Ken MacDermid

We build things

Design / Build / Iterate

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

I built a browser based CAD program in a little over 2 weeks.

Using a combination fo React, three.js, CadQuery and Reportlab, I now have a beta version of a tool I've always dreamed of building .

Features: design, add weldments and export .step files of your work. Watch your real time quote build as you add material and weldments. Get an official quote and generate a shop drawing with BOM anytime you want.

This system will surely require a lot of updates as we use it and find issues, but I'm super excited to show it to the world and get some real life feedback.

There is such an incredible talent pool on this site. If any of your good people would be willing to spare a moment to play with this tool I built and provide some feedback, I'd really appreciate it!

Build on, folks!

https://t.co/PY6egOgPaw

@rossiadam @JulianFried @KennethCassel @zanehengsperger @CalebChamberla6 @jimbelosic @will_alverson @willreil

[Casey Handmer @CJHandmer]

Last week the hydrogen electrolyzer team @terraformindies pulled off yet another first, the sustained production of >99.9% pure H2 from our vertically integrated, California-manufactured electrolyzer stack while it was coupled directly to a solar array at our Muroc desert test site.

WTAF?

Most commercial electrolyzers need carefully conditioned power from expensive battery-meditated backup systems. Ours runs directly off the sun. Clouds pass, the day turns to night, and we maintain purity from a stack whose Bill of Materials cost is well below $100/kW.

Terraform's single-minded focus on capex reduction has allowed us to convert sunlight to hydrogen in an unprecedented demo at a cost below $2/kg. If that wasn't enough, we have a crystal clear plan of steady execution to push that cost below $1/kg in the coming years.

Rather than linger on this point in response to experts-with-spreadsheets who said this was not only beyond my team, it was forbidden by known laws of physics, let me tell you a bit about how we actually pulled this off.

We started building this test site in March. Once the panels and electrics were in place the CO2 team were the first to demonstrate production on site. Close behind them the electrolyzer team planned the logistics necessary to project substantial operational ability into a hostile test site in the middle of nowhere. It's no good to find you're missing a wrench half way through the day!

Much of the test prep was completed before dawn, when the panels go live. The sun came up and the stack immediately started splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The team carefully monitored purity and flammability as the sun climbed through the sky. As designed, the stack warmed up and conducted even more power, maintaining solid production until late afternoon when the setting sun shaded the panels.

Terraform's synthetic fuel system is uniquely designed to follow the sun and extract the maximum possible value from cheap solar panels.

Hydrogen is a pernicious molecule. It leaks through and embrittles metals, burns almost invisibly at a wide range of mixtures in air, burns hot and fast and can easily undergo detonation transition, and has about half a dozen other spookily dangerous properties. My advice is to never work with it unless you absolutely have to. The Terraformer produces and consumes H2 in one compact discrete area with a minimum of complexity and fuss, and as expected this demo was completed in accordance with our rigorous safety standards and no unscheduled excitement!

This successful demonstration was also a profound milestone for the team after a testing anomaly last December compelled us to finally rip off the bandaid and move decisively towards the "future design" with half the parts but considerable complexity in assembly. No-one else makes electrolyzers this way and we, more than anyone, know exactly why. And also how to do it anyway, translating directly into a unique cost advantage.

A huge congratulation to Ken, Sherman, @ckalitin, Nikhil, Abdullah, and Aaron for their successful test campaign.

Terraform's hydrogen and CO2 are the chemical precursors for synthetic methane and methanol, which we make in our own synthetic fuel reactor.

Combined, we make oil and gas out of sunlight and air. We are breaking the geological and geographical monopolies on oil production.

In the limit, Terraform will deploy these electrolyzers by the millions and they will all be plug-and-play with solar PV arrays.

The Muroc smoke test campaign is far from over.

We will win!

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@D_The_Husband Typical table pricing for an event ranges from $25 to $300. 300 is really high

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@D_The_Husband $300 is a very aggressive vendor table price D

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

Two distinct, but real jiu jitsu archetypes

One, someone who is respected and successful in life, and enjoys finding a place where he is not the alpha for once

Another, who is striving to prove to themself, and others, that they are a real man, that they have toughness.

