Here in early 2024, AI has taken the world by storm. It appears nearly every company has branded their products with the “AI” keyword to match the hype. With such an explosion of growth in this space, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the many tools available. In fact, as of March 2024, there are over 70,700 companies worldwide developing AI tools (Tracxn). Most of us don’t want to uproot our existing way of working to adopt a new shiny AI-powered CAD package or data analytics platform, but we’d still like to take advantage of the massive time savings promised by AI. To address this, in this bl ..read more

Did you know that you can chill objects below ambient temperature without a refrigerator? This can be done using devices called Thermoelectric Coolers, or TECs. TECs use electricity to move heat from one region to another, similar to a heat pump you might use to heat and cool your home. TECs can both heat and cool a target object, so they are used in a variety of applications that require temperature control such as medical or molecular diagnostics tools, high power electronics, and reagent storage. Additionally, TECs can be quite small, there are no moving parts, and the technology is afforda ..read more

Embarking on the journey from prototype to mass production is a pivotal stage for any product. Many entrepreneurs may wonder why New Product Introduction (NPI) services are crucial to this process. In this blog, we will explore the reasons why going straight to a contract manufacturer might not be the most efficient route and how Simplexity’s NPI services can significantly improve the success of your product launch. Simplexity’s New Product Introduction We are often asked, “Why can’t I take my prototype and go straight to a contract manufacturer?  Do I really need NPI services?” One of t ..read more

Embedded systems are in millions of products that we use every day. It’s easy to take it for granted that I can unlock my front door from my phone while on vacation at the beach and that my watch keeps track of the number of steps I take and my heart rate profile. But I don’t want other people to be able to unlock my door or see my heart rate profile, or to hack into my home Wifi. In other embedded systems as well, such as medical devices or industrial control systems, security breaches can have more serious consequences. In fact, it is so important that the White House recently released a Nat ..read more

Packed with simplified design, the Waterpik Aquarius water flosser brings consumers a new approach to traditional flossing. Gone are the days of broken minty strings that often snap into your gums when that stubborn piece of popcorn won’t budge! Waterpik leverages pressurized water to safely and effectively remove debris not only between your teeth, but also from under your gumline. Not only is water flossing easier, but it also requires less time and saves money at the dentist! Just add water and you’re ready to go. While we certainly care about clean teeth, we’re engineers, so the goal of th ..read more

My wrists were naked from 2005 to 2019. It was 2005 that I got my first cell phone, a flip phone with a secondary display which displayed the time on the outside. For me, the phone was a better clock than my watch had ever been, so the watch came off. Fast forward to 2019, when I ran my first marathon. In the process of training, I bought a running watch. The Garmin product tracks myriad things while you run including pace, heart rate, stride length, and importantly to me: distance. With the distance tracking I no longer had to plan my runs nor find the landmark which I’d use to determine my d ..read more

Having been associated with medical device development directly and tangentially for many years, I have witnessed and used a few things that make a difference. I would like to share these with you so that the collective wisdom of me and my colleagues can help you in your effort to bring your product to market. Hopefully, these hints will help fill in the gaps from other “Top 10 Lists” that you may have seen elsewhere: 1. Do you know your insurance reimbursement code?  Then please tell us!  A hallmark of the most efficient and serious players in the medical marketplace are those that ..read more

Welcome back to the product tear-down of a Pan-tilt camera! This is part two, where we’ll open up the ball head and see what’s inside. In part one of the teardown, we had a look at the base components and the parts which make up the panning rotation axis. We took apart a stepper gearmotor drive, looked at button design, talked about light pipes and examined fasteners and some plastic molding details. In this next part we’ll crack open the ball-head of this camera, look at the camera and lens assembly itself, look at the tilt axis and discuss more about molding plastics and plastic selection. A ..read more

There is a lot of hype about 3D printing.  3D printing technologies have been transformative in many industries, including product development.  With 3D printing we can get complex geometry in small and medium parts quickly and inexpensively which makes it extremely valuable in prototyping.  In product development, 3D printing is often a steppingstone to high-volume manufacturing methods.  We use 3D prints to quickly and inexpensively create parts for prototypes.  Prints ease and speed the prototyping process, allowing faster iteration of designs.  The short lead ..read more

If you are in the planning phases of your next engineering project, you are likely contemplating how to get it done.  One option would be to outsource part or all of the project to an engineering partner, but not all design engineering partners are created equal. So, what should you be looking for in a design engineering partner? Simplexity’s business development team members talk with clients and prospects all day every day and here are the top six questions that are asked when picking a design engineering partner. The list includes factors that are most important and previous gotchas th ..read more