+

WELCOME TO THE PORTFOLIO OF KIMMO KARVINEN

I'm a Doctor of Science (Technology) from the Department of Automation and Systems Technology, School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University and a Master of Art, from Media Lab at University of Art and Design Helsinki. I have co-authored four books about embedded systems, translated to 14 languages, over 500 000 sold. I have also authored internationally published scientific journal articles concerning IoT, sensors, robot prototyping and satellite development. I'm currently working as a CTO in a hardware manufacturer that specializes in IoT and AI technology. Before that I worked as a CEO in a leading company specializing in AV automation in Finland.

This reel shows some of my professional highlights. You can stay in any slide by keeping cursor on it. If you would like to see more random stuff, please scroll down.


Over half a million sold

I have written four books about embedded systems including Amazon.com category #1 best sellers
"Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets", "Make: Getting Started with Sensors" and "Make: Sensors".
"Sulautetut" was the first Arduino book in Finnish. My books have been translated to 14 languages.



Books section

Satellite Sun Sensors

Finland launched her first two satellites in 2017. I designed and built the sun sensor prototype
with Tero Karvinen. Sun sensors are a part of the navigation subsystem in both satellites.
At the time of publishing the peer-reviewed article it was the smallest and the most inexpensive
sun sensor available. Final packaging and test campaign was done by Tuomas Tikka.

Read the peer-reviewed journal article "IoT Rapid Prototyping Laboratory Setup"
published in Journal of Small Satellites (JoSS).

PDF

Framework for selecting sensors for a novice use

Using breakout physical computing toolkits, such as Arduino, has become a common practice of both engineers and non-engineers
alike. While these development platforms solve many low-level challenges, getting started with embedded system prototyping may
seem overwhelming for novices. Choosing novice friendly sensors can make a substantial difference.

Read the peer-reviewed journal article "Choosing novice friendly sensors"
published in International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education (IJEEE).

Read article

Between 2013-2017 I worked as a software development director
in a large-scale situational awareness presentation system
development project produced for the Finnish Defense Forces.
The value of the whole project was approximately 10 million €.

Design Museum Helsinki - California: Designing Freedom
Including our book Getting Started with Sensors





Read more about California: Designing Freedom from designmuseum.fi
or from New Scientist "How Californian design helped us to transform the world"

Gallery

One-minute grocery shopping

Ordering groceries online and collecting them from a store on the way home is fast & easy.
ZeeVending Click & Collect automation offers customers a pleasant and easy pick-up
experience and an efficient solution for the company to deliver orders. In the end of year
2021 all food pick-up automations (over 100 locations) of the biggest grocery chains in Finland
were using our solution. Management and design was done with Juho Jakka. Background illustration
by Vilma Lappalainen. Visit ZeeVending.com

Read the peer-reviewed journal article "IoT Rapid Prototyping Laboratory Setup"
published in International Journal of Engineering Education (IJEE).

Photos from the IoT-workshop at the University of Lapland. The course was held
and the article was co-authored with Tero Karvinen.

Even novice engineers and non-engineer students can design
and build an Internet of Things (IoT) prototype in four days.

PDF

Smart refrigeration monitoring and optimization

Krispi communicates with devices made by any manufacturer, with any model or interface.
With Krispi you can achieve significant savings of up to tens of percents in energy and
maintenance costs. Our hardware+software+cloud solution is used in over 300 locations.
Management and design was done with Juho Jakka. Illustration by Vilma Lappalainen.



Read more from krispi.fi

Robot was a part of our presentations in Maker Faire San Mateo, California
(Evolution of a Robot - Learn to Prototype Anything) and in Mozilla
headquarters, Silicon Valley (Prototyping Open Source Robots).
ZenBot was made with Tero Karvinen and Ville Valtokari.