Commonly the former type arrive at jiu jitsu gyms as lawyers, doctors, lifelong athletes, etc. They have lived a life of success. They are at the head of their organization, and they enjoy finding a place where they don't carry the burden of being top of the pile.

The latter type can also be successful, but perhaps they were bot physically impressive growing up, or have never been through a fight in real life. They are white collar workers, accountants, rank and file members of organizations.

The beauty of the gym is that we are all there to learn and help one another, and either archetype could be better than the other at jiu jitsu. So, you see a janitor destroying a surgeon on the mats, and then giving him pointers.

Jiu jitsu is the great equalizer. It is beautiful. It is cooperation, in physical form.

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@zanehengsperger Gotta respect the vision, the ambition, and the hustle.

Been following you since before YC, Zane. Congratulations. Never give up! Never surrender! Onwards!!!!!

[Hafþór J Björnsson @ThorBjornsson_]

What my son sees the moment I sit down 😂

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Your personal AI or your company brain needs a clean harness and this is the one our team built and uses every day

Free and open source

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

A single robot vacuum for one home costs $549 to $1,399 at retail. To sweep your floor.

A family with two floors buys two units. That is up to $2,798.

And the Clean Base bags run out. Replace them and you pay extra.

Side brushes: $19.99 for a 3-pack on iRobot's own store.
Filters: $36.99 for a 3-pack.
Dirt disposal bags: $12.93 for a 3-pack.

You are subscribing to floor cleaning in 2026.

iRobot was once a $3.5 billion company built on this pricing model. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2025. A Chinese contract manufacturer named Picea Robotics now owns 100 percent of it.

Now meet OOMWOO.

A free and open source alternative to Roomba.

Created in June 2026 by a California founder named Dr. Ilia Ovsiannikov. Former Samsung engineer. 70 patents. He architected Samsung's second-generation neural inference accelerator for smartphones. Then he open sourced the whole robot.

44 days later the repo has 5,548 stars and 235 forks. No VCs. No paywalls.

Here is what OOMWOO gives you:

- 3D-printed chassis with full CAD files
- 2D LiDAR mapping and SLAM navigation
- ROS2 and Nav2 autonomous cleaning stack
- Native Home Assistant integration for local control
- ESP32 firmware and Raspberry Pi 5 brain
- Gazebo simulator to test before you build
- Apache 2.0 license, fork it, sell it, reuse it

Here is what OOMWOO costs:

The price of the parts you buy yourself. No subscription. Unlimited runs. Unlimited maps.

Roomba stores your home map in the iRobot cloud. OOMWOO stores it on your Pi.
Roomba j-series carries a camera. OOMWOO does not.
Roomba features can be changed by the new owner in Shenzhen. OOMWOO is Apache 2.0.

Here is the wildest part:

In 2020, iRobot Roombas captured a photo of a woman on the toilet. Gig workers in Venezuela labeling the data for Scale AI posted 15 of the images to Facebook and Discord. MIT Technology Review broke the story in December 2022. iRobot has shared over 2 million images with data annotation firms.

Your map never leaves your Raspberry Pi. Your floor plan. Your daily routine.

For one apartment, you save $549.
For a two-floor family, you save $2,798.

100% Open Source. (Link in the comments)

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@D_The_Husband It is the best breakdown of Fundamentals I have encountered, bar none. I stopped by his gym and rolled with him a week ago, he is absolutely as impressive as he appears online.

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@D_The_Husband Which comp? The ontario open?

[tnkr @tnkrdotai]

A fully documented quadruped robot you can build yourself.

CubeBot by Vladimir Glukhov, now on Tnkr.

Print files, BOM, wiring, assembly, and software.

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@SkinnyfatTony That's how it starts. One tool, then another, then another, then they integrate, and repeat. It's a slippery slope!

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@solaticlunatic Ok, noted.

Start pushing into them on your side of their centerline, so when you reach the point where your pushing stops, you are near but slightly on your side of their center line

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@Danmehmet_ If you could pick 3 "lift heavy" compound movements, which would you pick?

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@SkinnyfatTony Ohh this is awesome

Did you have magnetic pick and place as a fitter w/ a robot welder? Did the chuck load manally?

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@KennethCassel So long as it's serviceable I will build us to a trumpf or blm as well

Glad to see you doing so well

[Ken MacDermid @ken_macdermid]

@KennethCassel Looks awsome