STEPHEN

TRANOVICH

Stephen Tranovich

INTERVIEW

56

HACKSPACE So, the Hackaday Prize

then: what is it, and who is it aimed at?

STEPHEN TRANOVICH Hackaday.

com started about 14 years ago, and

is now the largest online editorial for

hardware hacks. Then about six years

ago, Hackaday.io formed, which is the

community page – a place where people

can fill out projects that they’re working

on, share open hardware information

among the community, and people feed

back on each other’s projects. Right now,

we have over 35 000 projects currently

hosted on Hackaday.io.

We have this community of really

talented and dedicated professional

and hobbyist electronic engineers. The

Hackaday Prize was really born

out of the idea, or the question:

how can we use this talent for

good? So we created the Prize, to

give direction for people, to give

goals, deadlines, motivations

to do their project. It’s now the

world’s largest open-source

hardware competition.

HS Right, because plenty of

people need a lot of extra

motivation to get off the couch and

get building.

ST Exactly. It’s extremely helpful. I’ve

had conversations with engineers, and

when you ask what the biggest thing that

the Hackaday Prize has done for them,

the answer is: it gave me a deadline; it

gave me a time by which I had to finish

my project so that I actually motivated

myself to put something together, even

though I didn’t think I could win it.

HS The Prize’s aim is to change the

world using open hardware. Have any

of your previous entrants succeeded in

changing the world yet?

ST Absolutely. Have you heard of Open

Bionics [absolutely we have — they were

featured in the first issue of HackSpace

Magazine]. So they were our second-

placed entrant overall in 2015. They’ve

gone on to create clinically tested and

medically certified prosthetics at a vastly

lower cost than was previously possible.

Some other ones you may have heard

of are the Vinduino, an open-source

device specifically designed for reducing

water usage in vineyards. In the first year

they were able to cut their water use by

about 25%, and have been taking that all

over the world, doing a lot of talks, and

getting a lot of awards for it.

Another huge one, Eyedriveomatic,

a system which allows people with

ALS [also known as motor neurone

disease] and other types of limited

mobility difficulties, to drive a motorised

wheelchair with just their eyes. That has

turned into a whole foundation, which is

working to get that technology into the

hands of as many people as possible. It’s

absolutely incredible, and a number of

the developers on that have ALS. It’s been

incredible to watch it come to life.

HS What sort of balance would you

say is needed between mechanical and

electrical engineering? Your website has

a person wearing a Nikola Tesla head,

which makes me think electronics are

the primary focus.

ST Absolutely, it definitely has a

heavy lean towards electronics. The

mechanical portions always have to

play well with electronics. We do have

a couple of the challenges that reward

the mechanical side, but we’re heavily

into electronics

HS I noticed in the rules and the FAQ,

that you place a big importance on

documentation. It’s an obvious question,

but why is that?

ST Open-source is the future. That’s

what we believe, that’s what it comes

down to, especially hardware vs.

software. Software, you can write terrible

documentation, upload your code, and

it will cause tons of headaches for the

people who are trying to build off your

software. But your software will at least

be able to build. You should always

document, but if you don’t, at least people

will be able to run it, even if they don’t

get the best use out of it.

With hardware, we’re not yet at the

point that you can upload your design

files and have someone else create it

with no instructions. Yes, you

can have Gerber files, but if I

have a physical contraption

in front of me, I have to share

the design and all of the

information that went into

creating it so that other people

can create a similar thing.

That’s why the documentation

is so heavily a part of

the competition.

When we say ‘change the

world’, when we talk about changing the

world, we mean ‘build something to help

someone else’. That is definitely part of

the Hackaday Prize.

We’re pushing the open hardware

movement. Creating more and more

amazing, accessible information...

Creating more and more empowering

things. That’s why the documentation is

important, that’s how you create open-

source, and that’s also how you create

community, through conversations and

sharing information.

If you’re going to change the world,

you’ve got to change the world, not

just that portion of the world that has

access to the latest version of AutoCad,

or whatever other piece of proprietary

software is the latest industry standard.

HS Do you see any of that attitude when

Hackaday Prize entrants get to the seed

money stage? Do any investors bring

”

Open-source is the future.

That’s what we believe,

that’s what it comes down

to, especially hardware

vs. software

”