An Interview with Larry Sears - Hexagram Hardware Holism

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Welcome, Larry Sears!

• Our first in-studio guest ever!
• Larry is currently an adjunct lecturer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (Chris' alma mater)
• After school, he was a teaching assistant and soon after started a design and build company called Hexagram.
• One of the earlier products was working on the MeisterMatic600, a computerized embroidery machine
• Since he wanted to develop a turnkey, proprietary product for someone, he chose gas meter reading.
• Initially, the wired device required a person to walk up to a wall and take a reading
• Later, they "bet the farm" on the STAR system, which worked with cellphones and low frequency RF
• Hexagram was bought by ESCO in 2006
• Shortly thereafter, Larry set up an endowment to ensure students would have a place to tinker.
• Larry is working on a new project at Case, think[box] (previously mentioned in episode 53 of The Amp Hour)
• This will be a makerspace/incubator/classroom housed in a 50K+ sq ft building.

Many thanks to Larry for making the trip to Chris's house for the interview! You can reach him at [email protected]

 

Thanks to Larry and Case.edu for the images.