or former colleagues you respect, trust and would be willing to go into business with? Do you have an idea for a product – a piece of software, a data logging device, something robotic, a solar-powered weather monitoring something or other. Is it something that somebody needs and is willing to pay for? A great place to find opportunity is to “scratch an itch”. Is there a product you need that you can’t find? Does it exist but it is too expensive? Do you just have a better way of doing it? Would other people be interested in your product? How much are you willing to pay for it and why? Go down this path and it can lead you to opportunity. (More on opportunity recognition in a later segment.)

For now, I’d just like to point out some very significant trends. Some of these trends have been around for a while and have already opened many doors and some of these trends are just now coming into their own. For several years, a convergence of disparate technologies has been taking place. The convergence of these technologies is significant because you can do more with less and you can do things today that you could not do a few years ago - it was too expensive, the technology didn’t exist, etc. This convergence brings fresh opportunity into the realm of individuals and small teams with very limited capital. Also, don’t get hung up on the specific technologies, there more important take-away is that the convergence of these technologies is opening very significant doors and there are, or will be, many ways to participate. The essential aspect is that this convergence brings tremendous but affordable capability to individuals – bottom-up innovation. As you read this, think about how you could create a new product, improve the process, do something you’ve long wanted to do but thought was too expensive or too complicated. It is my belief that these changes are non-trivial and over the next ten years will have a profound effect on the economy, our lives, everything.

Let’s get into some specifics:

Software – if you can code, there continues to be opportunity here and it will get more interesting (for the foreseeable future). Also, there are huge repositories of source code in many different program languages that you can use to get a project started. There are numerous open source projects ranging from operating systems, databases and programming languages to tools such as CAD programs (computer aided design) and graphics programs (Gimp is the open source Photoshop). Whatever you are trying to do, there is a good chance someone has either done it or you can cobble together most of what you need from existing code and projects. Also, if you are a solid and/or talented developer – Java, C++, PHP, MySQL – jobs are available today.

Microelectronics – Everyone knows about CPUs, hard disks, RAM and other computer equipment. But there is an electronics underworld that you hear much less about. It is the domain of the microcontrollers (MCUs). MCUs are basically simplified, low-cost CPUs for embedded applications. There are probably a dozen MCUs in your car. There may be another half a dozen in your kitchen (oven, microwave, dishwasher, fridge, maybe even in your toaster). Not that long ago, working directly with MCUs and the related hardware required assembly language programming or an expensive license for a C compiler, expensive prototyping and programming hardware and was out of mainstream reach due to this cost and complexity. That has all changed. While a lot of microcontroller work is still done in assembler and there are still expensive C compilers and development boards, there are also low-cost, developer-friendly options. The MCU I’m currently learning costs about $4, the programming hardware is $12, the software to program the MCU is free and easily downloaded. Plus, there is so much information available on the web at sites like Instructables, YouTube, and the plethora of special interest sites. You can quickly learn the basics using free tutorials and other helpful materials. I’m all for college and graduate school in engineering, computer science, etc., but if it is not in the cards at the moment, you don’t need to be an engineer to do a lot of this. Just get online and educate yourself. There are LOTs of people in Webland who are willing to help you by answering technical questions, pointing you toward examples, recommending equipment, suggesting solutions, etc. Add a little flattery (tell them how brilliant they are) and you may just find a fully designed schematic in your inbox the next day! You will probably be surprised by how many people there are with really esoteric interests and skill sets.

The iPhone and Nintendo Wii controller are two great examples of MCUs in action. The Wii controller is an example of what you can do on the inexpensive side – an MCU, a MEMS sensor (the accelerometer), a camera and some other components. Don’t get the idea you can do an iPhone but with some creativity you can do neat stuff. Take a look at the OpenMoko project, they’ve created an open source mobile phone.

Working with digital electronics is not simple. But it is much more accessible than it used to be because so much functionality has been condensed into single chips, development tools are easily acquired, and there are so many resources to aid you. You can make very cool devices with a microcontroller, inexpensive sensors, inexpensive RAM, and inexpensive wireless communication. Do your homework by reading the message boards and the product specs. Experiment. Ask questions. Repeat. And before long you can be creating stuff people can actually use…

Video: Cells phones and security concerns post 9/11 have produced high-quality, miniaturized, inexpensive, video technology. You can get a megapixel CMOS video sensor for as little as $10. Working with individual camera images is not too difficult but full motion video is tough because you have to process a lot of data very quickly. If the $10 camera is too complicated, then you can probably find a megapixel sensor that has been embedded on a board that you can plug into your project. So, instead of being $10, a camera board my cost you $25, $50, or $100 depending on what additional functionality you require.

Sensors: There’s a spectrum of cheap sensors available – accelerometers (the basis for the Wii controller and the iPhone tilt capability) cost just a few dollars. Gyroscope ICs (integrated circuits) are now available for as little as $12. I have a couple sitting here on my desk waiting to be soldered up.

