While working for Intel and NEC Microcomputers as an FAE, I had the opportunity to visit hundreds of companies. Some very lar ... ge and some very small, the “start-ups”, my favorites and the ones I paid the most attention to. They gave me a glimpse into the future and because only about 1% succeeded, I received an education few people get in real life, how to succeed starting with an idea, learning the market and what the customers really want, designing a prototype that can be reproduced using low cost labor, training a sales team or reps, then introducing the world to your new product. Of course this was a gross simplification, but it started me on the road to success with robotics/motion control. Shortly after leaving Intel, I was commissioned to lead a team of engineers to bring to market a very different “bare board tester”. This company was currently manufacturing bare board testers and the owner had the idea to make a tester that would “learn” a known good board, store the data on 8” floppies and then test unknown boards against the stored data. For short runs, this would save companies thousands because no custom fixture would have to be made. I had the mechanical engineer design and build the prototype. It had two long bars of pins that would march across the bare board using two servos and pneumatic pistons to press the bars down onto the board. The system had a learn mode and a test mode. The test mode was linked to the file with the data to compare. I designed the controller board and eight high voltage(500 volts) boards that would connect to the test pins. I also wrote all the software including a simple disk operating system. After the prototype was up and running (about 6 months) his staff took over the manufacturing, marketing and sales. Shortly afterward the owner died of a heart attack and the company was closed. While working for Intel, I noticed that EPROMs, a product originally used only for prototypes was starting to be used in production. I would see rooms filled with people programming EPROMs one by one, then taking a pre-printed label and hand placing it on the part. After leaving Intel I founded the company Quality Automation. We had three people: an electronics engineer/software engineer (myself), a mechanical engineer and a CEO. The following products were conceived by me. I also designed all the electronics and firmware, traveled the world training the reps and distributors. All products displayed 5 languages that could easily be changed though the keyboard and display. read more