⚡ The Analog #117: Apple's Pixar Lamp Robot & Periodic Egg Cooking
February 11th, 2025
We’re excited to announce Quilter as our newest sponsor! Quilter uses reinforcement learning to automate circuit board layout for end-to-end PCB design on demand.
Another engineers and founders dinner is coming up — this time in Costa Mesa, CA on February 25th. Applications are open with limited seats (~30) – hardware engineers, leaders, founders, and investors are all welcome!
Onshape is offering hardware startups and entrepreneurs free access to Onshape Professional—complete with CAD, rendering, simulation, PDM, and more. Apply for the program to get started today.
Interesting Links 🏭
A handy reference chart on galvanic corrosion risk, a type of corrosion that occurs when two different metals are in electrical contact via a conductive environment (i.e. water, humidity).
What happens when you repeatedly boil and cool an egg in precise cycles? Turns out, you get the best egg you’ve ever had. Researchers at the University of Naples developed a new technique called periodic cooking, which cycles between high and low temperature exposure to prevent the egg white and yolk from separating. Periodic eggs were placed alternatively in boiling water (Th = 100°C) for th = 2 min and water at Tc = 30°C for tc = 2 min, for a total cooking time of 32 minutes, which corresponds to the repetition of the hot and cold cycles for a total of N = 8 times. In the case of periodic eggs, a bowl filled with water kept at 30°C was used for the cold cooking cycle. Here’s an example of the results using a stove from Impulse Labs.
Note: No idea if the world needs better eggs, but this could be a cool kitchen appliance: a horizontal actuator moves the basket, and a second actuator dunks it between two water baths.
A handbook of electronic system failures related to EMC issues. Every electronic system radiates electromagnetic energy—it’s just a matter of how much and where it ends up. A classic example is the early anti-lock braking system (ABS) in Mercedes-Benz vehicles. During the early years of ABS, on a specific curved section of the German autobahn, EMI from a nearby radio transmitter disrupted systems causing braking issues. ABS prevents wheel lock-up by modulating brake pressure, but EMI disrupted the control system leading to improper brake function. The short-term fix was to install a mesh screen along the affected roadway to attenuate the EMI.
Apple’s Machine Learning Research team introduces Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robots—in simpler terms, bringing the Pixar lamp to life. In typical Apple fashion, the premise explored how non-anthropomorphic robots (robots that don’t look like humans) can integrate classical function-driven trajectories—where a robot moves from the initial state to goal state in the shortest, feasible trajectory—with motion that communicates intent, attention, and emotion to humans (i.e. expression-driven trajectory). The result is a really cool demo that looks a lot like the Pixar lamp in real life.
Boom Supersonic released their test results from the XB-1 test flight last week, demonstrating that supersonic flight is possible without an audible sonic boom. This is possible because of Mach Cutoff, a phenomenon where atmospheric temperature gradients cause shockwaves to refract upwards, preventing them from reaching the ground at certain Mach numbers (typically between Mach 1.0 and 1.15). The concept was first introduced by Lockheed engineers in the mid-1960s with recent testing by Boom and NASA researchers.
Honda is investing over $1 billion in Ohio facilities to scale up EV production, with a key focus on gigacasting. At its Marysville plant, the company is installing six 6,000-ton high-pressure die-cast machines—similar to Tesla's approach—to produce large structural components like battery pack enclosures. The Marysville facility, part of Honda's emerging EV hub in Ohio, is set to produce around 220,000 vehicles annually which includes the first Honda EV, an all-electric Acura RSX crossover.
Sponsored: Presented by Quarter20
Quarter20 is a CAD-connected wiki to automate hardware documentation. Connect to CAD and easily generate dynamic visuals and content you need to collaborate across teams. Changes to your CAD? We’ll update your document for you! Never re-take a screenshot again. Quarter20 makes technical documentation fast, simple, and dare we say… kind of fun? In less than 10 minutes, make work instructions, BOMs, or design review decks. We’re offering a free two week trial, sign up today at www.buildquarter20.com.
