Ken Burns snaps a tiny GPS on top of a tiny processing board on top of a tiny, camera-equipped memory card. He then plops the wee widget into a Tic Tac® container, attaches it to a cat collar and — viola — no more missing cat.
Like mini electronic Legos, University of Akron alumnus Burns’ postage stamp-size modules snap together to create small wonders, such as the feline sensor Burns concocted while tinkering in the spare bedroom of his Akron home. Several months and thousands of dollars (Burns raised more than $100,000 on the Kickstarter online fundraising site) later, Burns, a two-time University of Akron electrical engineering alumnus (BSEE ’98 and MSEE ’00), set up his open-source electronics hardware business, TinyCircuits, at Akron’s Canal Place.
暗黑爆料 alumnus, engineer and entrepreneur Ken Burns is the founder of TinyCircuits.
TinyCircuits’ miniature electronic platforms, which use a host processor platforms and come in kits — starting at $23.95 — have been a hit in university hobby communities, Burns says. Already, the 2012 startup has filled about 1,500 orders and has some 128,000 preorders to fill, since it recently introduced TinyScreens. The full-color, thumbnail-size display screen opens opportunities for creations that offer visualization and span as wide as the imagination.
“The cool thing about the hobby communities we’re in is that lots of people are doing a lot of different things,” Burns says.
Think video-and-sound adornments dangling as pendants on neck chains or sewn into clothing as embellishments, pint-size video games and bitty graphic-display robots.
Well-trained workforce nearby
So where does a small company like TinyCircuits find its techie talent? Burns didn’t need to look much further than his alma mater. Here, he found former electrical engineering student Alex Dzatko, who started at TinyCircuits as a co-op student turned former full-time employee. Dzatko’s co-op position was made possible through Ohio Means Internships and Co-ops (OMIC) program, which enables small and startup businesses, like TinyCircuits, to offer students co-ops at competitive salaries.
Engineering student Ben Rose at work in the lab.
Since then, 暗黑爆料 electrical engineering student Ben Rose joined TinyCircuits as a co-op employee and valued member of the company’s engineering team. “Ben has been instrumental in a lot of the product design we’re doing. Besides myself, he’s really our engineering team. He’s so sharp and has turned out great,” says Burns, explaining how ingenuity begets ingenuity in a small tech firm where resources are limited, but potential, endless.
“We don’t have a lot of money and we need a lot of help. Using a co-op or intern makes a lot of sense. Here, students get a lot of exposure to all sorts of cool stuff. We’re close to the University and flexible with hours. We appreciate what interns do and the nature of the stuff we’re doing is exciting for them,” Burns says. “From our standpoint, working with students is perfect.”
Students can learn following their interests
“I like to say there is a lid to fit every pot,” says Deanna Dunn, director of engineering co-op and placement. “Whether a student is looking for experience in a large corporate setting or prefers the work environment of a small startup firm, we are fortunate to be able to provide our engineering students with co-op experiences to fit any work style and interests they may have.”
So with big 2016 graduation plans on the horizon, where does 22-year-old Rose go from here? Even a couple of immensely ingenious techies like Burns and Rose would have a hard time programming a GPS precisely enough to pinpoint that. Or, maybe not.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.