Snoo7654

Arggg sounded like it was about to be a killer book, alas a good meme though

Don't worry guys, its all part of the plan. Short term pain, for no term gain.

For those in the US, regardless of anyone's opinion on the president elect, his stated policy plans are extremely isolationist which will make our work improving manufacturing capabilities in our borders more important than ever. This post details a mental model for controls engineers entering the field of industrial automation and gives some appreciation to the value of what we do!

Automation/controls engineers have to stich together super specific solutions using various pseudo-compatible hardware, networking software, IIOT devices, & proprietary solutions. Its hard!

There's a dizzying array of industrial automation tools/terms/brands out there with overlapping capabilities that blend together into a gray mush of confusing vernacular: IPC, PLC, DAQ, SCADA, PAC, DCS… HMI, GUI, Touchscreen, Web Interface… EtherCat, EtherNet, ProfiNet, ProfiBus, modBus… OPC-UA, MQTT, HTTP/REST… LD, ST, SFC, IL, FBD?

My thought process when exposed to a new tool is categorizing it by its capabilities in a mental map to help make sense of things. Basic but important for clear thinking!

Printed circuit boards are widely recognized for their essential role in electronics tech, but I think they have underappreciated potential as an artistic medium too. The PCB badge projects you see at hacker conferences always catch my eye for their unique look and creativity.

Back in 2017 I struggled with electronic-CAD software for a sumo robot project, and ever since I’ve found excuses & clever ways to avoid trying again.

Last August I decided it was time to work through this skill limitation. I set a goal for myself to produce a birthday cake badge in time for my daughter’s 7th birthday at the end of the month!

In this post I’ll share some practical tips I picked up along the way plus a new product reveal!

In this post I share actual numbers from my experience buying solar panels as an alternative investment.

In this post I share actual numbers from my experience buying solar panels as an alternative investment.

I was recently tasked with a reverse engineering project that ended up being a real drag to carry out. The work literally felt like a puzzle, which I normally love, so why not this one?

This post is about tips for designing better tools & controls interfaces, but in the process of writing it I came up with an even more interesting idea at the root of the problem, so I’ll start there!

Every challenge in life can be viewed as a puzzle, and by classifying the qualities that make puzzles challenging we can improve our approach to designing better tools & solving them!