Jekyll2022-02-21T22:46:24+00:00https://bylsma.io/feed.xmlJason BylsmaPersonal site for info, projects, blog.Jason BylsmaLearned & unlearned helplessness in human babies and toddlers2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:002022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/helplessness-in-human-toddlers<p>As we are deep into yet another Covid winter alone at home with a 1-yr old and a hyperactive 6-yr old, I find myself contemplating the way little humans relate or don’t relate to our mammalian relatives at similar ages. Basic life functions such as locomotion, eyesight development, and the ability to hunt or feed are absolutely critical in the wild, and much less so in 2022 in the developed world, though I can point to numerous examples where fully-grown humans seem to get on just fine without much development in these three areas. Nevertheless, it seems that the animal world consistently raises and trains their young in basic life skills much sooner than we humans do.</p>
<p>Let’s start with locomotion in human babies vs other mammals. The large, grazing mammals are often able to walk or even run one week after birth. Giraffes, for example are famous for their ability to “walk” only 24 to 48 hours after birth. The motion is quite awkward at first, as you might expect, but this is what is required to survive in the grasslands with numerous predators on the prowl. The same goes for cows, sheep, gazelle, zebra and more, who must all gain the ability to move independently in order to keep up with the herd. There are species in other environments, such as deer, that are able to evade predators by hiding their young in trees and brush, so may take longer to develop independent locomotion. Then there are the predators such as wolf pups and eagles, whose young take from 2 weeks (wolves) and 10-14 weeks (eagles) to begin walking and flying, respectively. These predators don’t have to worry so much about threats to their young.</p>
<p>In humans, our larger brain mass seems to be directly correlated with the increased time to get moving, as shown in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959438812000505">this paper in the journal Neurobiology</a>. Our advanced bipedal movement takes considerable nerual wiring to achieve, and this wiring takes time to develop. Interestingly, rather than complete this development in the womb, it’s actually an advantage that babies are born with those squishy, mishapen skulls, otherwise child birth would be <em>much</em> more painful! Humans also have to develop the motor skills to hold and use tools, manipulate objects, and learn new styles of locomotion as they grow. According to <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-humans-give-birth-to-helpless-babies/">Scientific American</a>, a human fetus would have to complete an 18-21 month gestation period to be born at a similar developmental stage as a newborn chimpanzee. I suppose we can give babies a pass on the time to start walking.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/01152022/baby-falling.gif" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next, let’s take a look at eyesight development as the next helpless state of development. Not everyone knows this, but babies are born with eyes that focus to the distance of the parent’s face, or generally about 8-10 inches away. Newborn babies are also unable to move their eyes between two images and will often have lazy or crossed eyes for the first few months as those neural circuits and muscles are strengthened. The human eye is actually quite remarkable in the animal kingdom and could standalone as a topic for its own post, but let’s look at the highlights:</p>
<ul>
<li>100° (V) x 120° (H) field-of-view, binocular</li>
<li>100:1 contrast ration</li>
<li>10<sup>14</sup> detectable luminance range</li>
<li>estimated resolution of <strong>576 megapixels</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(18)30052-1">2018 study in Trends in Ecology & Evolution</a> showed that human visual acuity and sharpness compares favorably out of 600 species studied. The study measured visual acuity in cycles per degree, or “the number of black and white parallel lines an animal can identify in one degree of their field of vision”. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/humans-see-world-100-times-more-detail-mice-fruit-flies-180969240/">[Smithsonian Mag]</a> Human visual acuity is around 60 cycles per degree, whereas a Wedge-Tailed Eagle can see 140 cycles per degree, and most insects are lucky to see 1 cycle per degree. Looks like human babies get a pass on eyesight development too.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/01152022/visual-acuity-comparison.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now let’s take it up a notch and look at animals vs toddlers’ ability to feed themselves. This is a point of particular frustration at my household, as the 6-yr old consistently has trouble not only collecting the basic ingredients of a meal once-prepared for him, but also has difficulty getting the food to his mouth without resorting to face-first gorging like at a death-row inmate’s final meal. Some studies have shown that babies, when left to develop their own eating habits with an unlimited food supply, will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/upshot/self-feeding-babies-and-the-obesity-epidemic.html">overeat and become less fussy</a> about what they eat. On the other hand, it was shown in a 2017 control trial in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2634362#_blank">JAMA Pediatrics</a> that the so-called “baby-led approach to feeding” did not lead to any measurable different in BMI vs a tradition spoon-feeding approach. If I could find a method that consistently leads to less fussy eaters in children, I would buy every book on that subject that’s written. My children seem to have developed a <em>lex non scripta</em> at the dinner table:</p>
<ol>
<li>Differing foods shall not touch</li>
<li>No more than two colors on the plate</li>
<li>Unlimited ketchup</li>
<li>No spices allowed</li>
