In this episode of the Agile Embedded Podcast, Luca speaks with Violet Su, Business Development Manager at Seed Studio, about the challenges and opportunities in hardware manufacturing.

The conversation explores the realities of hardware development, from initial prototyping to mass production. Violet emphasizes the importance of getting products into users' hands quickly to gather feedback, even if they're not perfect. She highlights common pitfalls for newcomers to hardware manufacturing, including underestimating costs, certification requirements, and supply chain complexities. The discussion also covers the growing influence of AI in hardware development and how emerging connectivity technologies are shaping the future of embedded systems.

• [01:30] Introduction to Seed Studio and its focus on open source hardware and AI
• [03:15] Changes in hardware development landscape over the past decade
• [06:45] Common challenges for hardware startups and innovators
• [12:30] The importance of early feedback and iterative development
• [16:20] Success story: OpenUC2 microscopy project collaboration
• [23:40] Indicators of a successful hardware project
• [28:15] Insights from Embedded World 2024 conference
• [33:10] Future trends in hardware beyond AI

"You might be able to design one and it really works when you have a sample or 10 samples, but when we talk about products, there are a lot of nuances that we really need to think about." — Violet Su

"You can fail faster so that you can succeed faster. We couldn't make a perfect project and we shouldn't expect to make a perfect product." — Violet Su

"When they give you the complaints early on, you will be very thankful, and they know you listened as well." — Violet Su

"The projects that might take off either really solve the pain of some people, or get people excited because it's something new." — Violet Su

"There's nothing better than getting customer complaints early on, so you don't get them later on." — Luca Ingianni

• Seed Studio - Company providing open source hardware and AI solutions
• OpenUC2 - Open source modular microscopy project mentioned as a success story

• Reach out to Violet Su at violet@seed.cc to discuss potential hardware collaborations with Seed Studio
• Visit seedstudio.com to explore their range of AI hardware and customization services
• Connect with Violet Su on LinkedIn for updates on hardware manufacturing trends

You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

Luca and Jeff dive into how AI tools can supercharge embedded development workflows. Luca shares his extensive hands-on experience, while Jeff brings a fresh perspective as someone just starting to incorporate these tools. They explore how AI can help with coding, testing, and debugging - while emphasizing that good software engineering judgment remains crucial. The conversation is particularly timely since AI tools are evolving rapidly, unlike their usually more "evergreen" podcast topics.

A key insight they discuss is that while AI tools offer amazing productivity boosts (much like IDEs did), they're not replacing experienced developers anytime soon. However, they raise interesting questions about the future job market for junior developers. Their take? Modern developers should absolutely embrace AI tools, but use them thoughtfully - especially when learning.

Key Timestamps and Topics:

00:00:00 - Welcome and episode overview

00:00:43 - Why this topic won't age well (but that's okay!)

00:02:20 - Breaking down different AI coding tools

00:08:00 - Deep dive into aider and workflow integration

00:20:02 - Using AI for testing and test-driven development

00:27:00 - AI-assisted architecture work and its limitations

00:30:40 - How AI helps explore unfamiliar codebases

00:33:30 - Debugging with AI - pros and cons

00:38:50 - What this means for development jobs

00:43:59 - Using AI to learn new frameworks/languages

00:46:15 - Embedded Online Conference preview

You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

## Key Topics

* [00:30] Introduction to the listener's question about repository granularity in embedded development

* [01:15] The listener's approach: separate repositories for different work products in safety-critical industries

* [03:20] Luca's initial reaction and concerns about over-complication

* [05:45] Discussion of monorepo approaches and configuration management

* [08:10] The concept of micro-repositories and parallels to microservices

* [11:30] Using feature flags and CI pipelines instead of repository separation

## Notable Quotes

> "You're splitting something which ought to be joined together into different repositories and hiding whatever is happening within the repositories from the different users, from the different developers." — Luca Ingianni

> "The risk of course is that you will not spot divergence early enough because people just don't merge because it's a chore and because things might break, and of course that is the point - the earlier you notice that something breaks, the easier it will be to fix it." — Luca Ingianni

> "I'm willing to guarantee that you're going to get the architecture wrong at least on the first try. You think you're being really smart and you cut it up into a bunch of microservices or micro-repositories, and you're just going to get the boundaries wrong." — Luca Ingianni

> "I would opt for fewer repositories and rather do configuration management within the repositories as opposed to between repositories. Use feature flags, use tagging, use whatever you want to insulate changes that might be breaking from the rest of the code base." — Luca Ingianni

## Resources Mentioned

* John Taylor's Embedded Project Cookbook - A resource mentioned by the listener that discusses sequential events in embedded projects

* Trunk-Based Development - Development methodology discussed throughout the episode

* Minimum CD Podcast - Previous podcast episode referenced by the listener

You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here