An ultrasonic knife feels "slippery" and releases food easily because its microscopic surface oscillations cause food to experience the lower coefficient of kinetic friction, not static friction. This non-stick effect is a key benefit beyond simply reducing cutting force.
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The founders resolve the tension between speed and quality by being "obsessive." They move fast by iterating constantly, but also relentlessly go back and refine existing work. Speed is about the pace of iteration and a commitment to delight, not about shipping once and moving on.
Hexclad's product development filter is binary. New products must either be a complete reinvention of the category (like their "weapon" of a pepper mill) or, if reinvention isn't possible (like with knives), they must be so aesthetically desirable ("sexy") that they become a statement piece. Anything else is rejected.
David Chang predicts the initial wave of kitchen automation will not replace chefs but will handle simple, binary tasks like operating a deep fryer (up and down) or cleaning bathrooms. He points out that advanced dishwashers capable of handling expensive stemware are already sophisticated robots. The focus will be on eliminating repetitive physical movements before tackling complex, dexterous cooking.
Frustrated by subjective chef's knife reviews, Scott Heimendinger built a robotic test rig with force sensors to gather objective performance data. He then open-sourced the data, creating a new benchmark and powerful marketing asset for his own product.
Challenging Neuralink's implant-based BCI, Merge Labs is creating a new paradigm using molecules, proteins, and ultrasound. This less invasive approach aims for higher bandwidth by interfacing with millions of neurons, fundamentally rethinking how to connect brains to machines.
Scott Heimendinger discovered that while equations exist for ultrasonic resonance in simple shapes like cylinders, they are useless for a complex shape like a chef's knife. This forced him to abandon pure modeling and rely entirely on extensive physical prototyping and testing.
Products like a joystick possess strong "affordance"—their design inherently communicates how they should be used. This intuitive quality, where a user can just "grok" it, is a key principle of effective design often missing in modern interfaces like touchscreens, which require learned behavior.
Contrary to public perception that advanced home robotics are decades away, insiders see tasks like cooking a steak as achievable in under five years. This timeline is based on behind-the-scenes progress at top robotics companies that isn't yet widely visible.
To visualize the imperceptible vibrations on his ultrasonic knife, Scott Heimendinger substituted a $10,000/week Laser Doppler Vibrometer with $3 worth of fine-grained popcorn salt. The salt forms visible patterns (Chladni figures) at the vibration nodes, providing an effective low-cost measurement.
Surgeons perform intricate tasks without tactile feedback, relying on visual cues of tissue deformation. This suggests robotics could achieve complex manipulation by advancing visual interpretation of physical interactions, bypassing the immense difficulty of creating and integrating artificial touch sensors.
