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Teardown 2018

A party for hacking, discovering, and sharing hardware
May 11 - 13, 2018 · Portland, OR, USA

Recent Updates

This event has concluded, but stay tuned for future conferences!

Teardown 2018 is a wrap. Join us for Teardown 2019!

Teardown 2018 was tremendously fun. Thanks again to everyone who
attended and made it so great. There were amazing talks, workshops,
demos, experiments, and installations. However, by far the most
amazing part of Teardown was the people — the conversations, exchange
of ideas, offers of support, questions, explanations, and off-the-cuff
remarks. We can’t wait to see you in 2019!

Learn More About Teardown 2019


Teardown 2018 is an event put on by Crowd Supply in association with
Make+Think+Code @ PNCA. You can think of Teardown as live-action
Crowd Supply, but with fewer cardboard boxes and packing
peanuts. We’ll be bringing together hardware aficionados from around
the world to celebrate, inspect, create, and, of course, tear down
hardware. There will be long-time Crowd Supply creators and backers,
as well as people we’re meeting for the first time. There will be
hardware, art, food, drink, puzzles, workshops, tutorials, talks,
music, field trips, and friends. Most of all, there will be ideas and
projects to explore and inspire. We hope you’ll be there too!

Just the Facts

Who?Anyone interested in hardware: engineers, designers, artists, students, teachers...
What?A three-day line up of talks, workshops, demos, installations, and puzzles
When?Friday - Sunday, May 11 - 13, 2018
Where?Beautiful Portland, Oregon on the campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art
Why?Shipping great hardware to you is rewarding, but we miss seeing you in person
How?With lots of help from our friends, including our partner, Make+Think+Code @ PNCA

What to Expect

Teardown is about the practice of hardware: prototyping,
manufacturing, testing, dissassembling, and circumventing, all while
having fun. Leave the marketing glitz and talk of venture capital at
the door and come prepared to learn and teach.

Talks & Workshops

Teardown will have a few parallel, scheduled tracks of talks and
hands-on workshops covering a range of hardware topics and experience
levels. Some workshops might have material fees, but we’re trying to
make Teardown as accessible as possible. We’ve already lined up some
stellar talks and workshops, which we’ll announce soon. Do you have an idea
for a talk or workshop? See the Teardown call for
proposals
!

Demos & Installations

We’re lucky enough to be holding Teardown in the expansive main
building of the Pacific Northwest College of Art, a space well-suited
to hosting demonstrations and installations of all kinds, art or
otherwise. Want to set up something that lasts longer than a talk or
workshop? A demo table or installation space may be just the
thing. They can be attended or self-serve, and can range from
interactive sculpture to a workbench outfitted with tools to hack on a
specific project. Submit your idea through the Teardown call for
proposals
.

Puzzle Hunt

Various puzzles will be woven throughout Teardown. The first person or
team to reach the finish line of the puzzle hunt will reap treasures
beyond their wildest dreams and be immortalized in legends and lore
for generations to come. Whether or not you burn the midnight oil
solving puzzles, madness will surely ensue. Prepare for the hunt!

Downtime

While scheduled events are great, we recognize that often the best
part of any get together is the stuff that happens without a schedule,
which is why we’re leaving room for swapping stories over drinks,
comparing notes on personal projects, and catching up with friends old
and new.

Registration

Registration is open and event passes are on sale now! The early bird
tiers won’t last long, so get yours while you can. All passes include
full access to everything Teardown has to offer, with the exception
that some workshops might have space limitations or require a small
additional fee to cover the cost of materials. We are trying to keep
Teardown accessible to everyone. To that end, we’re bringing on
sponsors and and have set up a Community Fund pledge level to help
defray event pass and travel costs for people who need it. If you need
financial assistance, please subscribe to updates and keep an eye out
for an announcement with more details. By attending Teardown, you
agree to abide by our Code of Conduct.

Sponsors

Teardown is made possible thanks to the generous financial, material,
and logistical support of our sponsors. We’re proud to work with such
great partners!

Schedule

Teardown runs from the afternoon of Friday, May 11, 2018 through the
night of Sunday, May 13, 2018. We encourage all participants to attend
the entire time — plan to arrive Friday around noon and leave Monday
morning. Below is the preliminary schedule.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Registration opens at 11:30 AM.

