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Teardown 2019

Our second annual party for hacking, discovering, and sharing hardware
June 21 - 23, 2019 · Portland, OR, USA

Recent Updates

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

Teardown 2019 is a wrap.

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!


Just the Facts

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

Sponsors

Teardown is made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.

Schedule

Friday, June 21st, 2019

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
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)

Saturday, June 22nd, 2019

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
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)

Sunday, June 23rd, 2019

TimeTitlePresenterTypeRoom
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

Ongoing Demos & Installations

Some demos and installations will be supervised by their creator during social times (lunch, snack break), while others may be unattended.

TitleCreatorLocation
Car TeardownWill CaruanaParking Lot
Church of RobotronChurch of RobotronMain entrance
Close CallDan GoodDesign Corridor
Giant BoardChris AlessandroCommons
iCEBreaker FPGA LED Cubes and PanelsPiotr Esden-Tempski & Bob MillerDesign Corridor
Lime Software-Defined Radio ShowcaseLime MicrosystemsCommons
Loop PodJoshua HibbardDesign Corridor
OreSat: A 2U CubesatPortland State Aerospace SocietyCommons
Programmable-Air DemosAmitabh ShrivastavaCommons
Robot SumoYou!Commons
Scrap SwapYou!Commons
SignalBlox: Open Source Hardware for Multichannel Signal ProcessingBrewster LaMacchiaCommons
Teletype Mediated Time TravelRussell SeniorCommons

Tickets

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.

What to Expect

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.

Recap of Last Year’s Teardown

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.

What’s New?

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:

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.

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.

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 food and/or drink, comparing notes on personal projects, and catching up with friends old and new.

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. 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.

Travel & Accommodations

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
AddressThe Society Hotel, 203 NW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR, 97209, USA
Phone+1-503-445-0444
Websitehttps://thesocietyhotel.com/

Other Close-by Accommodations

Signing up for Workshops

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.

Stay in the Loop

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.

Volunteering

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!

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.