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Product Design and Manufacturing

 
Consulting

Before starting any job it's important to hammer out a specification for what is expected.  Communication skills are an essential part of this process because many clients don't have the detailed technical understanding of what it takes to convert that napkin drawing into a real product. Flexability is another requirement! Without exception, every design I've started has had more than one mid-course correction, most often from the clients themselves.

A consultant must also keep up on the ever changing tecnologies of the day! But, there is so much to know, it's best to focus ones skills. I now intend to take my knowledge and experience of Microchip PIC® MCU controllers and expand into the rapidly growing Android market. The need for Android to external embedded controller functionality is very high, with many large corporations getting involved. As part of that effort I am prototyping an embedded controller with Bluetooth and jumping into Android programming. I've found some unique programming tools from Anywhere Software (Awesome software: Imagine being able to create an App for your smartphone with no prior knowledge of the Android OS, or JAVA for that matter within one day). Tools like these are critical to today's fast turn-around environment. Also, due to my interest in blind and vision impaired accessability I am also researching how blind accessability to the Android platform might be achieved with simple touch screen gestures and TTS voice response.

I looking forward to talking with my next prospective client, and I hope to add your project here soon!

PIC® is a registered trademark of Microchip Technology, Inc.



MAJOR PROJECTS AND CLIENTS


QUICKPAD IR:  A note taking device for students and business professionals.
(1996 - 1998)

QuickPad IRExtremely popular in K12 school systems and public assistance offices, this device had an editor, calculator and typing tutor built in.  Over 50,000 units were sold. This was developed at a time when laptops were relatively new and very expensive.  It had a early X86 CPU that did not have a built in sleep mode. To extend battery life a PIC16C54 was used as a power controller which turned the CPU on and off with each keystroke.  Software included an editor, typing tutor, calculator, and organizer.  I wrote all s/w, including the OS, all in X86 assembly.  This product existed at the time the first Palm Pilot came out.  Sold over 50,000 units.  I did pretty well on royalties on this one!  There were also several versions with modified s/w developed for various QuickPad Technology clients. 

Brooks Technology,  Killeen, TX, 76542
  website by CindyWheeler.com