</ol>
<p>Clearly all domesticated animals similarly rely on human-led feeding to various degrees, in many cases for their entire lives. This differs from the young of predators and prey in the wild, who must quickly learn the rules of hunting, storing, resupplying and protecting a food supply. Many of these simple rules are completely lost on supermarket societies. In some sense this can be chocked up to what we now call “civilization” or the ability to feed vast non-farming classes with industrialization, domestication and mechanization. See <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552">Guns, Germs and Steel</a> by Jared Diamond.</p>
<p>Regardless of the origin of the food, I don’t think it requires too much advanced cognitive development for kids to collect food from storage (fridge), complete any simple prep (plating), eat in a civilized way and clean up. Yet it takes years and years for little humans to master these tasks. God help them if the adults weren’t around to shepherd them into productive adulthood.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/01152022/lords-of-the-flies.jpeg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>Jason BylsmaAs we are deep into yet another Covid winter alone at home with a 1-yr old and a hyperactive 6-yr old, I find myself contemplating the way little humans relate or don’t relate to our mammalian relatives at similar ages. Basic life functions such as locomotion, eyesight development, and the ability to hunt or feed are absolutely critical in the wild, and much less so in 2022 in the developed world, though I can point to numerous examples where fully-grown humans seem to get on just fine without much development in these three areas. Nevertheless, it seems that the animal world consistently raises and trains their young in basic life skills much sooner than we humans do.Cheap vehicle speed camera with Raspberry Pi2021-04-14T00:00:00+00:002021-04-14T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/Cheap-vehicle-speed-camera<p>Many people that live on or near busy streets share a similar concern: “Everyone drives too fast here.” I hear it constantly from families with kids on my street (including my own), locals, newcomers, tourists, city officials, and even transportation planners. The problem is no one ever backs up these observations with any evidence. Occasionally when road design changes are proposed, the local transportation department will conduct a short-term, localized “speed study”, which may or may not be representative of monthly average traffic speeds and volume. When it comes to local adherence to safe driving laws, as the old NASA slogan goes, “In God we trust, all others bring data.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When it comes to local adherence to safe driving laws, In God we trust, all others bring data.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After inspiration from <a href="https://twitter.com/balsama">@balsama</a> on Twitter, who set up a similar project in Boston’s North End, I decided to set up my own vehicle speed camera for monitoring my street in West Roxbury. The project is based on the work of <a href="https://github.com/pageauc/speed-camera">Claude Pageau on GitHub</a>.</p>
<h2 id="parts-list">Parts List</h2>
<p>Here are the components that I used to set up a quick-and-dirty speed camera at home (most parts I had laying around but the whole set could be bought new for ~$60):</p>
<ol>
<li>Raspberry Pi 2B, 1GB, 900MHz</li>
<li>Raspberry Pi Camera v2</li>
<li>32GB microSD card</li>
<li>USB WiFi dongle</li>
<li>Tape and cable ties</li>
</ol>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/04142021/IMG_5381.JPG" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="setup-notes">Setup Notes</h2>
<p>Now, before we get to the findings, I should point out that there is a bit of setup required and room for improvement towards making this a friendlier setup experience and interface for anyone without command line and some programming experience. For example, the Raspberry Pi needs to be setup to run “headless” and a configuration script is available from Claude Pageau to change velocity units and tune the calibration of the camera to the world it is measuring.</p>
<p>The calibration process currently requires the user to enable the overlay of detection regions on the imagery so that you’re actually measuring the cars on the road. Then the user can fine tune the estimated size of cars in the field-of-view until the measured velocity matches a few test images. For testing, I went ahead and drove past my camera a few times at a known speed and checked the timestamp of those images for the measurement, fine tuning some of those calibration parameters until it was accurately measuring 15/25/35 mph.</p>
<h2 id="findings">Findings</h2>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/04142021/centre-st-speeding-map.png" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I continuously measured vehicle traffic along Centre Street in West Roxbury, MA, a busy arterial street that directly connects the neighborhood’s business district to points North and into downtown Boston. Centre St was identified in Boston’s “Safest Driver Competition” in 2019 as a problem speeding area and is on Boston’s High Crash Network. Data was collected for approximately two weeks from March 28 to April 11. This section of street is lined with multi-family residences and there are many kids on my block in particular.</p>
<figure class=" ">
<a href="/assets/img/04142021/vehicle-speed-plot.png" title="Vehicle speeds Centre St West Roxbury, MA">
<img src="/assets/img/04142021/vehicle-speed-plot.png" alt="vehicle speeds Boston" />
</a>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/VehicleSpeeds-CentreStMontclair-WestRoxburyMA/Speed?:language=en&:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link">Link to Data</a></p>
