We had a great time at Teardown 2019. Thanks again to everyone who attended and made it so great. There were amazing talks, workshops, demos, experiments, puzzle hunts, 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 2020!
Teardown 2019 is an event put on by Crowd Supply in association with Make+Think+Code @ PNCA.
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, June 21 - 23, 2019 |
Where? | Pacific Northwest College of Art, 511 NW Broadway, Portland, OR 97209, USA |
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 |
Teardown is made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.
Time | Title | Presenter | Type | Room |
---|---|---|---|---|
11:30-2p | Registration | Event | Atrium | |
2-2:30p | Kickoff | Josh Lifton | Event | Mediatheque |
2:30-3:30p | Sound Hacking and Music Machines | Helen Leigh | Talk | Mediatheque |
3:30-4p | Snack Break | Event | Atrium | |
3:30-5:30p | Qwiic NFCPROM Badge - Sponsored by Royal Circuits | Greg Steiert | Workshop | MTC Classroom |
3:30-5:30p | RF Primer and Intro to IoT Antenna Design - Sponsored by Molex | Matt McWhinney | Workshop | Hammer Board Room |
3:30-5:30p | Using LimeNET Micro as a GSM Base Station and Spectrum Scanner - Sponsored by Lime Microsystems | Danny Webster | Workshop | Room 510 |
3:30-5:30p | Learn to Solder: Build a 555 Metronome - Sponsored by Mouser | Brewster LaMacchia | Workshop | MTC Lab |
4-4:30p | Learning Electronics and Software - The Rainy Way! | Alvaro Prieto | Talk | Mediatheque |
4:30-5p | Keeping Customers Happy Through Yield Monitoring and Process Control | Brad Silvers | Talk | Mediatheque |
5-5:30p | Volume Manufacturing Makes Me Want to Cry (But You Should Do It Anyway) | Will Caruana & Joe Grand | Talk | Mediatheque |
5:30-6p | All-hands | Event | Mediatheque | |
6p-late | Dinner, party, and puzzle hunt @ Autodesk (221 SE Ankeny St, Portland, OR 97214) |
Time | Title | Presenter | Type | Room |
---|---|---|---|---|
8:30-9a | Breakfast | Event | Atrium | |
9-10a | Long-tail Hardware | Steve Hodges | Talk | Mediatheque |
10-10:30a | Hacking Hardware with Disabled Artists for Unexpected Innovations | Daniel Rolnik | Talk | Mediatheque |
10a-12p | Using LimeNET Micro as a GSM Base Station and Spectrum Scanner - Sponsored by Lime Microsystems | Danny Webster | Workshop | Room 510 |
10a-12p | Learn to Solder: Build a 555 Metronome - Sponsored by Mouser | Brewster LaMacchia | Workshop | MTC Lab |
10a-12p | iCEBreaker FPGA | Piotr Esden-Tempski | Workshop | MTC Classroom |
10:30-11a | Tiny Blimp! (How to Work on a Project for an Hour at a Time for Two Years) | Sophi Kravitz | Talk | Mediatheque |
11-11:30a | IoT Power and Connectivity Overview | James Blankley | Talk | Mediatheque |
11:30a-12p | Open Security Keys... Made in Italy! | Emanuele Cesena | Talk | Mediatheque |
12-1:30p | Lunch Sponsored by Qorvo | Event | Atrium | |
12-1:30p | We are Women in Tech: Qorvo Luncheon | Brandi Frye & others | Event | Hammer Board Room |
1:30-2:30p | Expressive Robots | Heather Knight | Talk | Mediatheque |
2:30-3p | A Five-minute Video in a Ten-minute Bag | Chris Gammell | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
2:30-3:30p | Measuring Embedded Machine Learning | Alasdair Allan | Talk | Mediatheque |
2:30-5:30p | Getting Started with PocketBeagle®: Hands-on Coding | Jason Kridner | Workshop | MTC Classroom |
2:30-5:30p | Getting Started with XTRX Software-Defined Radio | Sergey Kostanbaev | Workshop | Room 510 |
3-3:30p | It's 8051s All the Way Down | Adrian Studer | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
3:30-4p | Snack break | Event | Atrium | |
4-4:30p | Never Mind the Factory: Punk Manufacturing for a Better World | Rob Ryan-Silva | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
4-5p | I Want to be an Engineer Panel: Perspectives on Getting Started in Engineering | Josh Lifton | Panel | Mediatheque |
4:30-5p | Better Electronics with Jupyter Notebooks | Chris Osterwood | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
5-5:30p | Avoid Re-Spins! Designing PCBs in the Age of Prototyping | Mihir Shah | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
5-5:30p | Democratizing Wireless Networks | Ebrahim Bushehri | Talk | Mediatheque |
5:30-6p | All-hands | Event | Mediatheque | |
6p-late | Molex dinner, party, and puzzle hunt @ CTRL-H (7608 N Interstate Ave, Portland, OR 97217) |
Time | Title | Presenter | Type | Room |
---|---|---|---|---|
8:30-9a | Breakfast | Event | Atrium | |
9-10a | Onion Routing: an Internet Where Privacy is an Option | Gaba E. | Talk | Mediatheque |
10-10:30a | How to Bring Up a New PCB | Scott Dixon | Talk | Mediatheque |
10a-12p | RF Primer and Intro to IoT Antenna Design - Sponsored by Molex | Matt McWhinney | Workshop | Hammer Board Room |
10a-12p | Arduino Debugging - Sponsored by Microchip | Bob Martin | Workshop | Room 510 |
10a-12p | Fomu: Python, RISC-V, and FPGA | Sean Cross | Workshop | MTC Classroom |
10:30-11a | Supercharge Your Hardware (Old and New) with CircuitPython | Scott Shawcroft | Talk | Mediatheque |
11-11:30a | Wearable Tech: Designing for the Human Body | Sophy Wong | Talk | Mediatheque |
11:30a-12p | Eliminating Fillet Welds in Stainless Steel Block Sculptures | Dan Good | Talk | Mediatheque |
12-1:30p | Lunch Sponsored by Microchip | Event | Atrium | |
1:30-2:30p | Making USB Accessible: Developing Ultra-low-cost, Open USB Tools | Kate Temkin & Mikaela Szekely | Talk | Mediatheque |