ZenBot - a mind-controlled robot

I'm a Doctor of Science (Technology) from the Department of Automation and Systems Technology,
School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University. My doctoral dissertation explores which tools
and processes would lower the threshold of designing embedded systems, enabling non-engineers
and novice engineers to turn their innovations into working prototypes in such way that the
workflow allows experimentational prototypes to evolve into deployable embedded systems.

Lowering barriers on embedded system design
- Turning innovations into prototypes

 

 











 


This book is what makes the Maker movement kick some tail. -Joseph T.

Must-Have Idea Book for Physical Computing, Mechatronics, Arts & Crafts Fabrication -Ira Laefsky

This is, hands down, one of the most fun courses I've ever investigated in electronics. -Blake

This primer bridges both worlds of Arduino and Raspberry Pi with excellent attention to details for the uninitiated. -Matha Goram

It's a great book, and very detailed! Not only showed me how to create the robot, but also gave me ideas for future projects! -Tovin

Great teaching tool for introducing DIY with Arduino or Raspberry Pi. -Charles Rogers

Very impressive book. Highly recommended! -Bassocantor "OracleMagician"

Fun book, as an addition to the Linux for makers! -S. T. Taylor

Definitive book for Arduino and Raspberry Pi sensor application. -Darkpassenger

It's a great book for both beginners and advanced Arduino & Raspberry users. -daniel prado

I read tutorials online for projects and ideas but none made any sense to me. THIS BOOK however, did make sense and I am going to the store to buy some parts needed for one of the projects. I am absolutely amazed and fascinated with what can be done with an arduino and some electronics. Totally amazed!!! -Cora B

Could write my first program with success. -Erwin

The more of your environment you can sense, the more you can control. This resource should be on every Maker's shelf! -Steve Spence

This is a good book which every Arduino owner should have and work through. -Lawrence Maturo

This is an excellent book that has helped a number of my students work on neurocomputing controls using the Arduino microcontroller and an inexpensive single-sensor Neurosky EEG headset. -Amazon Customer

Worked like a charm and quality is good. I recommend this purchase to anyone. -Michael Hayes

Great For Beginnes -ibor cerdas Easy to read and follow, clearly illustrated examples. -Luis R.
Heimpel

I've been an embedded programmer for most of my career, and this is the first time I could afford to play with an embedded system at home. So, with Ardunio you can buy a $50 embedded system, get the software free, and use this book to see how to take advantage of them to do some really neat things. -Lawrence Maturo

Very interesting reading and well organized. -Bern A

great book for beginners and for advanced to brush up on things and to look back on. -Charles Acosta

Great reference. -Mike Moore

I always wondered how to go about different modules available online interfacing them with Arduino and this book is one stop place for all that and more, Many Thanks to the author for writing such a easy to read and understand book. -Bhaskar Krishna

This was a great book on sensors. Good to learn arduino and sensors alike. Even if you don't have an arduino background you will still learn. -John Crupi

This one will help you get started building useful robotic devices with Arduino microcontrollers, sensors, and shields. Worth every dime! -James B Sloan


Great book to learn stuff about sensors. -Xinuo Zhao

I Love this book, this is what I needed. I'm working on a big project, this book is a big deal. Thanks! -Nechell Alleenna Jenkins

Awesome book! Exactly what I wanted. -Christian

Lavigne Great read with lots of cool projects. -mxcrazydude

I bought this as a gift for my husband, I thought he would like this since he is a mechanical engineer professor. -Melinda S Salus

Good circuits and good book! -Victor Jassiel

Awesome! So glad I got this. -carmen

The format of the book is excellent, combining a lucid narrative with clear photos of the work underway. -John Brady

It will definitely help aspiring amateurs make interesting projects, and will also help EE's to discover newer gadgets or perhaps get an idea on how to solve a certain problem by looking at the different posibilities out there. I will tell you that this book is inspiring, as soon as you start reading it, ideas for projects (that may not even include the Arduino or Raspberry Pi) start popping out of your head. -Ssound

In conclusion, this book has brought me to the world of Arduino and motivated me to learn more about open hardware projects! -Pokka

