Market Landscape - Software for Hardware Companies 🗺️
Alex Huckstepp maps out the market landscape between incumbent software solution companies and emerging start-ups focused on cloud & generative AI based technologies. His chart offers an insightful view into venture capital investment patterns, revealing strategic investments in start-ups poised to compete against traditional CAD-PLM giants such as Autodesk and Dassault.
Some of primary themes across these start-ups are:
- Generative design tools: Zoo Dev, Shapr3D
- Cloud based, multi-physics simulation platforms: SimScale
- Modern PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) tools: Quarter20, Duro
The rapid pace of innovation in what has traditionally been a static space is exciting. However, Nick McCleery, the founder of Anneal—a platform for design reviews and issue tracking—offers a cautionary perspective. In his interview with The Analog, he documents the challenges of growth and market adoption:
Just because a problem is important and can be solved, does not guarantee a viable product that can be produced and sold to a large market within a reasonable timeframe.
Recent Engineering 🔧
- Last week, a cargo ship collided with Baltimore’s Key Bridge causing it to collapse. Speculation around this oversight points to the fact that this bridge, while built in 1977, lacked modern protective infrastructure to protect the base of the continuous truss bridge. Sacrificial elements, known as dolphins, are designed to take the impact of a vessel and redirect it away from the bridge. To put in perspective the scale of the collision, the cargo ship weights ~100,000 tons traveling at roughly 10 miles per hour!
Neuralink released an interview with their first human patient showcasing his ability to control a cursor to play games such as chess and CIV VI. The device, surgically implanted in the patient’s head, contains 1024 high-density electrodes weaved into the brain to measure electrical activity. This signal is then correlated to certain thoughts based on an initial user calibration.
- A video taken from an accessory factory illustrates the injection molding used to produce phone cases. One feature is the use of tab gates which are commonly found on thin parts. This gate reduces jetting defects and shear stresses in the part as the gate acts as a buffer and is manually removed after molding. For more details about gate design and types, read here!
Startup News 🌱
- Glydways is building out an electric robotaxi fleet to reduce congestion and costs associated with driving. The San Jose Mineta International Airport plans to implement around 200 of these vehicles starting in 2028 as an alternative to shuttle buses. The expected initial investment is $500 million.
- Zipline is set to start residential deliveries this year with their urban delivery drone. The Zip drone lowers down a tethered Droid to place the package. This setup reduces energy expenditure, makes deliveries quieter, and allows for a delivery area of 1 meter in diameter.
- Aescape, alongside orthopedic surgeons and massage therapists, has developed a robotic massager. It uses overhead sensors to generate a 3D model of the users body and create a customized massage experience. They’re partnering with 10 gyms in NYC to offer 30-minute massages for $60.
Question of the Week: PCB Layers 🔋
For a 4-layer PCB, the top/bottom layers utilize copper traces to connect signals and components. The two mid-layers are large areas of copper to provide power and ground to components. Lastly, a thin layer of polymer is applied over these layers to protect the circuit from oxidation, contamination, and accidental shorts.
Prepreg refers to the insulative material that separates these layers and the core is there to form the structural foundation of the board.