<p>The data shows a periodic pattern in vehicle speed statistics, with <strong>median speeds > 35 mph</strong> between midnight and 6am <strong>every day</strong>. During the morning rush hours into Boston, speeds generally decrease to 30-32 mph and drop further into the afternoon hours, before rising again for afternoon rush hours and higher still in the evenings. 25th to 75th percentile speeds on Centre St are well above the posted speed limit of 25 mph at all hours, 7 days a week. Few drivers are ever measured travelling below the posted speed limit. It should be noted that the speed camera does detect and measure bikes and, on occasion runners, but I have explicitly filtered out objects below 15 mph from this analysis.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>25th to 75th percentile speeds on Centre St are well above the posted speed limit of 25 mph at all hours, 7 days a week.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class=" ">
<a href="/assets/img/04142021/vehicle-count-plot.png" title="Vehicle counts Centre St West Roxbury, MA">
<img src="/assets/img/04142021/vehicle-count-plot.png" alt="vehicle counts Boston" />
</a>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/VehicleSpeeds-CentreStMontclair-WestRoxburyMA/Count?:language=en&:display_count=y&publish=yes&:origin=viz_share_link">Link to Data</a></p>
<p>Vehicle counts in each direction clearly show the morning rush hour peak of <strong>800 vehicles per hour</strong> northbound, which levels off to ~400 per hour the rest of the day. Then there is the return peak of ~600 vehicles per hour southbound around the hours of 4-7pm. As expected, the morning rush spike is completely absent on Saturdays and Sunday has the lowest vehicle counts of the week in either direction. Keep in mind these vehicle counts are still during COVID, while everyone is writing about the permanence of remote work. It sure seems like gridlock is back in Boston (the former <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/09/metro/boston-ranks-worst-us-rush-hour-traffic-second-year-row/">“worst traffic congestion” winner of 2019 & 2020</a>).</p>
<p>I know others would love to be able to collect data like this at other locations. To really democratize use of a sensor setup like this, the project would need more work to simplify the setup, configuration and use. Currently the Raspberry Pi and camera need to be run indoors with access to a WiFi network. In order to install sensors outdoors at non-residential locations, the system would need to have a more rugged, IP-rated package, GPS receiver, battery power and a cellular link, possibly with a cloud connection to AWS/Azure for provisioning and access to the data. If you’d like a similar setup to take measurements at a location with WiFi access, find me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonbylsma?lang=en">@jasonbylsma</a> or <a href="mailto:bylsma.jason@gmail.com">email</a>.</p>
<p>It should be mentioned that there is reluctance to automated enforcement cameras or traffic cameras generally in Massachusetts and other states. A red light camera bill was barely voted down in 2020 in MA and has been tabled to the next legislative session (tell your state senator to support <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/S1376">S.1376</a>). The reluctance towards traffic cameras could be avoided with the use of small, low-cost radar sensors instead of cameras. I’m working on amplifiers for the <a href="https://theorycircuit.com/hb100-microwave-motion-sensor-interfacing-arduino/">HB100 module</a> separately.</p>Jason BylsmaMany people that live on or near busy streets share a similar concern: “Everyone drives too fast here.” I hear it constantly from families with kids on my street (including my own), locals, newcomers, tourists, city officials, and even transportation planners. The problem is no one ever backs up these observations with any evidence. Occasionally when road design changes are proposed, the local transportation department will conduct a short-term, localized “speed study”, which may or may not be representative of monthly average traffic speeds and volume. When it comes to local adherence to safe driving laws, as the old NASA slogan goes, “In God we trust, all others bring data.”4 Types of Cyclists in Film and Television2020-12-28T00:00:00+00:002020-12-28T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/4-types-of-cyclists-in-film<p>Popular culture casts an ugly shadow on anyone riding a bike for something other than a romantic roll by the beach. We paint bike commuters either as greasy rulebreakers or grown babies refusing more responsibility. The fact of the matter is that although only <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/05/younger-workers-in-cities-more-likely-to-bike-to-work.html">0.6% of commuting is done by bike</a> in the US, that covers a range of age, gender, and race. Cyclists are not a monolith.</p>
<p>In order to raise the profile of the humble bicycle as real mode of transportation again is a healthier image of the daily cyclist in popular culture. A down-to-earth, regular guy or gal that commands respect from others on the road and at the office is what we need. I’ll save my comments on the mighty automobile in popular culture for another post. Here are four stereotypes of cyclists in film and television.</p>
<h2 id="1-the-adolescent">1. The adolescent</h2>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/stranger-things.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This category is nothing more than <strong>Kids on Bikes</strong>. I’d say the bulk of humans riding bikes in film and television has riders under the age of 16 (conveniently the age at which most states grant a restricted driver’s license).</p>
