By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
15-Aug-2017
Simplexity’s brand promise is to deliver simple solutions to complex engineering challenges. As many in the field know, it’s actually harder to develop elegant solutions with fewer parts and components. Adding parts, cost, and complexity to solve issues is often much easier than taking things away. At Simplexity, we’ve formalized our process into the Seven Steps to Simplification©.
By Neil Foxman (Mechanical Engineer) , Tristan Dudik (Mechanical Engineer)
02-Aug-2017
Last semester, Simplexity presented a challenge to students at the University of California, San Diego and Portland State University: test buttons. This was a capstone design project for the students, which is an opportunity for graduating senior engineers to showcase the tools, analytical skills, and general engineering creativity they have gained to solve a design problem. The students confront a problem with given design constraints like size and budget. They must then design, build, and test a solution. In this case, that solution was an automated button life tester.
By Katie Elliott (Expert Firmware Engineer)
13-Jul-2017
Medical and biotech device development is a special class of product development because of the regulatory environment. Those new to the field are often surprised about what devices are considered medical devices and the amount of effort that goes into developing one. Although the formality and rigor of medical device development does increase the cost and time to market, the process seeks to ensure high quality, safe products are delivered by enforcing well-defined design practices.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
11-Jul-2017
While developing a product, you must take risks to achieve market success. To achieve business success with that product, it’s critical to assess and address risk as early and affordably as possible. At Simplexity, we’ve spent our careers helping companies simplify designs and reduce risks.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
28-Jun-2017
During product development, you must take risks to achieve market success. To also achieve business success, it’s critical for a design firm to assess and address risks as early and affordably as possible. At Simplexity, we’ve spent our careers helping a wide variety of companies do just that, and view risk mitigation as an integral part of the stages of product development.
By Raj Oswal (Director Strategic Alliances, Biotech)
09-Jun-2017
The San Diego Biotech Consortium is a regional partnership of service companies dedicated to promoting best practices in product development for the Biotech industry. The Consortium offers leaders of biotech and life sciences companies a resource for tapping into best-in-class technologies and expertise in product, instrument, and cartridge design from concept through manufacturing. Each Consortium member is a sought-after specialist in their field, and the formal collaboration offers ease of selection for Biotech firms needing a fully integrated solution or a-la-carte services to augment or add capacity to their team.
By Josh Siegel (Mechanical Engineer)
25-Apr-2017
At Simplexity, part of our work is designing embedded motion systems. As embedded motion engineers, we have to know how the smart electronics get placed within the physical structure (“embedded”) and how each component moves relative to each other (“motion”). In this three-part series, I delve into how we describe and model the latter term, motion, which we often take for granted as being quite simple.
By Gabriel Aldaz (Director of Bay Area Office)
19-Apr-2017
In the early 1900s, the University of Oregon lost its Department of Engineering and Mines to Oregon Agricultural College, today known as Oregon State University, in Corvallis. Ten years ago, the University of Oregon bounced back by creating the Department of Product Design as part of its School of Architecture and Allied Arts.
In addition to its primary location in Eugene, the department recently opened a branch housed at the historic White Stag Building in Portland. The Sports Product Design program will be the only graduate program of its kind in the world. The curriculum includes courses in sports product design, materials and manufacturing, sports product branding and marketing, human physiology, and communications. It’s a great match for Oregon’s growing sports and apparel industry, which includes Columbia Sportswear, Adidas North America, and of course Nike, headquartered near Beaverton.
By Josh Siegel (Mechanical Engineer)
14-Apr-2017
At Simplexity, part of our work is designing embedded motion systems. As embedded motion engineers, we have to know how the smart electronics get placed within the physical structure (“embedded”) and how each component moves relative to each other (“motion”). In this three-part series, I delve into how we describe and model the latter term, motion, which we often take for granted as being quite simple.
