EP#38: Trey German Returns and Automatic Game Overs

Podcast Notes

• Trey German is back to give an update on completing the epic Icarus Trophy race. See Figure 1,2,3,4. Trey was previously on MEP EP#10: IoT's Cloudy Future.
• The Icarus Trophy race is a 1000 mile, unsupported, cross-country paramotor race that starts in Montana and finishes in Nevada.
• Trey is working on a Bluetooth connected device that fits in the wing of the paramotor. Using this he can get more flight information and data about pilot control input. It connects up to his phone which runs a custom app. See Figure 5.
• Trey's paramotor motor causes RF interference that disrupts the Bluetooth connection. He is working on shielding the ignition system with should solve the problem.
• The Scariac is a water based resistor built by Grant Thompson a.k.a. "The King of Random". Grant needed a way to adjust the power to this homemade stick welding system but couldn't find an easy or inexpensive way to control the voltage. The idea is to use water as the medium of the resistor and by adjusting the distance between the copper pipe conductors  it will increase and decrease the resistance. Suggestion to listeners. Don't try this at home.
• Found on  TheAmpHour subreddit.  Your brilliant Kickstarter idea could be on sale in China before you’ve even finished funding it. Story is about Yekutiel Sherman who designed a selfie stick iphone case. One week after his kickstarter launched there where already copy cats on aliexpress. Under cut him by $40. This is just the nature of the world of manufacturing we live in now.
• The selfie drone already exists maybe?
• David Ramsay toured a  wirebonding factory while he was in Shenzhen. Really cool pictures of the machines and the process. Parker points out that some of the workers are wearing wireless ESD straps.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!