<p>Whether riding to school, to the best friend’s sleepover, or around town with your pals for fun and hijinks, these scenes are typically pretty lighthearted. I would actually argue that this category shows bikes in the <em>most</em> favorable light. Rather than implying that the characters would accomplish these same tasks in a car if only they were older, the kids are shown having a great time together, or getting where they’re going <em>more efficiently</em>! My favorite cyclists to see on screen has got to be Kids on Bikes.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/ET.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="2-the-grown-adolescent">2. The grown adolescent</h3>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/40-yr-old-virgin.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>"I hope you have a big trunk, because I'm putting my bike in it."</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In stark contrast to Kids on Bikes, this stereotype is unfortunately pretty prominent in movies and TV. It’s almost implied that the grown adult using a bike was probably that same kid on a bike from before, they just never really wanted to “grow up” in one way or another.</p>
<p>Characters in this category can have a mix of histories that led to their need for their bike-reliance, from DUIs, bankrupcy, or arrested development. Usually the reason reflects negatively on them. <em>Most</em> images of adults on bikes in film and television seem to play a part in this stereotype. It is all too often implied that the character could be accomplishing the same task with a vehicle but for some life challenges or obstacles they have to overcome.</p>
<p>The few adult bike scenes or films out there that avoid this stereotype are niche, low-budget films made for bike fanatics and cyclists. This is where I encourage any film fans to push the Motion Picture Association, Screen Actors Guild, and whatever other relevant industry groups to show more adults on bikes that reflect on the diversity of cyclists in America today.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/bringing_up_buster.png" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/bluth_bike.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>Apparently "Arrested Development" actually had a lot of bike scenes.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="3-the-old-timer">3. The old timer</h3>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/oz_bike.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You know this one…it’s that famous movie you watched that one time for film class where one of the lead characters rode a bike in that one scene. Such instances naturally fall into their own category because the automobile either didn’t exist yet, or wasn’t an option for that character’s socioeconomic position.</p>
<p>Much like with Kids on Bikes, in pre-1940s films the bicycle was a perfectly common, everyman’s way of getting around, so the characters don’t come off as grown adolescents. Aside from Elvira Gulch, they even seem to be happy about it!</p>
<h3 id="4-the-roadie">4. The roadie</h3>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/roadies.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This one is probably less common than I’m thinking it is, but for whatever reason it sits prominently in my mind. I would generally describe this category as the mid-life crisis, “I’m gonna get super into road bikes” character, almost always male, that does their male bonding at a casual pace on a bike with thin tires. The stereotype comes complete with the elitism one might expect of an upper-middle class white urban or suburban professional.</p>
<hr />
<p>In contrast to the ways bikes are portrayed in American popular culture, I would love to see more images showing what’s possible for bikes in American culture. People that actually use personal bikes for more than weekend rides or vacations don’t necessarily fit any of these stereotypes and they are vastly underrepresented in film and television, even considering the 0.6% statistic mentioned at the top. If we want to encourage cycling as a form of transportation, <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-top-5-benefits-of-cycling">thereby improving health outcomes</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66170-y">reducing emissions from transportation</a>, and <a href="https://www.andyjordans.com/articles/commuter-savings-calculator-pg207.htm">keeping money in people’s pockets</a>, the images of cycling in pop culture need a makeover. Here are some everyday commuters from across the world, interacting with one another and taking it all in during their own challenging, hectic lives:</p>
<h2 id="reality">Reality</h2>
<p>China</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/beijing.jpeg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Melbourne</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/melbourne.jpeg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Paris</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/paris.jpeg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Oulu, Finland</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/oulu.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Netherlands</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/dutch_bike.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bogota, Columbia</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12282020/bogota.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>Jason BylsmaPopular culture casts an ugly shadow on anyone riding a bike for something other than a romantic roll by the beach. We paint bike commuters either as greasy rulebreakers or grown babies refusing more responsibility. The fact of the matter is that although only 0.6% of commuting is done by bike in the US, that covers a range of age, gender, and race. Cyclists are not a monolith.How product safety certification could save your life2020-12-05T00:00:00+00:002020-12-05T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/product-safety-certification<p>Have you ever looked at the backside of a kid’s toy, your toaster oven, or a pre-2014 iPhone like mine to find a series of strange icons or some alphanumeric code?</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12052020/safety_certs.png" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>Welcome to the world of product safety certification! 👹</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Usually these marks are pretty boring, standard stuff that just confirms that a product has met basic requirements to be sold in-country. Now that I am in the middle of getting an electronic product certified, I am forced to think about worst-case-scenarios and how people will ultimately use my product. This gets me to thinking what the world would be like <em>without</em> the agencies that certify physical products. Taking a look at the stats from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, each year in the US there are <a href="https://krupplawfirm.com/dangerous-defective-products/">>20,000 deaths, 30 million injuries</a> and <a href="https://unctad.org/news/unsafe-consumer-products-cost-us-economy-1-trillion-each-year">$1 trillion in economic losses</a> due to defective or poorly designed products.</p>
