Turning technical ideas
into working devices

Small inefficiencies can become expensive habits.

Many technical problems are not dramatic enough to justify a large engineering project, so they simply get lived with.

A process is checked manually. Someone has to walk over and look at something. A fault is only noticed after it has caused disruption. Data exists but is not being collected. A repetitive task consumes time because no suitable off-the-shelf product quite fits. A significant requirement is set to one side because current approaches and associated equipment to handle it are too expensive.

These are often the kinds of problems where a relatively small amount of well-targeted technology can make a disproportionate difference.

Much of my career has been spent finding practical ways to remove that kind of inefficiency, typically using electronics, sensing, automation, machine vision, AI, or whatever combination best suits the problem.

An ongoing compulsion of mine is also finding simpler and more imaginative ways to reduce the cost of a solution. In some cases, the difference between a conventional approach and a carefully targeted one can be equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars versus only a few hundred.