But the kind of people who are impressed by a vibrating knife are also likely to be impressed by the ability to update firmware. They don’t know what firmware DOES, they just know it’s modern.
The incredibly silly true answer is that the software industry’s love for “deploy early, deploy often” has led to all embedded devices shipping with over-the-air (OTA) update support even when it barely makes sense. The earliest units of a given product run will ship with a minimally viable product build that has lots of bugs, but solid OTA.
Fun anecdote: I had a TV backlight die after about 3 years, and the root cause was a shitty embedded app that incorrectly regulated the voltage for the LED strips.
I don’t think that actually answers OP’s question. If all it does is vibrate then it doesn’t need any software. It presumably just has a single button that turns vibration on/off and maybe cycles through vibration levels. A dumb circuit without even a single chip in it could do that.
I’m just guessing here, but it’s probably for battery management and wireless charging, which are tricky problems you’re not gonna solve with a 555. I generally trust EEs to not put MCUs where they aren’t needed, so this must have been the cheapest/easiest option.
As i said in my original post, “A dumb circuit without even a single chip in it could do that.” Vibration units can literally just respond to voltage. It’s how electrical devices worked before chips, like old pinball machines and old radios. It works just like how a standing fan works - there’s a mechanical motor, and you literally just need to attach plain copper wires onto the motor’s contact points and stick the other ends of the wire into the slots of a wall power outlet.
I don’t know why I’m replying this deep to play devils advocate for some stupid knife, but I could see a situation where you haven’t completed the research on optimal frequency and ship it out while that’s ongoing. Maybe the window of optimal frequency is narrow enough, or unknown enough, that it’d be difficult to calibrate a potentiometer such that the end user could find that ideal point.
If all it does is vibrate why does it need a firmware update?
Download (and print) a knife
It doesn’t…
But the kind of people who are impressed by a vibrating knife are also likely to be impressed by the ability to update firmware. They don’t know what firmware DOES, they just know it’s modern.
I can hear this image
The incredibly silly true answer is that the software industry’s love for “deploy early, deploy often” has led to all embedded devices shipping with over-the-air (OTA) update support even when it barely makes sense. The earliest units of a given product run will ship with a minimally viable product build that has lots of bugs, but solid OTA.
Fun anecdote: I had a TV backlight die after about 3 years, and the root cause was a shitty embedded app that incorrectly regulated the voltage for the LED strips.
I don’t think that actually answers OP’s question. If all it does is vibrate then it doesn’t need any software. It presumably just has a single button that turns vibration on/off and maybe cycles through vibration levels. A dumb circuit without even a single chip in it could do that.
It obviously needs specific vibration settings for each food you want to cut.
And a mic and camera for some reason.
Ah, but what if you want it to vibrate to the beat of your favorite song? Did you think about that?
Or in my ass?
No, it’s not a poop knife!
A vibrating poop knife might be the next big thing.
I mean, it would prevent sticking…
I’m just guessing here, but it’s probably for battery management and wireless charging, which are tricky problems you’re not gonna solve with a 555. I generally trust EEs to not put MCUs where they aren’t needed, so this must have been the cheapest/easiest option.
Marketing convinced the boss it needs AI, too bad engineers
What does marvel have to do with this???
Because it’s cheaper to buy a commodity chip and program it rather than get an application specific chip made.
As i said in my original post, “A dumb circuit without even a single chip in it could do that.” Vibration units can literally just respond to voltage. It’s how electrical devices worked before chips, like old pinball machines and old radios. It works just like how a standing fan works - there’s a mechanical motor, and you literally just need to attach plain copper wires onto the motor’s contact points and stick the other ends of the wire into the slots of a wall power outlet.
You don’t need a chip in a vibration circuit. Hell a potentiometer is more than sufficient to give you different levels of vibration
I don’t know why I’m replying this deep to play devils advocate for some stupid knife, but I could see a situation where you haven’t completed the research on optimal frequency and ship it out while that’s ongoing. Maybe the window of optimal frequency is narrow enough, or unknown enough, that it’d be difficult to calibrate a potentiometer such that the end user could find that ideal point.
I want an update that let’s it play audio files by vibraing the blade.
My only acceptable IoT scenario is where all hardware is open and we can indeed flash music software onto it.
I’m not sure a knife needs to vibrate in the first place…
I’d love to see a chip less BMS for lipos.
The fuck you talking about?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Yeah, buddy because your specialized knowledge is the only way things work…
Seriously.
How would it vibrate without wpa3 support?
To fix all the RCE bugs, of course!
maybe scientists discovered new frequencies?
Don’t you think it would vastly improve your stabbing experience if the knife could vibrate the Halloween theme while you’re at it?
I’d want it to whistle a spooky tune like a theremin.
Value-add apps cost extra
To show you ads, of course. Duh.
Microphone was a little muffled, fw update supposed to clear that up.
That’s what she said.
It has a battery, so circuity exists for that.
data gathering
they updated it so it also vibrates in rgb
Different frequency and patterns provide different results.
And some of those frequencies need to be paywalled, for the customer’s enjoyment.
Sense of pride and accomplishment
Motor with an eccentric shaft?