Hackaday Remoticon is live now! Watch all of today’s talks on the live stream and interact with everyone by joining Discord.
All talk and schedule information is available on the conference webpage, but here are the things you don’t want to miss (all times are Pacific time zone):
An update on Hackaday’s Remoticon.2:
We’ve already unveiled multiple keynote speakers and a slate of fascinating presenters that will be showing off everything from reverse engineering vintage calculators to taking those first tentative steps on your CAD journey for this year’s Remoticon. You’d be forgiven for thinking that’s everything you’ll see at the conference, but there’s still plenty to announce before the two-day virtual event kicks off on November 19th. Normally we’d be promising to make sure you get your money’s worth, but since tickets are cmpletely free, we’re shooting a bit higher than that.
Jeroen Domburg (aka [Sprite_tm]): Rickrolling Buddha: A Deep Dive in Reverse Engineering and Thoroughly Pwning an Unknown Chip
Sergiy Nesterenko: Don’t Flip My Bits: Electronics in Spaaaace
Vaibhav Chhabra: M19 Initiative – A Case of Open Innovation & Distributed Manufacturing at Scale
Arsenijs Picugins: Laptop-Be-Done
While we’ll have to another year for Supercon, prolific badge maker Thomas Flummer is helping to bring the communal hardware hacking spirit to Hackaday’s upcoming virtual conference:
If you would like a badge for Remoticon.2, this project is for you. It’s a design in KiCad, with a bit of space for you to add in whatever you would like to have on your badge (and maybe already have parts for), but still in a look that will make it be part of the visual identity of Remoticon.2
So, compared to a badge that are handed out at an in-person event, this will require a little bit of effort ahead of time. If you want to have a badge for the event, you will need to send if for production fairly soon.
This years color theme matches OSHParks purple PCBs very nicely, and the fine silkscreen details will come out great, as they use a high DPI printing technique.
The KiCad project includes a badge design with a grid of regular 0.1″ spaced pads, but the idea is that you remove all those and add in some circuitry that you think would be cool to have on your badge. And with the current state of silicon parts supply, probably something you already have or at least have found in stock somewhere.
This is ment to to be a fun little extra thing, so no need to spend too long on doing the perfect design, but maybe try to remix something you did previously, or experiment with that little part that you never got to use and is just sitting there on the shelf.
The important part is having fun and sharing with each other.
There are shared projects of this variant at https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/gRSf01dV and the simple version with 0.1″ spaced holes are at https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/YJqAizIf if you don’t want to make your own changes to the files.
Ish Ot Jr. writes about their Hackaday Remoticon experience:
I Attended Two Dozen Hackaday Remoticon Sessions So You Don’t Have To! (And Why You Should Anyway!)
The Hackaday Superconference typically takes place in Pasadena, California around this time each year — but like so many events in 2020, COVID threw a decisively un-jolly wrench in that plan, forcing the event online under a new moniker: Hackaday Remoticon.
Things kicked off casually on Friday night with the Community Bring A Hack, hosted on the Remo Conference platform. The platform attempts to recreate networking spaces common to in-person conferences, with “tables” and “sofas” where participants can double-click to “sit” — which in this virtual world initiates audio and video communications with other “seated” parties. While the technology itself worked fairly well, it seemed as though many participants were either confused as to how it worked, or unwilling to interact — I successfully engaged in two conversations throughout the event, otherwise happening mostly upon attendees whose audio and video was not enabled. And much like real-life events, the popular folks were unobtainable (in this case due to a six-person table limit), so it was mostly a case of looking out for people you knew, or trying to be brave and make new friends (both of which I was lucky enough to be able to do!).
The 11:15 (Eastern) slot had three workshops to chose from, and since attending two simultaneously was already pretty extreme, I had to sit out Sebastian Oort’s Soldering, nothing to be afraid of! — which thankfully is not a phobia I find myself afflicted with.
One topic I did want to learn more about was Anool Mahidharia‘s KiCad to Blender > Photorealistic PCB renders. I’d attended Mahidharia’s KiCad course on HackadayU, and have such high respect for his skills that I’d gladly have attended a session called “Photorealistic paint drying” if he was teaching it! But I’d seen some of Mahidharia’s renders already, and was so comprehensively blown away by them that I wanted to learn how he’d made them, plus, like him, I’ve been putting off learning Blender, and thought this might motivate me to get on with it! While the video for this session is not available yet, Mahidharia has written up a handy cheat sheet, and the accompany GitHub repo is full of glorious renderings that will probably make you want to give it a try too!
