Episode 58 — Miscellany

gaugesIn a completely off-the-cuff discussion, Adam, Brian, Carmen and Jeff wander through subjects including finite state machines, power circuit wiring, and the economic implications of technological advances.

  • Jeff is busy preparing to teach a Software Carpentry course, as well as revising the Mechatronics course he taught the past two years.
  • Although there are certain conceptual advantages to having students automate their devices using an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) rather than an Arduino board, one downside is the need to teach a hardware description language (HDL), such as Verilog or VHDL.
  • On a past episode of The Amp Hour, Dave Vandenbout of XESS Corporation talked about MyHDL, a software package for programming FPGA devices using the Python language.
  • One should apparently avoid schematic capture as a means for programming FPGA devices.
  • A finite state machine (FSM) can be a handy mathematical abstraction when programming physical devices that have distinct operating modes.
  • A quote about finite state machines that Jeff refers to, but never states:

    “The formal, mathematical definition of an FSM is such brain numbing, eye popping mumbo jumbo I feel certain that 9 out of 10 electronic engineering and IT students switch off in the first 5 minutes of the FSM lecture series, never to ever benefit from the power of FSMs in their work. This is not difficult stuff, it’s just made to look difficult by the academics!” — David Stonier-Gibson

  • Adam is working on a brewery control system, using Android and Bluetooth.
  • To bring water up to a boil, Adam uses a 2000 watt immersion heater running off a 120 VAC power outlet.
  • For his birthday, Carmen has asked for the Arduino starter kit from Adafruit.
  • Brian mentions an Arduino + LabVIEW bundle that is available from Sparkfun.
  • Carmen references an episode of The Amp Hour that describes how companies buy up old equipment to make out-of-production IC chips.
  • At one time, NASA was buying up out-of-stock Intel 8086 CPUs from eBay to maintain their supply of spare parts.
  • Entire CPUs can be programmed into FPGAs these days.
  • Adam describes the slow advancement in traffic signal controller technology over the past several decades.
  • Brian asks Jeff if autonomous vehicles are robots.
  • Without using the “singularity” term, Jeff hints at the coming intermingling of humans and machines.
  • Brian ponders future robots declaring that certain problems “do not compute.”
  • The group gets into an extended discussion about the economic effects of technology, especially with regard to the number of jobs being automated each year.
  • Marc Andreessen has famously declared that “software will eat the world.”
  • Jeff recounts the central plot to Fredrick Pohl’s short story from 1954, “The Midas Plague,” in which the rich consume less, while the poor are forced to consume the glut of goods and services produced by robots.
  • Rodney Brooks has started a company, Rethink Robotics, which is selling an adaptable robot for less than $25,000.
  • In a discussion about people resisting change, Jeff recalls the story of John Henry, a “steel-driving man” who raced a steam-powered hammer in tunneling through a mountain.
  • Jeff asks the group to consider the economic effect of Chris Gammell‘s hypothetical “chip printing machine.”
  • A relatively small firm in England, ARM Holdings, designs the instruction set architecture used in the popular ARM processors.
  • Carmen points out that small companies and advanced hobbyists can fabricate their own chip designs using the MOSIS foundry service, which is operated by the University of Southern California.
  • Brian notes the recent interest in solar-powered roadways, although not everybody thinks it is a good idea.

Thanks to Steve Snodgrass for the photograph titled “UH-1N Cockpit.” Podcast theme music by Paul Stevenson.

Episode 57 — What Engineers Do

DraftingIn this episode of The Engineering Commons, we discuss engineering skills and duties learned in the workplace, rather than from a textbook.