In my introduction to 3D motion analysis, I discussed why it’s important to analyze motion, and I provided a simple 2D gear example. In that 2D example, each of the rotating components was rotating through a single angle, rotating about a single axis, and rotating about its center of mass.
In this post, I explain why those simple relations aren’t universal, and why we have to be cautious when using them to help solve engineering problems.
By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
12-Apr-2017
I was recently asked by the Society of Women Engineers to give a talk on leadership. The organizers of the event asked me to share my story of how I went from an engineering role to running a company. In preparing for the talk, it was a good opportunity for some self-reflection, to really think back on those pivotal moments and actions that made a difference as I progressed in my career.
While I was planning on discussing some characteristics that are typical to women in engineering, it was important to me that the talk applied universally to all engineers, not only women. For that matter, even though I did approach the talk from the lens of being an engineer, I hoped it would also be applicable to other professionals wanting to move up into leadership roles in any industry.
By Josh Siegel (Mechanical Engineer)
06-Apr-2017
At Simplexity, part of our work is designing embedded motion systems. As embedded motion engineers, we have to know how the smart electronics get placed within the physical structure (“embedded”) and how each component moves relative to each other (“motion”). In this three-part series, I delve into how we describe and model the latter term, motion, which we often take for granted as being quite simple.
In the first of the three posts, I will discuss what we care about with regards to motion. I’ll also walk through an example where it’s appropriate to use simplified motion equations.
By Gabriel Aldaz (Director of Bay Area Office)
29-Mar-2017
The prototyping process is faster and easier than ever before. The Maker Movement encourages us to build, build, build. Rapid prototyping with Arduino and 3D-printed parts and overnight shipping from McMaster-Carr and Digi-Key enable engineers to quickly prove out concepts. The resulting tangible objects can validate a critical functionality or communicate a design intent.
Equally important, you can show your prototypes to prospective customers who will give you valuable feedback on usability, shape, size, weight, and much more. But is there such a thing as too much prototyping? We think so.
By Asa Weiss (Mechanical Engineer)
16-Feb-2017
Discover how each of the fundamental mechatronics fields are influencing the drone industry, resulting in large commercial adoption.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
20-Jan-2017
A common misconception about products such as the ST560 and the HSI Loop CPR Training Device®, is that the only sensor required is an accelerometer. In order to create a viable IMU for measuring the position of a device in free space, it is critical to have both a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis rate gyroscope.
By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
13-Dec-2016
I’ve noticed that in corporate America there is often a class system. There’s the executive class and then there’s the working class. The executives are paid way more, get better benefits, and get big bonuses. It doesn’t have to be that way.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
07-Dec-2016
By looking at embedded systems from a different perspective, a mechatronics perspective, systems can be improved while saving cost.
By Keisha Dorsey (SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER)
22-Nov-2016
Injection molded plastic parts have some wonderful benefits including scalability, the ability to make simple to extremely complex parts, and uniformity, the ability to make hundreds to millions of virtually identical parts.
By Gabriel Aldaz (Director of Bay Area Office)
14-Nov-2016
In product development, choosing open versus closed hardware and software platforms requires careful consideration. Selecting open source hardware has advantages and limitations. From a marketing point of view, however, there is no doubt that the term “open source” generates positive connotations and still generates buzz.
By Michael Allison, PE (Expert Mechanical Engineer)
07-Nov-2016
There are typically a number of considerations when choosing whether you want to use a stock gear or to design a custom gear. Two of the key considerations are cost and performance.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
31-Oct-2016
A detailed recap of the 2016 Open Source Hardware Summit in Portland, Oregon.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
20-Oct-2016
At the most fundamental level, a motion control system is any system that controls energy flow to generate mechanical motion with some desired properties.
By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
05-Oct-2016
If you’re trying to decide whether to hire a product development firm, or determine which one is best for your needs, here are the top 10 questions that you should ask.
