The Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Done

I think everyone that seeks to go out on their own begins to doubt themselves and their abilities. It seems to be a common occurrence among entrepreneurs; more importantly it seems to be a common occurrence among successful entrepreneurs. So after 4 months on my own, with no income, and no clear path to success, I began interviewing for another job. Not just any job, but what I would have considered my perfect job opportunity. It involved tinkering, and robots, and electronics, and making cool stuff. It was a job I could be passionate about, and successful in. It was a lifeline in a faltering economy, and likely my only real opportunity to go back to work.

Which I think was part of the problem. I could see the rest of my life in that job, working late every day.  Taking 2 week vacations every year. Having health care and a steady income. It was a great job, but it was a job nonetheless. It wasn’t me, and it wasn’t how I was going to live my life. I had only been on my own for 4 months, and really hadn’t had enough time to fail (or succeed). More importantly I was giving up on my dream of working for myself, and I haven’t really given up on anything before. It didn’t sit right, and I walked away from the opportunity.

Which may have been The Stupidest Thing I have Ever Done.

Which was the tagline that embedded itself in my head.

In part because doubt crept in, and I begin to question my own abilities. Exactly how long am I going to live on my savings? What happens when they are gone? Shouldn’t I see some results by now?

The thought of The Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Done anchored itself in my brain, and I couldn’t imagine success anymore. It was a distraction from my goals, and it prevented me from moving forward. I began frantically searching for other jobs. I considered selling the equipment that I had accumulated. I immediately put my car up for sale. Worst of all, I stopped dreaming. I stopped progressing, and I nearly gave up.

Every entrepreneur makes no money the first year, and everyone doubts their own abilities at some point. Many successes are after 2-3 dismal failures, which is a testament to the die hard spirit of  those that finally succeed. Those failures, I believe, are key to developing strong character, and are viewed by those that succeed as invaluable learning opportunities; if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

The world has a tendency to balance good and bad, yin-yang, or whatever your philosophy. Enduring hardship gives us the opportunity to appreciate the good things, and makes us all healthier. If life is too easy, we become selfish and forget what really matters. Society keeps itself in check.

I had been at it 4 months. Robert Rodriguez had to sell blood to raise enough capitol to finish the movie El Mariachi, which became an international success. I hadn’t had to sell anything yet, and I still have two kidneys. James Dyson spent 5 years in a carriage house perfecting a vacuum that later became a global success. I’ve spent 4 month working on projects that verge on invention; building the tools that I need with no instructions and no guidebooks, and attempting to build a business at the same time. It’s a tough place to be, and it will take way more than 4 months to decide if it will succeed. I’m not in debt, I’m not facing bankrupcy, and I hadn’t come close to failure. Not yet. I just came close to giving up.

Which would have been the Stupidest Thing I have Ever Done.

Arduino Online

Or why you should name your child (or children) Arduino.

I’ve started my first tests in automated machine control, using the Arduino open source controller to automate the travel of a line laser for my 3D laser digitizer. I salvaged the carriage and stepper motors from an old (and well built) flatbed photo scanner, discarded all of the original electronics and replaced them with an Arduino controller and an EasyDriver step motor board. For the example video, I was able to download a simple routine from the Internet that someone else had created, and use it to control the stepper motor attached to the laser carriage. I changed some of the parameters in the program to adjust speed and overall travel and installed it on the tiny blue Arduino. The total cost of all of the components shown in the video is less than $50.

So the scanner was now completely under my command. And that is pretty cool.

Ok, I’ll start with some definitions.

A micro controller is a small, simple computer designed to follow a program. Similarly, a logic controller is a tiny computer that uses computer friendly digital signals. A logic controller may be used to operate a digital thermostat in your home, automating the task of turning on the heat at 6:00 am and regulating the temperature to 68 degrees. Most controllers are designed to read electronic inputs from a source, such as a thermostat and output signals (such as turning the furnace on) as a response based on a simple program permanently stored in the memory.  Controllers such as these are generally built to do one job, and cannot be easily modified to do anything else.

Programmable logic controllers (or PLC), on the other hand, are designed to run programs written in a common computer programming language, which can then be transferred to the memory of the controller. This allows a controller to be custom programmed by a designer to perform a specific task. It can also be reprogrammed at any time, which makes it more versatile. PLC’s are common in industry, but up until recently, they were expensive, difficult to program and generally out of the hands of the hobbyist.

Enter the Arduino, and a new aproach to digital electronics.

The Arduino is a cheap, reliable PLC, and an experiment in open source hardware. In 2005, an Italian teacher named Mossimo Banzi decided that he wanted a simple, affordable logic controller for his students to develop their own technical projects. What made this particular project unique was the completely open development process, and the long term commitment to providing the Arduino platform as completely open source. No patents, no profits. Just great technology made available to anyone that wants it. The technical details of the Arduino board are available to anyone online, and anyone that wants to build their own board is free to do so. If you want to build it and sell it for a profit, you are free to do that as well. If you want to make automated products using the Arduino as a controller, you can do that too. All free, and without the cost and hassle of licensing. A hugely generous gift to the world, and the inspiration for hundreds of large scale open source development projects all over the web.

Open source projects such as the Arduino are inspirational simply for the incredible speed in which they are embraced and expanded by the global community. Even more important is the vast amount of information shared among its users, and the huge libraries of programs and tutorials written by individuals to be used by all. People see  these new projects, and are inspired to contribute their own time and skills, or create projects of their own. The effect is a radical develoment of new ideas and new technology, based purely on the voluntary contributions of users all over the world.

And so the Arduino has inspired creativity in digital electronics. Of course creativity doesn’t always lead to sensible developments. But it certainly leads to interesting ones.

There is an Arduino based device that will call you on the telephone when your plants need water. Arduino powers a trampoline that shoots balls of flame proportionate to the height of your jump. There is a mood lamp that can change colors by punching a bag, a harp with lasers instead of strings, turn signals for a bicyclists jacket, home made Segway scooters, and no shortage of gigantic digital clocks, glowing multicolor interactive light displays, noise generators, robots and strange machines that interact with people in odd and sometimes pointless ways. Arduino has turned technology into an art form, and opened up a flood of inspired and less than inspired projects all over the world.

And creative art always leads our culture down new paths, and ultimately finds it way into our daily lives. So keep an eye out for new developments, and watch the Arduino developers for a taste of products to come. Many of these devices may someday find their way into your home.

O.k, maybe not the trampoline.