The Nix Mini is a Bluetooth Low Energy colour sensor, used to match and capture the colour of objects in the real world. It works with a smartphone app to deliver colour information to the user, in multiple colour spaces, and matched against the colour databases of many major paint companies.

My role in the development of the Nix Mini was to develop the firmware for the product, and assist in passing the device through FCC, CE, and Industry Canada EMC certification.

More information is available at the product website, nixmini.com.

MondoMatrix was a family of four different circuit boards, that networked together over RS-485, meant for art installations that involved light and movement. DisplayDuino was an Arduino-compatible controller, to run the installation. ServoMatrix boards controlled up to 64 RC servos. LEDMatrix boards drove up to 64 RGB LEDs. PowerMatrix boards drove up to 32 power channels with PWM, up to 500mA each. These boards came out of an art project called Zeugen.

I was involved in the circuit board design, layout, and firmware for Zeugen. I was also responsible for the board design for all four boards, as well as firmware. In addition, I worked with a contract manufacturer remotely to ensure the assembled boards were of high quality.

For three years thus far, I’ve made PCB badges for Makers at Maker Faire Ottawa. This started out with a simple LED circuit, and has since evolved into an Arduino-compatible board that implements infrared communications, capacitive sensing, and an LED array.

For this project, I covered everything from design, prototyping, parts sourcing, and assembly for a small (250 unit) production run. This is always a very involved project.

Technical details for the latest version are available on GitHub for the 2016 badge and for the 2015 badge. I also wrote about the process of building the 2014 badges.

DIYPinball is an electronics platform for refurbishing and designing pinball machines. It consists of a number of driver boards - for lamps, switches, solenoids, score displays, and the like - that are linked via a CAN network with a Raspberry Pi computer. The Raspberry Pi runs code - initially in a custom JavaScript framework, but now using the Python-based Mission Pinball Framework - that implements the game logic.

My role in the development of DIYPinball includes circuit design, PCB layout, firmware and protocol development, and game logic development, in addition to normal refurbishment tasks.

More information is available at the project website, diypinball.ca, or on the project’s GitHub.

The Chipsetter One is a pick and place machine, used to assemble circuit boards. It uses computer vision to accurately place small surface mount components on a circuit board, ensuring the parts are accurately aligned every time. It is targeted at a lower price point than the market currently provides, enabling smaller companies to bring their prototype and short-run assembly in-house.

My roles in the development of the Chipsetter One were wide-ranging:

• Circuit board design and prototype assembly
• Firmware development for three concurrent systems, including bootloaders, the feeder control system, USB communications, and the motion control system
• Parts sourcing
• Cable assembly design and construction
• Protocol development, over both USB and RS-485

More information is available at the product website, chipsetter.com, in the Kickstarter video (featuring yours truly), or in the demo video.

Baby Boss was a project done as part of the PCH Toronto Hardware Hackathon. It’s a Wifi-connected to-do list of baby supplies. Nine icons represent different supplies that might be needed. Pressing a button turns on a button, and syncs with an online shopping list - automatically marking that item as being needed. Someone else from the household can then check their phone to see what needs to be picked up before heading home from work. The app and hardware are both updated in real time, so they’re always in sync.

Our team of 4 designed and built the prototype - electronics, firmware, enclosure, server, and web app - in under 48 hours, and had a working demo for the end of the hackathon, while a business team determined a marketing strategy and researched the size of the potential market. I primarily worked on electronics and firmware, while providing some help in developing the MQTT interface with the server.