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
12:30-10PM Attendee Led Event You Event Hammer Board Room
12:30-2:30PM Klaxberger Gearheads E-recycling Shawn Price Workshop Atrium
12:30-2:30PM Modular Hardware for 3D Printing (part 1) Jesse Jenkins Talk MTC Shop
12:30-2:30PM Transfer Secret Messages Through Light with OpticSpy and Tomu Joe Grand and Sean Cross Workshop MTC Classroom
2:30-3PM Welcome and Kickoff Josh Lifton Talk Mediatheque
3-4PM Do-it-Yourself Artificial Intelligence Alasdair Allan Talk Mediatheque
4-6PM Breadboard to PCB Monica Houston Workshop Room 511
4-6PM Hacking with RISC-V Drew Barbier and Meadhbh Hamrick Workshop Room 514
4-4:30PM Santa Cruz to Seattle with 2.5 Tons of Electron Microscope: A How To Adam McCombs Talk Room 510
4:30-5PM PLM: Hardware's Source Control Management Jake Janovetz Talk Room 510
5-6PM Beginner Circuit Board Design with KiCad Ken Olsen Talk Room 510
6-7PM Dinner (on your own) Event
7-8PM Hebocon Robot Sumo Adrian Choy Event Mediatheque
8-10PM Construction DJ Set Nadya Peek Event Mediatheque

Saturday, May 12, 2018

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
8:30-9AM Breakfast (provided) Event Atrium
9-10AM Open Source Space: what's happening, including OreSat, Oregon's first CubeSat Andrew Greenberg Talk Mediatheque
10-noon Rapid Prototyping and Linux Kernel Development with the PocketBeagle® Platform Robert Nelson Workshop MTC Classroom
10-11AM Applications of the Software Defined Radio Danny Webster Talk Room 511
10-11AM Proto-pasta Filament: How Hardware Access Fuels Material Innovation Alexander Dick Talk Room 514
11-11:30AM Embedded Hardware Development with Rust Jacob Creedon Talk Room 511
11-11:30AM Hexabitz: Modularity from Nature to Electronics Asaad Kaadan Talk Room 514
11:30-noon Bits to Atoms, the Making of ‘Be Still, My Low Poly Heart’ Ben Purdy Talk Room 511
11:30-noon Open Pitch Sessions Josh Lifton Event Room 514
12-1PM Lunch (provided) Event Atrium
1-2PM Bunnie's Keynote Andrew "bunnie" Huang Talk Mediatheque
2-10PM Attendee Led Event You Event Room 513
2-4PM WTFPGA (part 1) Joe FitzPatrick Workshop MTC Classroom
2-2:30PM Creating Conference Badges Jay Margalus Talk Room 511
2-2:30PM Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Open Source Electronics Andrew Greenberg Talk Room 514
2:30-3PM Futel: A Technology So Advanced We Leave It Out On The Street All Night Karl Anderson Talk Room 511
2:30-3PM Transforming New Product Development with Open Hardware Stephano Cetola Talk Room 514
3-3:30PM DFM with your CM: How to save time and money Andy LaFrazia Talk Room 511
3-3:30PM Signet: An Implementation Walkthrough, Hacking Possibilities, and Future Development Neils Nesse Talk Room 514
3:30-4PM Hacking Appliances and Prototyping Next-Generation Technology with Netduino and Xamarin Bryan Costanich Talk Room 511
3:30-4PM Making Open Source Schematics Not Suck Andrew Greenberg Talk Room 514
4-4:15PM Snacks (provided) Event Atrium
4:15-6:15PM WTFPGA (part 2) Joe FitzPatrick Workshop MTC Classroom
4:15-5:15PM Programming for the Eye: Understanding Graphics and Light Zach Archer Talk Room 511
4:15-5:15PM Quick Enclosure Design with Fusion 360 Kevin Schneider Talk Room 514
5:15-6:15PM Eating Rabbits: A Guide to Using Python to Conquer FPGA Video Systems Tim 'mithro' Ansell Talk Room 511
5:15 - 6:15 KiCad: Designing With Complex Shapes Andrew Sowa Talk Room 514
6:15 - 7:15 Dinner (on your own) Event
7:15-10PM Roof with a View Event Autodesk - 221 SE Ankeny St
9-10PM Glow Up Your LEGO with Open Source Electronics Rachel Hellenga Workshop Autodesk - 221 SE Ankeny St