<p>Imagine you just got up in the morning, your eyesight still blurred from a restful sleep, stumbling into the kitchen to pop a breakfast burrito into the microwave, when all of a sudden you’re running for the fire extinguisher because you have never cleaned the microwave and 3 years of grease and crumbs have sparked and caused a fire! If only your microwave had been tested and certified to <a href="https://www.intertek.com/standards-updates/ul-923-microwave-cooking-appliances/">UL923</a> you wouldn’t be crying on your kitchen floor covered in fire extinguisher residue. The 125 year history of product safety standards are meant to prevent these sorts of incidents. In fact, Underwriters Laboratories was started to keep the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair from burning down.</p>
<p>Most of the costliest product recalls in modern history occurred in just the last 20 years, often in the auto industry.</p>
<ul>
<li>Toyota accelerator pedals getting stuck in the floormat (2010, $3.2B)</li>
<li>GM ignition switch failures, disabling power steering, brakes (2014, $4.1B)</li>
<li>Samsung Galaxy Note 7 bursting into flames (2016, $5.3B)</li>
<li>Firestone/Ford defective tires (2000, $5.6B)</li>
<li>Volkswagen diesel cheating scandal (2015, $18.3B)</li>
<li>Takata airbag recall (2008-present, $24B, 100 milllion airbags affected)</li>
</ul>
<p>So how do you actually get a new product certified to be “safe” and who gives you the stamp of approval? In the mid-20th Century, OSHA regualtions made specific reference to two private testing bodies (UL & FM), but a lawsuit in 1983 forced them to remove those references and the Cambrian Explosion of Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs) began. Now there are something like 16 NRTLs to choose from and 125 sites to get your new product tested and approved.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/12052020/The-spread-of-flame-test.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>This test is going smoothly.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now the tricky part can be navigating the maze of regulations to determine what actually applies to your product, so you can do some in-house verification before you pay a lab to look at it and deny your application. There is a specialized world of safety certification consultants out there that can help identify the relevant regs and give you a pre-certification checklist on your design. Paying the premium for one of these consultants is definitely worth it, since it could save you many months and help get your product to market faster. Either way, expect at least a 3-6 month certification process, depending on lab availability and how many regulations apply. Certification will take longer if you plan to install your product in a hazardous environment, with explosive gases and the like.</p>
<p>One quirky gray area of meeting product certification requirements is the area of “reasonably forseeable misuse”. Take, for example ISO 14971 for medical devices. Forseeable misuse was defined there as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Use of a product or system in a way not intended by the manufacturer, but which can result from readily predictable human behaviors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now, the casual reader might be skeptical, when noticing their toddler taking a carefully designed Apple AirPod and stuffing it up their nose. Prediction of human behavior is after all one of the cornerstones of psychology, in fact there’s a whole field researching how human behavior affects interaction with physical and software products. It’s called <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/science/human-factors">Human Factors Engineering</a> and a quick search on Indeed turned up 2,543 listed openings. Ultimately it falls to the courts to determine if a manufacturer should have reasonably forseen use of their product, hence why I call this a quirky gray area.</p>
<p>At <a href="www.kuvasystems.com">Kuva Systems</a>, we need to be able to navigate these certification issues since we’re installing equipment for use in the oilfield to reduce global methane emissions. In fact, any technology developer in the cleantech space needs to understand certification requirements if they want to scale and bring our energy infrastructure into the 21st Century. Everything from power generation equipment, new mobility systems (e.g. <a href="https://time.com/5925286/e-bikes-parking-lanes/">electric bikes</a>), and low-carbon steel and concrete will all need to meet existing and future rules for safe operation over a 10, 20, 50 year lifespan.</p>
<p>Software may still be eating the world, but safety-certified hardware products are rebuilding it.</p>Jason BylsmaHave you ever looked at the backside of a kid’s toy, your toaster oven, or a pre-2014 iPhone like mine to find a series of strange icons or some alphanumeric code?Managing Hardware Engineering in a Pandemic2020-07-14T00:00:00+00:002020-07-14T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/hardware-eng-pandemic<p>March 2020 was a remarkable month. My company was making great strides in the early weeks. We were fortunate to close another round of funding and operating as usual, in-person, hosting consultants and working in the labs. On March 11 I held a call with the hardware engineering team about the possibility of a stay-at-home requirement and the need to shut down lab operations. It seemed like some of our team thought the discussion was premature, but it was followed up by a call the next day with our full leadership team. Keep in mind at this point there were <strong>1600 cases</strong> in the whole country, and about 100 cases in Massachussetts. The <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28897195/inside-nba-coronavirus-shutdown-how-tense-hours-changed-everything">NBA</a> had apparently found some cases among their players and decided the cancel the whole season.</p>
