Bench Talk

Since Karel Capek first introduced the world to robots in his 1920 Czech play, R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots, people have been fascinated by robots (and slightly afraid that they might take over the world). Thirty years later, American author Isaac Asimov began to popularize robots through his science fiction books including I, Robot and The Bicentennial Man. While actual working robots have a long way to go before they live up to their science fiction personas, many exciting advancements in robotic technology have been made. Here are a few of our favorite moments in the brief history of robots...

Nearly 4000 power professionals and knowledge-seekers converged at the Fort Worth Convention Center in March for the twenty-ninth annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC 2014). There was something for everyone it seemed, from hot topics such as high-density power supplies, wide bandgap semiconductors for power electronics applications, wireless charging for electric vehicles, advances in nanotechnology, energy harvesting and 3D packaging to standard subjects such as dc-dc converters, power factor correction, controls, and passive components.

I was on a standards writing committee call two weeks ago discussing part traceability with customers on the committee. I wanted them to accept this requirement in the standard “c. Maintain inventory control of received parts sufficient to have positive traceability as to the supplier of the parts. Parts from different suppliers will not be comingled.” The thinking here is that by having this traceability, customers will know whose product is giving them problems. I was amazed by the response.

The Arduino revolution recently turned the big 1-0! Hard to believe it’s been ten years since that little blue board of electronics magic found it’s way out of Italy and onto lab benches around the globe. I fondly remember many nights and weekends spent with my Arduino Diecimila. It was my first Arduino, and my first prototyping platform since a BASIC Stamp-based platform I acquired back in college.

In 1984 John Gage at Sun Microsystems promoted the idea that “the network is the computer.” Gage was a bit ahead of his time; the Internet was just getting off ground—TCP/IP had only been standardized two years earlier—and the Netscape Navigator browser didn’t debut for another 10 years. Today virtually every computer in the world is part of the Internet.

The awesome thing about the human mind is it never fully shuts off. The terrible thing is, this does not always mean it is being clever. Case and point. Some time ago I went to Body Worlds, a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared to reveal inner anatomical structures. By the by, never take friends to Body Worlds without first feeding them. Hunger plus Body Worlds can make for an unpleasant experience.

Do you recall growing up as a kid and playing with Lite-Brights? I can remember it almost like it was yesterday. It came with that ubiquitous patterned picture to make a clown face and a sail boat. The fun came from completing the build out the pattern and then flipping the off the light switch and seeing everything glow, lighting up the darkness.

I had an environmental monitoring project at Salt Creek in Aspermont, Texas, a few years back. If you have never been to Aspermont, you can get the total experience with a video of a slow tumbleweed. Salt Creek in Aspermont has off-the charts salinity. There’s a huge salt dome that contaminates the spring source for the creek, and this super-salty water eventually meets up with the Brazos River. The group that owned the property wanted to know the flow, volume, and salinity of the creek. We were to set-up monitoring at the base of a small valley, near a concrete bridge.

Positioned as an alternative, more eco friendly answer to gasoline powered automobiles, there’s been lots of development and coverage on electric/hybrid vehicles. It wasn’t that long ago that the press proclaimed that the Tesla Model S was automotive perfection. (Or, as I would like to say in tribute to Ben Franklin… the tightest kite string in a bad storm with lightning.) All of that led me to wonder, what’s happening in the world of electric bikes or eBikes? After all, May is officially National Bike Month. Anyway, probably the most brilliant scientific and engineering mind ever, Albert Einstein, loved riding bikes. It even laid the groundwork to one of his greatest discoveries.

Hello all, and welcome as I take my first steps into the blogosphere. I’ll be writing on all things about or related to audio, and I hope to provide some interesting thoughts and ideas about new products, technologies and trends in audio design. Much of my earlier work life was in pro audio sales support, marketing and technical roles. Feel free to comment, because your insight might be…well, insightful.