Hackaday editor Mike Szczys writes about a recent Hackaday Remoticon talk:
Alfred Jones Talks About the Challenges of Designing Fully Self-Driving Vehicles
The leap to self-driving cars could be as game-changing as the one from horse power to engine power. If cars prove able to drive themselves better than humans do, the safety gains could be enormous: auto accidents were the #8 cause of death worldwide in 2016. And who doesn’t want to turn travel time into something either truly restful or alternatively productive?
But getting there is a big challenge, as Alfred Jones knows all too well. The Head of Mechanical Engineering at Lyft’s level-5 self-driving division, his team is building the roof racks and other gear that gives the vehicles their sensors and computational hardware. In his keynote talk at Hackaday Remoticon, Alfred Jones walks us through what each level of self-driving means, how the problem is being approached, and where the sticking points are found between what’s being tested now and a truly steering-wheel-free future.
Check out the video below, and take a deeper dive into the details of his talk.
Hackaday Remoticon kicks off today, Friday, November 6th, and is “a weekend packed with workshops about hardware creation, held virtually for all to enjoy” ⚡️🛠️💻
Mike Szczys writes on Hackaday:
Alfred Jones and Kipp Bradford to Deliver Keynotes at Hackaday Remoticon
There’s just one week left until Hackaday Remoticon, our online gathering in place of our traditional in-person conference during this time of social distancing. Joining the more than 20 hands-on workshops that make up the bulk of Remoticon, we’re excited to announce the two keynote speakers who will be taking the virtual stage: Alfred Jones and Kipp Bradford.
Tickets to see these keynote talks, to watch the SMD Challenge, to see hardware demos, and to take part in the show and tell are free, so get yours today!
Learn how to go from KiCad 3D exports to photorealistic renders in Blender in the Hackaday Remoticon workshop by Anool:
Remoticon: KiCad to Blender > PCB renders
Those of us using KiCad for circuit board design know how useful the built-in 3D viewer and associated (rudimentary) renderer is. KiCad renderer is getting better, but if you want to get there fast, and want to create some amazing photorealistic renders of your PCB, then Blender’s the way to go. Blender can be intimidating to start with, so we’ll walk through a couple of simple steps to go from KiCad VRML export to photorealistic Blender renders.
The annual Hackaday Supercon is taking place as Remoticon this year on November 6th to 8th. The talented Thomas Flummer has design a PCB badge based on the SMD challenge that can be further customized in KiCad.
There is still time before November 6th to order the board from the shared project page in “After Dark”:
NOTE: make sure to check “After Dark” in the cart
From Christina Ramsey on the Tindie blog:
Don’t Miss Out on the Best Virtual Hardware Conference of 2020!
Do you love everything hardware?! Then the 2020 Hackaday Remoticon has you covered this November!
Remoticon is a fully virtual hardware conference with 20+ workshops, 2 keynote talks, and 8 different demos. Join the weekend fun from wherever you are. Remoticon will have instructors teaching workshops from all across the globe, from Australia to India, from North America to the Netherlands.
Meeting virtually provides the perfect platform for more space, more people, and more options. Attend demos about Design Methodology, Robots, Zero to ASIC, Edge-Based Voice AI, and other awesome topics. Join workshops covering topics such as Reverse Engineering, Tiny ML, How to Hack a Car, Glowy Origami, and so many more.
In need of some creative inspiration and socialization with fellow hackers? Come hang out Friday night for a community Bring-A-Hack! There’s even a virtual Hackaday SMD Challenge for those who want to learn and those who want to put their skills to the test.
You’ll never guess the best part. I’m sure you’re thinking, “how could this get any better?” Remoticon Main Track tickets are free! You can also donate with a pay-as-you-wish ticket. Donations will go to charities that feed, house, or educate people.
Attendees only pay $10 to join a workshop. Some workshops do require hardware, which may include things you already have sitting on your workbench.
So the real question is what workshops and demos are you going to pack into your schedule the weekend of November 6-8th? We can’t wait to see you all there!
OSH Park 