<p>By March 19 California had issued a stay-at-home advisory, followed by New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. It was only a matter of time. Sure enough, the MA Governor issued the advisory for all non-essential businesses closed starting March 24 through April 7 (this would later be extended). We knew this would last much longer than a couple of weeks and had to refine a work plan for what we now call the “<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/30/1004575/beyond-covid-19-lies-a-new-normal-and-new-opportunities/">new normal</a>”. Ultimately, a smooth-running, remote hardware engineering team should revolve around four key concepts: <strong>efficient and effective communication, streamlined logistics, networked systems, and data</strong>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Preface</strong>: At MultiSensor Scientific, we are in the development stage on a complex industrial imaging product, so it’s not like we’re cranking out widgets from a CM.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="communication">Communication</h2>
<p>Articles on effective business communication are a dime a dozen and get rewritten with every new business communication tool that comes out. Our engineering team has tried several tools over the years to streamline planning and execution throughout the product development process. We already had engineers scattered around New England and Western Canada, some who prefer email, some prefer texting, others more savvy on Slack. The biggest stumbling block for our mixed hardware/software team has been the often divergent nature of <a href="https://www.agileforhardware.com/about/">waterfall vs agile</a> development processes.</p>
<p>Regardless of the communication tools used, during the current crisis and while our labs were officially shutdown, we found most success when leaning into some tried-and-true communication practices:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Block out time</strong> (especially for planning activity and non-technical discussion)</li>
<li><strong>Calendar transparency</strong> - everyone’s work calendar is shared across the organization. If you’re unavailable, block out some time.</li>
<li><strong>Dedicated messaging channels!</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Let’s expand on number 3. The emergence of Slack, which is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/style/slack-replace-email-ipo-listing.html">attempting to replace email</a> as the repository of business communication record is well documented. Each communication platform has strengths and weakesses (email vs text vs video chat vs Slack, etc). We’ve found during the pandemic that email is the best option outside the organization and when composing longer messages that won’t spur discussion. Slack is best for private messaging, extended 1-1 or 1-2 debug sessions, and social communication. This can easily shift to a video call for unscheduled screen-sharing for instance. Heavy use of Slack channels also makes such discussion transparent to all subscribers. Easy enough to mute a channel if you need to, but it avoids the situation where a technical email is sent out to a chosen few and a critical contributor is left out of the loop. Texts are best left for emergencies when you know someone is not in front of email or Slack. We ran into many of these situations, with parents of young kids suddenly conducting home school sessions during the workday and juggling other responsibilities during the shutdown.</p>
<h2 id="logistics">Logistics</h2>
<p>If my notes on communication during the pandemic sounded pretty boilerplate to the modern engineer, the next two topics are where things get trickier. How do you make progress on a highly technical piece of hardware when not all contributors can simultaneously have access? When an engineer needs to work hands-on with the equipment (EE working on a new PCB that was just fabricated, MEs inspecting new 3D printed parts that came off the printer) the solution is to streamline logistics.</p>
<p>While the labs and offices are shutdown, there is no longer a central hub for physical parts to live and operate. If, as in our case, the hardware system is relatively large and complex such that not every engineer gets a copy, the system has to make the rounds to each person at a dedicated stage of development. This means that no time can be lost in getting it from one person to the next. Let’s consider Alice and Bob, two engineers who each need to test some new system components on one existing prototype. They can’t both use the system the same day because they’re locked down in different locations (thanks Covid). If they can’t both validate their parts in 2 days, a milestone slips.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/07142020/Alice-and-Bobs-problem.png" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>An encrypted communciation not too different from our process.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Following best communication practices, Alice updates the right person(s) about progress, then shipping docs are generated for Bob, who needs it next. Thanks to the remote office manager, let’s call her Mary, all logistical docs are generated and sent over to the right person at the right time. Each person working with hardware also has a supply of packing materials and has been instructed on best shipping practices and same-day shipping deadlines so it all goes smoothly. When Alice is done, the package ships next-day to Bob so he can test his changes and “deploy” updates to the field engineer, who still gets to do field work because he’s in Canada and they haven’t completely botched <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/4/21242750/coronavirus-covid-19-united-states-canada-trump-trudeau">their coronavirus response</a>.</p>
