SchmartBoard, a company that develops products for prototyping electronic circuits, unveiled a new line of prototype boards called SchmartBoard|ez at the recent DEMOFall 2005 conference in California.
The DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products. The new products make it possible for virtually anyone to hand solder integrated circuits, even BGA (ball grid array) types, according to SchmartBoard.
Based on surveys of companies and universities, SchmartBoard believes that this product will have a huge impact for both industry and academia. "I enjoyed the privilege of a hands on demonstration of SchmartBoard, including soldering a small IC," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO conferences. "The design of this system is brilliantly simple. If I can quickly and easily solder components, I am convinced that electrical engineers will see a significant productivity boost from this approach."
"Engineers have historically used prototyping boards to test circuits and avoid costly custom PCB revisions," said Andrew Yaung, SchmartBoard's CEO. "Prototyping boards have existed for a long time, but as surface mount components have become smaller and smaller, these boards have not kept up with the technology and have not remained a practical tool for most applications. Because of this, engineers are forced to use custom PCBs and can spend large amounts of time and money on revision after revision of expensive custom PCBs before they finally have the circuit perfected. By making prototyping boards viable again, SchmartBoard|ez will save companies a tremendous amount of time and money."
In addition to this need for an easy prototyping tool, SchmartBoard|ez can be used as the circuit board in mass-produced technologies. In discussions with universities, SchmartBoard has found that hand soldering components is also a hindrance in teaching electrical engineering. Universities want to focus on teaching theory, not soldering skills. The ability for students to hand solder is a significant hurdle especially on 'senior projects' in which students are expected to create a working circuit in order to graduate. SchmartBoard expects that students will develop an interest in electronics at an earlier age due to SchmartBoard|ez technology.
Details on SchmartBoard|ez, including a three-minute flash video can be seen at www.schmartboard.com.
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