By Gabriel Aldaz (Director of Bay Area Office)
12-Sep-2016
The new Apple AirPods have the potential to fuse traditional headphones with hearing aids. The baby boomer who refuses to wear hearing aids will see people of all ages wearing AirPods and will want a pair for himself. And by the way, what if those AirPods could also amplify speech and cancel noise?
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
01-Sep-2016
There are many amazing open source hardware (OSHW) printed circuit assembly (PCA) projects available today. Arduino®, BeagleBone®, Rasperry Pi®, OpenPilot®, and RepRap® are a few of the bigger names, but there are many, many more.
By John Pruyn, PE (Senior Mechanical Engineer)
16-Aug-2016
Mechatronics is not only about the motor, but rather getting the most out of the motors you have. To do that you have to step back and look at the whole system. Medium and high volume products can deliver high performance motion control and value-added features at low direct material costs if the work has been done up front to get the mechanics right.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
02-Aug-2016
Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest of the crowd sourcing world are overrun with product ideas for connecting different things to the internet. Here are three things to think about when designing your IoT product.
By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
19-Jul-2016
On more than one occasion, a company has approached Simplexity to ask if we can “look at this prototype, work out any bugs, and release it for high-volume manufacturing.” While that sounds easy, most times that prototype is neither designed nor ready for high-volume manufacturing.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
29-Jun-2016
The market for 3D printers has exploded over the last few years. There have been great advances in printer hardware, materials, and the software ecosystem required to allow 3D printers to become a viable tool for engineers and hobbyists alike.
By Kristin Pollock (Electrical Engineer)
22-Jun-2016
Electromagnetic Compatibility is the branch of electrical engineering concerned with the unintentional generation, propagation and reception of electromagnetic energy which may cause unwanted effects in operational equipment. EMC is often described as ‘black magic’, so getting an intuition for the subject is a valuable asset.
By Bob Callaway (Expert Systems Engineer)
06-Jun-2016
What is the correct (or best) motor to use in a motion control application? Given the myriad choices of type, size and performance it should not be surprising that there is no simple choice of motor that supplies the answer to that question.
By Gabriel Aldaz (Director of Bay Area Office)
18-May-2016
This past month I was asked to speak on the topic of concept generation, also known as ideation, at Professor Larry Leifer’s 3D Printing and Design course – ME137/237 – at Stanford University. At these talks, I always ask the audience to shout out methods that are useful in generating creative solutions to a problem. “Brainstorming” is invariably heard first, perhaps followed by some of its derivatives, such as bodystorming, assumption storming, and brainwriting. Then the room goes quiet. What happened? Brainstorming seems to enjoy a near monopoly on concept generation methods.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
09-May-2016
To achieve the optimal cost/performance ratio in any system, the design must be tightly integrated. All of the system components must be working together in harmony, with minimal overlap in function and any excess design margin eliminated. Here are five tips to help you achieve tight design integration in your next mechatronic design.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
28-Apr-2016
In high volume designs, the design NRE (non-recurring engineering cost) is often greatly outweighed by the component cost multiplied by the volume, the total cost of production over the production life. It’s absolutely critical that you understand the trade-off between design NRE and BOM cost in high volume designs. Here are three things that will have the biggest impact on improving the quality of your solution.
By Doug Harriman (Chief Technology Officer)
18-Apr-2016
The word "mechatronics" was first coined in Japan in the late 1960’s to refer to the synergistic blend of mechanics and electronics. The word has evolved to describe products and systems that include not only mechanics and electronics, but the software in the electronics, and the control algorithms in that software. Mechatronic systems encompass many of the products we deal with every day, especially those that interact with the physical world.
By Dorota Shortell (Chief Executive Officer)
06-Apr-2016
People are often curious about what our secret sauce is for achieving such simple designs for complex products. While I could get into all the details- things like hiring great people, building a culture of excellence, emphasizing technical engineering skills, capitalizing on a broad database of reference designs, and leveraging manufacturing experience- I’d like to just focus on three things that have the most impact.