[Electronics are going leadless – leadless as in removing the metal (Pb) and leadless in the sense that many ICs are surface mount (SMT) which means they either don’t have legs or they have short, closely-spaced legs that are difficult to solder. But, again, all you have to do is get online and find a tutorial - complete with photos and/or video. When you are ready to get started, there is plenty of inexpensive gear on hobby sites or eBay. Try buying some surplus SMT chips and PCBs to practice on. You can start with a cheap soldering iron (<$10) and once you know what you are doing, you can upgrade to a $50 soldering iron or a $200 hot air unit. If money is not an issue, then buy all means buy nicer stuff. If money is an issue, you can do a lot with little.]

Using these inexpensive and widely available sensors you can develop devices that can detect: tilt and rotation, proximity, range (distance), temperature, light level, pressure and a lot more. There is also a good chance that you can buy an off-the-shelf board with most of the functionality you need and then tweak it to meet your needs.

Wireless: Wireless communication (radio frequency) has really become easy to do in just the last couple of years. So, today, wireless capability is readily available at a range of price points. You can get a simple radio frequency transmitter/receiver pair that allows two devices to wirelessly communicate over a short distance and is ready to be wired into your project for under $10. As you add complexity like Wifi or 3G, the price goes up. For example, you can buy a chip that allows devices to communicate over 3G (ATT, T-Mobile, and other types of wireless networks), EDGE or other networks. The chip itself costs about $100 or about $140 with GPS capability. Amazingly the chip has the Python programming language (Python is open source and the development tools are easily downloaded) built in right in. You can actually program the functionality of the chip in an easy to learn high-level programming language. That is way cool! Like I said before, it wasn’t that long ago that most embedded work was extremely terse and was done primarily in Assembler or C and had a $1,000+ cost of entry.

It is quite challenging to express the depth and scope of the opportunities now available. Take, for example, the Arduino project:

Arduino is a combination of hardware and software created so that artists (without in-depth electronics skill) can experiment and develop devices? The project is open source (the hardware and software is open source) and is basically a group of people who have gathered around an idea and made it real. If you are an artist interested in working with electronics, check out the Arduino hardware and the Processing and Wiring programming languages. I have not worked with Processing and Wiring yet but it is my understanding that these languages were specifically developed for artists. I purchased an Arduino development board to experiment with but it is still in the anti-static bag and probably will be for a while. The Arduino board I purchased uses a powerful but inexpensive microcontroller (the same $4 microcontroller I’m using on another project, unrelated to Arduino), is professionally manufactured and comes complete with a USB port that provides power and can be used for programming (very nice!). And, the board was under $35 (including shipping). All the software you need to work with it is open source and freely available. (http://www.moderndevice.com/diecimila.shtml)
If $35 is too expensive, you can get a very basic kit for as little as $13 (including shipping). (http://www.moderndevice.com/RBBB_revB.shtml). And, if you $13 is too much; you can probably get someone to just give you what you need to get started. You have been empowered to Make Something!

Clearly, the challenge here is not the cost, it is the know-how. It is the willingness to learn and create. As Yoda said, “do or do not, there is no try”. The JEDI’s of the programming and electronics realm are known as hackers.

Also, there are jobs currently available for skilled embedded designers and programmers.

Solar: You can now purchase a 20 watt solar panel for as little as $100. Twenty watts won’t power your house but twenty watts goes a long way in microelectronics. Twenty watts will power a microcontroller, camera, wifi/G3, charge a battery, etc. Cheap solar panels are available and open the way for standalone, wireless systems. You don’t have to have access to a power line or a plug. You can build devices like a remote weather logger, surveillance camera, etc., that can operate indoors or out. Do some research here and I bet you will find worthwhile opportunities. The cost of solar will drop over the next few years as new fabrication techniques become available. There are many excellent resources online to get you up to speed on the finer points of solar power.

Mechanical: Another amazing development is that of low-cost, precision, powerful motors. These motors – direct current, stepper and servos – are used extensively by hobbyists in planes, cars, helicopters, robots, etc.

When you combine the advances (high performance at a low cost) in software, microelectronics, and motors, you get for first time, precision manufacturing equipment that runs on the desktop. Keep an ear open to for phrases like desktop manufacturing, desktop fabrication, and Fab-Labs. Do you remember getting your first laser printer? Is there a laser printer on your desk now? A one point those printers cost tens of thousands of dollars. That modern PC on your desk, in the 80s it would have been known as a Cray and cost millions. The inflection point with manufacturing is in process. You can go online today and order a desktop CNC machine, fully equipped and ready to plug into your PC for under $1,000. That means you have the ability to create high quality prototypes and do short production runs. In other words, you can design, build, test, manufacturer and distribute your product, yourself. There is a lot of fine print that goes along with the previous sentence but we have entered the phase of desktop manufacturing. This doesn’t mean we won’t need companies dedicated to making PCBs, machining metal, etc. What it means is that you have the ability to get your product up and running at minimal cost, without the need to raise capital and without permission. Once you product is moving and you have momentum, then it may make sense to have your PCBs bulk produced or you case machined but you will also have a revenue stream to pay for it. You have the ability to truly bootstrap.

