Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1101604
46 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2019 sire to learn how even if they don't have all the classical skills to begin with. MakeHarvard is a perfect place to find talent for that reason. These are the hires that may not have a resume or a job history yet, but they've been work- ing in these fields and industries for years and are doing some cool things. They aren't con- strained by corporate rules and regulations; they're passionate. Tise: In the coming years, it will be interesting to see how this new blood will change the R&D departments at established companies. They are so procedurally oriented and often focused on a product's potential profitability as much as anything else. Stevenson: Making profit is different than mak- ing innovation. We're seeing some custom- ers focus on that profit, but innovation is nec- essary to keep up in these industries with so much new technology. DESIGN007 Read more about MakeHarvard in the March edition of Design007 Magazine. Bob Tise is an engineer in PCB technical support at Sunstone Circuits. To read past columns by Sunstone or contact Tise, click here. Tise: And if you're an engi- neer responsible for designing and building a robot with a purpose, you know what you need in terms of functional- ity from a PCB. Designing the board is usually not an area of expertise, and that's where we can help. We coach cus- tomers to help them better de- sign for manufacturability as well as build in features need- ed for an IPC Class 3 or 2 cer- tifications. Circuit boards aren't that complicated of a device, but there's complexity in design- ing them for durability, functionality, and manufacturability. The process of creating a circuit board is well established; it's the func- tionality that's new and exciting. These emerg- ing technologies do things that haven't been done before and operate in environments new to electronics. When it comes to PCB design for these devices, the devil is in the details. That's our forte—paying attention to the de - tails and advising customers to design a board we can produce that will work the way they need it to. What's Driving All of This Innovation? Stevenson: Millennials and Generation Z are the driving force behind these emerging tech- nologies. They may not be engineers or have classical training in all of the required disci- plines, but they have an idea of how to inter- face hardware and software to solve a prob- lem. They're getting their questions answered any way they possibly can—through social me- dia or other self-serve channels—and they're making it happen quickly. They think outside of the box. We've seen this with our work at MakeHar- vard (Figure 4), which is an annual 24-hour hackathon competition open to U.S. under- graduate and graduate students that started in 2018. The students we've worked have come in with ideas to improve the world and the de- Figure 4: MakeHarvard's registered students getting ready to make.