2:30-3:30p | Crowd Supply Q&A + Lightning Talks | Josh Lifton | Discussion | Mediatheque |
2:30-3:30p | Resistor Noise in Audio: Scientific Ignorance and the Sound of Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin | Brewster LaMacchia | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
2:30-5:30p | Soldering the CircuitPython on the nrf52840 | Thomas Hudson | Workshop | MTC Lab |
2:30-5:30p | Arduino Debugging - Sponsored by Microchip | Bob Martin | Workshop | Room 510 |
3:30-4p | Snack Break | Event | Atrium | |
4-4:30p | Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Firmware (But Were Afraid to Ask) | Stephano Cetola | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
4-5p | Manufacturing Panel: The Trials and Tribulations and Making Stuff | Josh Lifton | Panel | Mediatheque |
4:30-5p | Cat-herding Development Boards in Debian | Vagrant Cascadian | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
5-5:30p | Programmable-Air | Amitabh Shrivastava | Talk | Mediatheque |
5-5:30p | e-Paper MegaInfoDump | Zach Archer | Talk | Hammer Board Room |
5:30-6p | All-hands | Event | Mediatheque | |
6p-late | Dinner with friends and puzzle hunt in and around PNCA |
Some demos and installations will be supervised by their creator during social times (lunch, snack break), while others may be unattended.
Title | Creator | Location |
---|---|---|
Car Teardown | Will Caruana | Parking Lot |
Church of Robotron | Church of Robotron | Main entrance |
Close Call | Dan Good | Design Corridor |
Giant Board | Chris Alessandro | Commons |
iCEBreaker FPGA LED Cubes and Panels | Piotr Esden-Tempski & Bob Miller | Design Corridor |
Lime Software-Defined Radio Showcase | Lime Microsystems | Commons |
Loop Pod | Joshua Hibbard | Design Corridor |
OreSat: A 2U Cubesat | Portland State Aerospace Society | Commons |
Programmable-Air Demos | Amitabh Shrivastava | Commons |
Robot Sumo | You! | Commons |
Scrap Swap | You! | Commons |
SignalBlox: Open Source Hardware for Multichannel Signal Processing | Brewster LaMacchia | Commons |
Teletype Mediated Time Travel | Russell Senior | Commons |
Registration is open and event passes are on sale now! All passes include full access to everything Teardown has to offer, with the exception that some workshops might have space limitations.
We want Teardown to be accessible to everyone, so we’re partnering with sponsors like Microchip, Qorvo, Molex, and Mouser to keep 2019 ticket prices as low as they were in 2018, while at the same time expanding what Teardown has to offer. We’ve also 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.
Teardown is about the practice of hardware: prototyping, manufacturing, testing, disassembling, 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.
If you want to hear more about what Teardown 2018 was like, take a look back at our retrospective or talk to your coolest hardware friend.
We had a blast last year. This year, we’re bringing back and amplifying everything that worked: great talks, workshops, demos, food, time to hangout, open mic sessions, and more. The big changes this year are:
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’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.
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 food and/or drink, comparing notes on personal projects, and catching up with friends old and new.
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. The address is:
Pacific Northwest College of Art
511 NW Broadway
Portland, OR 97209
USA
We’ll also be taking full advantage of being within easy walking distance of everything downtown Portland has to offer.
A block of rooms has been reserved at The Society Hotel just a few minutes’ walk from the main PNCA venue. To book a room, call The Society Hotel and let them know you’re coming for Teardown.
Bunk in communal dorm | $55/night + tax |
Private room, shared bath | $129/night + tax |
Address | The Society Hotel, 203 NW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR, 97209, USA |
Phone | +1-503-445-0444 |
Website | https://thesocietyhotel.com/ |
Workshop signups will be released in two batches. Some slots will be made available a couple days in advance of Teardown, and those will be announced over an update email. Remaining slots will be available on the day of the workshop, in the morning.
All Teardown workshops are free of charge.
Hit the "Subscribe to Updates" button near the top of this page to receive updates leading up to Teardown, from details on the call for proposals to confirmed speakers, sessions, and activities.
Want to help make Teardown awesome? We’re looking for volunteers for general help packing swag boxes, guiding attendees, setting up rooms, maybe a little soldering, etc. Slots are four hours long, and volunteers will receive a full-admission ticket to Teardown, which includes all the swag, talks, workshops, food, parties, and puzzles. To sign up for a slot (or more than one!), you can do so here. Your time is appreciated!
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.
"We hope this event stays on the hardware conference calendar for years to come. We will certainly be back."
"It was a great conference, it's now in its second year and I think it was a really good conference again."
Produced by Crowd Supply in Portland, OR.
Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.
Portland, OR · crowdsupply.com
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