Startup News 🚀
Pave Robotics, a startup developing robots for road maintenance with a focus on asphalt crack sealing to start, was recently accepted into YCombinator. You might recognize their work from YouTube—both founders, formerly the Head of Engineering and Head of Product at CrunchLabs (Mark Rober’s product company), have designed popular engineering toys used in STEM toy kits.
Presto is developing a software platform to streamline EV charging for fleets by integrating across various charging networks. The business is a classic platform/marketplace play, bridging the gap between fragmented charging networks and fleet operators to recommend the best available chargers in real-time. The company recently raised a $15M seed round to expand its operations and enhance its platform for fleets like Uber, Avis, Hertz, and Zipcar. The round was led by Union Square Ventures.
UVeye has secured an additional $191M in funding, bringing the total to $380.5 million, with the round led by Woven Capital, Toyota's growth fund. The investment will support UVeye's global expansion for their automated vehicle inspection system as the company aims to scan millions of vehicles annually.
Swiss startup Oxyle has raised $16M seed round to expand its innovative solution for destroying PFAS, known as "forever chemicals," in wastewater, building on a previous $3M pre-seed round. The company aims to scale the technology across various industries to treat 100 million liters of contaminated water in the next five years. The round was led by 360 Capital.
IONATE has closed a $17M Series A round led by AlbionVC, with participation from In-Q-Tel. The company’s hardware, a hybrid intelligent transformer (HIT), replaces old transformers with an equivalent that detects, analyses, and resolves power disturbances.
SAEKI, has raised $6.7M in seed funding to advance its robotic 3D printing technology for mold and component manufacturing. The funding round was led by Lightbird Ventures with participation from Founderful, 2100VC, Danobat and a number of business angels.
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Open Jobs 💼
Sponsored:
Dystr, a seed-stage startup developing modern engineering analysis tools, is hiring in the SF Bay Area or Seattle, WA
Gilat Wavestream is hiring for electrical engineering roles in San Dimas, CA
New Grad:
Lockheed Martin is looking for an Electrical Test Engineer (Early Career) in Sunnyvale, CA
Perpetual is looking for a Junior Mechanical Engineer in New York, NY
Ambi Robotics is looking for a Mechanical Engineer in Berkeley, CA
Mid-Level:
Figure is looking for a Mechanical Engineer (System Integration & Test) in Sunnyvale, CA
Machina Labs is looking for an Automation Systems Engineer in Los Angeles, CA
Rivos is looking for a Lab Manager/Rework Technician in Santa Clara, CA
Senior to Staff:
Fi is looking for a Lead Electrical Engineer in New York, NY
ASUS is looking for a Lead Mechanical Engineer in Boston, MA
Lime is looking for a Staff Mechanical Engineer & Senior Electrical Engineer in San Francisco, CA
Internships:
Rivos is looking for a Mechanical Engineering Intern (Thermal) in Santa Clara, CA
Verily is looking for a Product Design Engineering Intern (Medical Devices) in South SF, CA
Shifamed is looking for Engineering Interns in Campbell, CA
Want to share an exciting role at your company? Reach out here.
Meet our Sponsors:
Quilter uses reinforcement learning to automate circuit board layout for end-to-end PCB design on demand.
Onshape is a cloud-native CAD platform that enables real-time collaboration, built-in version control, and design management for engineering teams.
Sygma is building the AI assistant for hardware teams - track issues smarter, stay on schedule and on budget, and ship faster.
Doss simplifies your operations by tracking inventory from PO to POS.
Summit Interconnect is a manufacturer of advanced technology printed circuit boards focused on complex rigid, flex and rigid-flex PCBs.
Cofactr is an automated electronic component procurement and inventory management platform.
AllSpice.io is the Git for hardware collaboration platform, connecting native engineering design tools to provide revision control, automation and more.
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