A CNC machine is a precision cutting/milling tool that is computer controlled. You design your product using CAD (computer aided design) software. Good news again. There is a free, open source and other low-cost CAD software readily available. You can even download, for free, a CNC simulator, to test your design. There is no reason, if you have a PC, that you can’t start teaching yourself CAD today!!! There are also plenty of free educational resources online.

Again, the limiting factor is not capital. For example, Lorain County Community College has a Fab Lab (Fabrication Laboratory) that is open to the public. In their Fab Lab you will find Laser Cutters, CNC machines, vinyl cutters, a 3d scanner, a 3d printer (available but not free), and other useful stuff. Though the lab is primarily a teaching tool, at least one non-student uses the lab to produce products for her decorating business. A CNC machine will cut/mill wood, plastic, aluminum, brass, steel, foam, wax, and many other materials. CNC machines can also be used to mill/cut printed circuit boards for prototyping and production. A Laser cutter allows for precision cutting of wood, certain plastics, certain metals, carbon fiber(?) and many other materials.

Everything I’ve covered so far comes down to know how, not capital. If you are not doing it already, get online and start educating yourself. LCCC offers a one-hour class that teaches how to use the equipment in the Fab Lab, the cost for the class is around $100 but is not required. (More on education in another segment)

Composites: Carbon Fiber is light-weight, strong and affordable. Ready to use panels or the raw materials can be purchased online. Carbon Fiber, lightweight motors, and rechargeable lithium batteries are used extensively in model planes and helicopters.

Extremely low-cost PCs: I saw something a few days ago where you can buy an embedded Linux PC, just a tiny block with a plug on it, that you just plug into the wall. I’m not entirely sure where it fits into the PC spectrum but I wonder if it would run the Linux CAD software EMC. The developer version of this embedded Linux PC is $99 and the end-user version could be as low as $50. It will be on the market in about a month. It is conceivable that you could have a desktop CNC machine and a dedicated Linux box running EMC and still be under $1,000.

PCs now come in all shapes and sizes; embedded PCs generally cost a few hundred dollars and can run Windows XP or Linux. These PCs don’t require a fan and can use Flash memory instead of a hard-drive so there are no moving parts (to mechanically fail).

Other equipment: You can get a functional, used analog oscilloscope on eBay for $50 (plus shipping). You can get a PC based oscilloscope for $150 and up. I recently purchased a PC-based Logic Analyzer for $150. What is really interesting about the Logic Analyzer is that, as far as I can tell, the company that made it consists of exactly one person. The components that make up the logic analyzer are: a .Net PC application, a little PCB (printed circuit board) mounted in a nice, aluminum, custom-machined case, and some wires and probes. Based on what I’ve read, they are selling very well.

For the most, any other materials you need are available online and likely either inexpensive (for small quantities, at least) or available used.

Now, take everything we’ve just covered, mash it together and things start to get really interesting. Historically, if you developed a prototype, you would then need to get a production house to manufacture your circuit boards, machine your metal, assemble your device, etc. There would be a minimum run requirement, possibly set up fees, etc. As such, the inventor/entrepreneur was required to make a significant bet on the invention. In this new paradigm, the inventor/entrepreneur can develop and produce a product and prove commercial viability before moving into bulk production. This can significantly reduce the risks and allow many more people to participate.

I have a lot of firsthand experience working software developers from all over the world and developing global networks of scientists and innovators. One thing is very clear, there is a tremendous amount of latent talent in the U.S. and in around the globe. As desktop manufacturing matures, more and more people will be able to unleash that talent. But, you don’t have to wait, if you have a PC, you can get started today. Starting learning CAD. Read up on CNC. Go through basic electronics tutorial. Order a kit (<$50) will all the pieces and parts for you to being experimenting with Microcontrollers. You can start fixing the economy and bring manufacturing back to NEO, today.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, The Internet! You have a global market at your fingertips. The cost to enter is, oh, $10 per month, plus or minus. You can certainly spend more for advertising, etc., but you don’t have to, to get started…

There is a lot more to say but I am going to stop for now…look for Part II in a few days. I’m not sure what exactly I will cover next but I will get into how to get up to speed quickly in some of these areas, ideas on how to get started on a project, some thoughts on what you should probably should not do, and ways, we as a community, can facilitate quick progress…

(Apologies to MC Hammer (who I’m connected to on twitter)).   It’s Hacker Time!
Also, I will put together a list of helpful resources (If I am asked nicely) 
Feedback (comments, mistakes, suggestions) welcome…

Thanks,
Rick