Absolutely tops! I am a total 'newbie' to electronics--this was exactly what I wanted to learn, and they taught it! -Helene Tomlinson

Well written, easy to understand for non technicals. -gw reader

Great book for using inexpensive sensor array's for Raspberry Pi computer!!! -RfhenWulf

Awesome. New ideas. -Lisa Carlisle

Easy to read and follow, clearly illustrated examples. -Luis R. Heimpel

Excellent book -ruben

Good book. I would recommend this to a friend. Taught me alot about sensors and gave me good ideas for projects such as a camera system to monitor my room. -Georgi Ellen Battocchio

Very clear....easy to follow...... -Gary Regan

Great book for using inexpensive sensor array's for Raspberry Pi computer!!! -RfhenWulf

Thrilled with how the book covers Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Clear and very useful. I read segments out of it a couple of times a week. Great reference. -Mike Moore

Very useful for beginners. -gzurab

Good book with useful examples. -Ed

Great teaching tool for introducing DIY with Arduino or Raspberry Pi. It gives you a good intro to building these systems to interact with the physical world around us. If you like hands-on you will use this book. -Charles Rogers

A Mighty Find [..] The beauty of this book is in its ability to catch and hold one's interest: there are dozens of projects requiring a wide range of ambition (notice I didn't use the word 'expertise'), each contributing to the store of knowledge you'll acquire in the use of the Pi, in computing and in electronics. This is properly a hands-on book. I'm a teacher researching curriculum for my students, and the title sums up my view. They will eat this up like Kibbles and Bits. Score! -STEM Teacher

Use this book for projects. Great book. -Dana Dickinson

Love this one. -honesavanh T.

Excellent support manual which goes beyond the basic manuals supplied for the Arduino and Raspberri pi kits. Idea stimulating reference book. -Will Well written... well worth the money -Edward C.

Great book. -Glen Howard

A very good and handy workbook what can be used with several microcomputers like Arduino -w rossie

Great book to learn about all kinds of sensors. The authors did a nice job of delivering a good book about the subject. -Gerrit

A+++++++ -sonic Well written, Good and useful book. I recommend this book. -dksamuel

Good guide on sensors for beginners. -Amazon Customer Easy book to read and understand, all relevant to Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Project and coding so all you need to get it up and running. Great purchase. -Howard C Earl

Great for both starter and intermediate programmer. -William C. Dias

I love the quality of the glossy paper and colored pictures — it rates among the best. -Paul

Excellent. -Sid Tetens

Solid. -Golf Guy

Very interesting reading and well organized. -Bern

If you want to make your own custom sensors instead of pre built ones them get this book. -Amazon Customer

Covers many common sensors and provides easy to follow demonstrations for both Ardunino and Raspberry pi. -M. R.

Great book. -HJ

Helping me with my weather station. -Charlie Brown

Awesome. New ideas. I learn just by reading even if I do not have time to actually build all the projects. -Lisa Carlisle

Great Book! -James A Chapman

Bought for a student to use as a learning guide for exploring Arduino on his own at home -Bryan Glover

The book does assume that you have experience with Arduino programming. I found it to be a real pleasure to read, but I must admit that, had I come across this book last year, I probably would have understood 0.00% of it. -Oskar Pineño

Makes it a natural starting point for anyone experimenting with robotics, automation and control. -Rick Cook

Talking as a person who is not a robotics specialist I have to say I really liked this book. I thinks it is comprehensive and easy to follow. It is well structured, first the mechanical part and then the software part. And I think it is very interesting that they tell us about how to "recycle" materials to build it. -avid Fernández

The instructions are well structured and clearly written. Anyone should be able to follow them. Little tips here and there make book a refreshing read. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Arduino, tinkering and brainstuff! -Panu Koskela

Perfect. -x

Straight to the point good book for noobs. -Amazon Customer

Great stuff. -Pramod Kumar

Reader quotes from Amazon.com