Sunday, May 13, 2018

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
8:30-9AM Breakfast (provided) Event Atrium
9AM-10PM Attendee Led Event You Event Hammer Board Room
9-9:30AM How to Think About Security for Your Hardware Project Joe FitzPatrick Talk Mediatheque
9:30-10AM Dr. Frankendrive or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Recover Data Nik Lyons Talk Mediatheque
10-11AM PCB Portrait Workshop Andrew Sowa Workshop MTC Classroom
10-10:30AM Firmware: Hardware's Sneaky Passenger Chau Doan Talk Room 510
10-10:30AM Searching for the Light: Using OpticSpy to Receive Optical Transmissions Joe Grand Talk Room 511
10:30-11AM How to Build a BOM: Sourcing and Open Source Nadya Peek Talk Room 510
10:30-11AM How to Make Your Own Designs Hackable Greg Peek Talk Room 511
11-noon More Than Music with MIDI, Tiny Computers, and JavaScript George Mandis Talk Room 510
11-11:30AM Learning Electronics and Software: The Cheesy Way Alvaro Prieto Talk Room 511
11:30-noon Hacking Health: Open Source Hardware and Medical Devices Ashwin K Whitchurch Talk Room 511
12-1PM Lunch (provided) Event Atrium
1-3PM A Definitive Guide to Building Production Hardware in EAGLE Matt Berggren Workshop MTC Classroom
1-3PM MicroPython on the ESP8266 Thomas Hudson Workshop Room 513
1-3PM Signet Development Workshop Neils Nesse Workshop Room 514
2:30-3PM Design and Reverse Engineering: Playing on Both Sides of the Field Jeremy Hong Talk Room 511
3-4PM State of the Crowd Josh Lifton Talk Mediatheque
4-4:15PM Snacks (provided) Event Atrium
4:15-6:15PM More Than Music with MIDI, Tiny Computers, and JavaScript (Workshop) George Mandis Workshop Room 514
4:15-6:15PM HeartyPatch Workshop Ashwin K Whitchurch Workshop MTC Classroom
4:15-6:15PM Modular Hardware for 3D Printing (part 2) Jesse Jenkins Workshop MTC Shop
4:15-6:15PM Open Pitch Session/Lightning Talks Josh Lifton Event Mediatheque
6:15-7:15PM Dinner (on your own) Event
7:15-10:00PM Closing Party Event Ground Kontrol - 115 NW 5TH Ave

Ongoing Demos and Installations

TitlePresenterRoom
Monolith Synth with LED VisualizationPaul StoffregenAtrium
The Little Purple Painting with the Little OLED ScreenDaniel BlockAtrium
Just Intonation KeyboardJim SnowAtrium
Mustache MayhemJoe GrandAtrium
Futel Public TelephoneKarl AndersonAtrium
You’re AwesomeKat MillerAtrium
Be Still, My Low Poly HeartBen PurdyAtrium

Venue

Teardown’s primary venue will be the Pacific Northwest College of
Art (PNCA)
, which recently moved into the old post
office in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District. We’ll also be taking
full advantage of being within easy walking distance of everything
downtown Portland has to offer.

Travel & Accommodations

A discounted block of rooms has been reserved at The Society
Hotel
just a few minutes’ walk from the
main PNCA venue.

Discount codeteardown2018
Bunk in communal dorm$43/night + tax
Private room, shared bath$117/night + tax
Private suite, private bath$135/night + tax
Premium suite, private bath$145/night + tax
AddressThe Society Hotel, 203 NW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR, 97209, USA
Phone+1-503-445-0444
Websitehttps://thesocietyhotel.com/

Stay in the Loop

Hit the "Subscribe to Updates" button near the top of this page to
receive weekly updates leading up to Teardown, from details on the
call for proposals to confirmed speakers, sessions, and activities.

Code of Conduct

All attendees, speakers, sponsors, organizers, and volunteers at
Teardown are required to agree with the following code of conduct. We
will enforce this code throughout the event. We expect cooperation
from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everyone.

Teardown is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for
everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of anyone, in any form, for
any reason, including for reasons of gender, gender identity and
expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance,
body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion (or lack thereof),
technology choices, dietary choices, subject matter expertise,
educational background, economic circumstance, family status, or
employment status.

Harrassment includes offensive verbal or written comments related to
any of the above reasons; deliberate intimidation, stalking,
following, or recording; sustained disruption of communication and
event activities; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome sexual
attention.

Sexualized marketing material is not appropriate for Teardown.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed,
or have any other concerns, please contact a member of Teardown staff
immediately.

Teardown staff will be happy to help participants contact venue
security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise
assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of
the event.

We expect participants to follow these rules at all Teardown-related
events and venues, both online and offline. Participants violating
these rules will be sanctioned at the discretion of the organizers.

This code of conduct was adapted from
confcodeofconduct.com and is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
License
.