<h2 id="networked-systems">Networked systems</h2>
<p>Now, there are ways to have multiple developers working on a single prototype at a time. This involves robust networking infrastructure to give remote users access to a single system from anywhere in North America. I may go deeper into discussion of our infrastructure stack in another post, but during the present crisis, it involves remote developers getting secure access to the home network of the hardware engineer, whereas this used to take place over the secure network at the office. The hardware system has a network connection, and the software developer has access to that network to monitor logs, deploy updates and troubleshoot. Pretty standard stuff, but all of a sudden this needs to happen across people’s home networks, which is what would’ve happened pre-covid if we were still operating out of a garage!</p>
<p>One additional note, which is widely known in software and embedded systems development but bears repeating, is the importance of <em>logging</em>. One popular logging stack is the so-called <a href="https://logz.io/learn/complete-guide-elk-stack/">ELK stack</a>, consisting of Elastic Stack for centralized logging and searching, Logstash for data processing and Kibana for visualization. While logs are very useful in the early stages of development to see when/why a continuously-operating system may have failed, logs are critical after those first few prototypes scale to production and are operating continuously across the globe.<sup id="fnref:1" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote" rel="footnote">1</a></sup></p>
<h2 id="data-data-data">Data, data, data</h2>
<p>This one flows naturally from the other three concepts discussed, but has particular importance in the context of engineering management during a pandemic. In additional to smooth communication, logistics and system networking, a team of engieers needs transparent and timely access to data generated from systems under development. Is a motor overheating? Get the data. Why does a docker container fail to load? Get the data? Why does the camera generate a funny image artifact only when it’s outdoors? Data, data, data.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay! - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the team’s regular technical discussions, a design of experiments may be required to answer a particularly sticky questions. All data generated from those experiments should be analyzed, distilled and shared at the next available opportunity. The key here is not to just data dump on the entire team, who are of course busy with their own tasks. The key is for the relevant people to analyze system data and have charts/plots/raw data as backup during a review.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. - Albert Einstein</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is this quick build-test-review cycle that is strained by having a fully remote hardware engineering team, but with= streamlined communications, logistics and data analysis the challenging circumstances can be overcome.</p>
<div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1" role="doc-endnote">
<p><a href="https://www.elastic.co/pdf/otto-motors-quick-starter-stack-elasticon-2018.pdf">Elastic Otto Motors Case Study (2018)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>Jason BylsmaMarch 2020 was a remarkable month. My company was making great strides in the early weeks. We were fortunate to close another round of funding and operating as usual, in-person, hosting consultants and working in the labs. On March 11 I held a call with the hardware engineering team about the possibility of a stay-at-home requirement and the need to shut down lab operations. It seemed like some of our team thought the discussion was premature, but it was followed up by a call the next day with our full leadership team. Keep in mind at this point there were 1600 cases in the whole country, and about 100 cases in Massachussetts. The NBA had apparently found some cases among their players and decided the cancel the whole season.Hello world!2020-05-20T00:00:00+00:002020-05-20T00:00:00+00:00https://bylsma.io/Hello-world<p>Why am I here? Why are you here? Why do good questions come in threes? I’ve found it difficult in 2020 to do the level of self-reflection I typically do each new year. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic in which >88,000 Americans have died. Maybe it’s the economic environment in which >36 million Americans are recently out of work and my business will continue to feel the effects. Maybe it’s our newborn girl that we welcomed just last month in the middle of all this chaos.</p>
<p>I’m restarting this personal blog in the hopes of venting all kinds of frustrations I have from family life in quarantine, to transit and transportation issues around Boston and nationwide, to startup life, engineering and product development. Ultimately I’m hoping to use this as an outlet to turn thoughts into action and really put more passion into my work from managing a team of incredibly talented, multi-disciplinary engineers, to cycling advocacy and safe streets. Some of the content will be wonky and technical, some of it might be personal and revealing. Much of it will focus on three topics in particular:</p>
<h2 id="1-climate-change">1. Climate Change</h2>