  • Brian tells young engineers that an engineering degree is a “learner’s permit.” Once in the workplace, engineers have to teach themselves to solve an entirely new class of problems.
  • A gold-fish shaped retention pond, first mentioned by Adam in our episode on engineering pranks, is referenced once again, although your dutiful scribe is still looking for hard evidence of such a structure.
  • An extended discussion related to beer production and consumption breaks out amongst the discussion panel.
  • Jeff describes how the bricks that once covered the entire racing surface at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are now found only at the start/finish line, in what is known as the Yard of Bricks.
  • Lateral loading on racing surfaces, due to the massive grip exerted by race car tires, requires the use of specialized asphalt mixtures.
  • Drivers in the Indianapolis 500 automobile race pull more than 3 lateral g’s while going through the turns.
  • Quotes about the engineering profession:

    “Engineering is the art of organizing and directing men, and of controlling the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of the human race.” — Henry Gordon Stott (1907)

    “”The ideal engineer is a composite … He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems.” — N. W. Dougherty (1955)

    “Engineering is not merely knowing and being knowledgeable, like a walking encyclopedia; engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is not merely the possession of the capacity to get elegant solutions to non-existent engineering problems; engineering is practicing the art of the organized forcing of technological change… Engineers operate at the interface between science and society…” — Gordon Stanley Brown (1962)

    “Scientists study the world as it is, engineers create the world that never has been.” — Theodore von Kármán

  • Engineers break complex problems into smaller solvable pieces. The “art” of engineering is knowing how big those pieces can be.
  • Whereas textbook problems usually have a definite answer, problems from the workplace are often ill-defined, and may sometimes offer no practicable solution.
  • Problem constraints in industry may seem at times arbitrary, being controlled by economic, political, and organizational powers beyond the engineer’s realm of influence. Additionally, these constraints are not fixed, but vary with time.
  • We reveal our high-tech method of aligning audio tracks in Audacity, the audio editing software used to create this podcast.
  • Obsolescence issues are increasingly important for design engineers as commercially-available components are being manufactured for shorter periods of time.
  • Engineers must avoid the natural urge to over-design products, even when dealing with complex constraints.
  • Making a prototype work once in the lab is far different than making thousands of mass-produced products work reliably in the field.
  • An important part of an engineer’s job is prioritizing where one’s time should be spent.
  • Many times it’s more important to be on the “proper” side of the equation than to be right; that is, one has to make certain assumptions that may be incorrect, but those assumptions need to be made such that the product or service will not fail, even if the assumptions are not perfectly accurate.
  • Jeff’s example of a 500 ksi stress load would have been more realistic at 50 ksi or 500 MPa, at least for steel parts.
  • In examining the meltdown of nuclear reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, recent reports have suggested that a contributing factor was the lowering of a seawall back in 1967.
  • Jeff references a scene from The Big Bang Theory television show where Stuart and Sheldon argue about gradations of being wrong.
  • It’s important for engineers to keep track of the small details, even though the process of doing so may be quite tedious.
  • In his autobiography, test pilot Chuck Yeager recalls the tragic outcome of a line worker’s decision to install bolts “right side up” while assembling a jet plane aileron, even thought the blueprints indicated otherwise.
  • Engineering designs need to account for human factors, as well as technical constraints and specifications.
  • Jeff makes selective use of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing standards, as sometimes a simple callout works better in the prototype machine shop.
  • As an engineer, skepticism is prudent in evaluating information and methods. However, too much skepticism can lead to one being labeled “not a team player.”
  • Engineers are often asked to be “fortune tellers,” predicting future outcomes for processes and designs that have never before been realized.
  • Adam emphasizes the importance of understanding safety factors, and their proper application in the design process.
  • Production and maintenance costs are crucial factors in industry, while such cost issues are often overlooked in textbook problems.

Thanks to Seattle Municipal Archives for the photograph titled “Drafter working in Engineering Department, 1959.” Podcast theme music by Paul Stevenson.

Episode 56 — Analog Footsteps

VacuumTubesWe discuss the legendary engineers of analog electronics with Linear Technology’s Todd Nelson.

Thanks to Rony B. Chandran for his photograph titled “Vacuum Tubes.” Podcast theme music by Paul Stevenson.

Practical insights for the engineering crowd