<p>Though our current public health crises are top-of-mind for most, the omnipresent threat of climate change is where I and my company (plug for <a href="http://www.multisensorscientific.com"><strong>MultiSensor Scientific</strong></a>) focus our efforts day-in and day-out. Despite the march of technological progress since the Industrial Revolution, climate change is a particularly complex problem pulling in a wide range of domains from atmospheric science to sociology and public policy.<sup id="fnref:1" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote" rel="footnote">1</a></sup> As JFK once said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are huge time lags in the climate system that humans are just not accustomed to reacting to, let alone planning for. One issue I think about often is the disconnect between every public poll where 70% of Americans are concerned about climate change but are either unable or unwilling to make personal or political choices that actually reflect those views. It’s like watching a tornado from outside your window, being absolutely convinced it is headed for your neighbor’s house and “it’s not that bad”.</p>
<h2 id="2-startup-life--hardware-engineering">2. Startup Life & Hardware Engineering</h2>
<p>I always knew I wanted to build a company from scratch. The sheer rawness and guile to say no one else can accomplish a task or build something as well as I and a carefully curated team can fits my personality I think. The number of lessons learned in an extremely short period of time when building your own business cannot be compared to any other profession. It is truly a “learn and adapt fast, or die” environment, particularly for hardware tech companies.</p>
<p>Though my background is in experimental physics, I’ve been building new hardware technologies for over 10 years now and there are some particular lessons learned that are difficult to convey without experience. These lessons take particular significance during this viral pandemic. Stay-at-home orders and remote work, don’t particularly work well when a diverse team of engineers need to collaborate on prototype equipment, sharing test experiences as well as physical equipment.</p>
<p>Generally they say some companies are making <em>vitamins</em> and some companies are making <em>painkillers</em>. Some companies are just making <em>candy</em> that rots your teeth and your brain. If I’m going to spend between <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html">20-60% of my adult life</a> in a career, I’d damn well better be making the world a better place. I’ve chosen an entrepreneurial path that matches #2 (Hardware Engineering) with #1 (Climate Change) not because it’s easy but because both are hard and we need as many smart, brash people as we can get!</p>
<h2 id="3-cycling--safe-streets">3. Cycling & Safe Streets</h2>
<p>While I’ve always enjoyed time on my bike, whether commuting to school or out to run errands, the advocacy piece I’ve only recently stumbled into. After a tragic <a href="https://www.boston25news.com/news/pedestrian-struck-in-west-roxbury/915163059/">pedestrian fatality in my neighborhood</a> I started waking up to the endless ways our city streets and leaders are failing us, particularly here in the US. I grew up riding around and across Tampa, FL, a city notorious for being hostile to bike riders in the street.<sup id="fnref:2" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote" rel="footnote">2</a></sup> In 2008 I was able to visit the Netherlands to tour graduate programs, where I got to experience what quality bike infrastructure can do for a city, a population and a culture. Now, while regular bike commuting might not work for everyone everywhere, the refrain I’ve heard at countless community meetings, “this isn’t Amsterdam” is just nonsense.</p>
<figure>
<img src="/assets/img/05202020/old-couple-cycling.jpg" alt="Foo" />
<figcaption>This isn't Amsterdam.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To bring all three topics back around, I think making streets safe enough for all ages to safely have the option to ride a bike is the right thing to do. Some of my fondest memories are riding around the neighborhood when I was a kid. Now that I live in Boston, I’m afraid my kids won’t get to have the same experiences because the streets just aren’t safe. I’m sure I’ll make the case in multiple blog posts for the many benefits of safe cycling infrastructure, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Economic</strong> - Driving costs society \(while cycling _saves_ society\)</li>
<li><strong>Efficiency</strong> - riding a bike is the most efficient mode of transport on a kcal/km basis, right next to walking but much faster</li>
<li><strong>Climate</strong> - zero emissions, potential for 2-6 gigatons CO2e reduced<sup id="fnref:3" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote" rel="footnote">3</a></sup></li>
<li><strong>Quality of Life</strong> - increased cycling reduces congestion, pollution, noise and access to mobility</li>
<li><strong>Health</strong> - cycling has been shown to help build muscle and bone, and is great for heart, brain and blood vessels</li>
</ul>
<p>My 4-year old recently summed up my love for cycling pretty well, while riding a hilly street closed to car traffic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel like I have powers!</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1" role="doc-endnote">
<p><a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/12781/chapter/5">National Academies Press</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2" role="doc-endnote">
<p><a href="https://floridacyclinglaw.com/blog/archives/florida-bicycling-dangerous-by-design">Florida Cycling Law</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:3" role="doc-endnote">
<p><a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/bicycle-infrastructure">Project Drawdown</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>Jason BylsmaWhy am I here? Why are you here? Why do good questions come in threes? I’ve found it difficult in 2020 to do the level of self-reflection I typically do each new year. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic in which >88,000 Americans have died. Maybe it’s the economic environment in which >36 million Americans are recently out of work and my business will continue to feel the effects. Maybe it’s our newborn girl that we welcomed just last month in the middle of all this chaos.