A new chapter for the Rohinni Team.
The two-story Rohinni office structure that had to move with us.
Last month we said goodbye to our beloved office we have called “home” for the last six years. Hidden away in a retail center in beautiful Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the Rohinni team generated our biggest wins and breakthroughs, right next to a culinary store. We loved being a secret hub of innovation next door to the coffee shop. Now we embark on the next chapter.
We are moving out of the shadows and into our own industrial space. Our new building has 3X the lab space and twice the office space. We are excited to spread out and take the next steps in this new building. This new office has already allowed us to prepare for growth with a renewed vision for our company.
The move hasn’t been easy. Our iconic two-story desk structure had to be moved from the small retail office to Liberty Lake, WA. The physical bottleneck was the retail storefront through which our team had to move the entire steel structure. Thankfully, we are an engineering company that doesn’t shy away from the seemingly impossible. We solved this problem like we solve our customers’ – with creativity and determination. We removed the entire window bay to move the giant structure in large sections. Once those sections were safely in our new building, our team reconfigured the steel, wood, cables, and desks to give our new office the Rohinnian feel!
That was just one of the problems we have run into during our relocation. Moving 7,000 pound machines, long wait times for contractors, staying in budget with rising materials costs, and temporarily misplacing some important items in the shuffle distracted our team from our usual business and presented their own challenges. Our team of problem solvers faced these obstacles head-on, and we’re up and running in Liberty Lake!
As mini and microLEDs continue to dramatically increase in demand and shape the future of displays and lighting, Rohinni will continue to solve the problems that don’t have an easy answer. We solve the problems that no one else will. We will continue to lead the way in precision placement solutions that enables the brightest future ahead!
Words of wisdom from our summer intern.
Dear Future Intern,
Cooper, our summer engineering intern, is heading back to school this fall.
At the start of this summer, I stared at the white board during the meeting that would take place every day of my internship. My team gathered each morning of my summer at this whiteboard to discuss the current projects and problems. I stared at the huge board and thought, “What on Earth did I get myself into?”
None of the language on the board made sense to me, but three months, and a heck of a lot of standup-whiteboard meetings later, I have learned what (almost) all of the jargon meant. To the future interns who will be standing in my same spot – overwhelmed and very confused, I have a few tips for your internship:
1. Seek the expert.
I have asked a lot of questions this summer. My team is full of the experts in our field. There is no better resource to learn from than these people. So, when you get stuck, find the expert, and ask them for help. People like to share what they are working on and help you out.
2. Prioritize the point.
The whole reason for doing an internship is to give you the time and opportunity to discover what you do and don’t want to do for your career. Learning a new skill, a new industry, and meeting new people are all bonuses. Use this time to learn all you can about the career opportunities in front of you.
3. Don’t lose hope!
You are here to learn, so do not worry if on your first day you don’t understand a word spoken to you. You have time to learn, and that exactly what your company hired you to do. No one expects you to know everything. By the end of your internship, you will be shocked with how far you have come. It will get easier!
Now, I am at the end of my summer. I think back to that whiteboard and I have figured out what I was really looking at back when I started. I am so thankful I didn’t stay overwhelmed, but kept learning, asking questions and trying new things.
Good luck!
Cooper
The mini LED experts review the first handheld screen with the new backlight technology.
Our team has been working with mini LEDs for more than eight years now. For the first time, our team held a product with the game-changing technology as the backlight in the display in their hands. Here is what the team had to say.
“The screen is immaculate.”
While watching a 4K HDR video on Youtube of New York City at night, the blacks in the screen were amazing. Our team compared the new mini LED screen to a traditional screen playing the same video. It was a dramatic difference in the detail. The blacks on the iPad were truly black. It was crazy to realize the “black” we have seen in our screens forever have really just been gray.
“The colors are dynamic.”
Black was not the only color that was beautiful. The color accuracy on the new “Liquid Retina XDR Display” brought out new details not easily seen on an older screen. The impressive depth of color allows viewers to see beautiful, life-like images on a screen in their hands. The beautiful picture makes other screens look foggy. It is hard to transition back to a computer monitor after enjoying the iPad screen.
“Even the clouds have definition.”
Due to the individual LEDs in the screen, the clouds have new details we have never seen on a screen before. Our engineers marveled at the amount of innovation that had to go into creating a display like this. We appreciate the innovation required to implement mini LEDs. To select the right materials, invent the process of applying them, improve the process and manufacturing is a huge undertaking. It was amazing to see all of those parts together in our hands.
We work with these small die every day and have worked for years to actualize their potential. To hold a product that uses them to their full capacity is nothing short of amazing.
Practical steps our team made to improve our health.
In 2021, our team set out to encourage healthy habits. This initiative is constantly a work in progress, but here are two practices we started in the new year that have worked for our team so far!
1. Step Challenge
After a few months of trial and error with “fitness challenges”, comparing steps is the easiest challenge that gets almost everyone involved. Every member of our team has a smartphone with the capability of tracking steps. Most of us do have a fitness tracker, also, which makes it super easy to start a step challenge. We have naturally been in more walking meetings, and seen teammates circling the building when they need a break. We reward first and second place with a prize, but the biggest prize: bragging rights! Here are some of our challenges:
– Highest average step count for one month
– Every person to hit 10,000 steps/day for 20 days of the month gets a prize
– Highest combined seven day step count
2. Smoothie Bar
Not every company will choose to swing the expense of keeping a fresh smoothie bar stocked, but we find it an important source of energy and an easy way to get a snack or meal in without having to leave the office.
We have a reoccurring order from a local grocery store that is delivered every Monday morning. Some of the fruit needs to be cut and cleaned and placed in a refrigerated tray, but this does not take too much time, and can be a rotated job through the team. Some ingredients we have on hand:
– Milk (almond, oat, etc)
– Berries (frozen or fresh!)
– Protein powders
– Bananas
– Avocados
– Spinach
– Ice
– Honey
– Peanut butter
We are always looking for creative, new ways to incorporate health into our workplace. We know that healthy employees are happy employees. If you have any ideas, leave us a comment below!
The invention that started it all.
There was a time when “mini LED” was not a display technology, or even a recognized term. There was a time when micro LED technology was a vague idea, unfamiliar to most. At that time, there was a small team of engineers that were working hard to make micro LED technology a possibility.
Light Paper’s Beginning
Rohinni’s team introduced LightPaper, the world’s thinnest backlight, made of mini LEDs over seven years ago now. This small team of engineers developed the first edition of the technology that places mini LEDs faster and more accurately than anyone else in the world. We have only gotten better since then.
Products are Coming
This technology promises more beautiful products and displays than the world has known. The products you hold in your hand every day to check the weather, send emails and connect with friends will have this technology to light it up. Mini LEDs enable clearer images and insane contrast ratios, while being more power efficient than competing technology. Anywhere there is light benefits from thin, flexible, power efficient mini LEDs. Keyboard backlights, automotive appliques, digital signage, laptop and tablet displays are just the beginning of products that are revolutionized by these lights. The products so far on the market (high-end displays and logo backlights) scratch the surface for the products still to come.
What is Next
Rohinni started with a vision for more light in the world and we have come to led the industry in bringing mini LED technology to consumers. Our technology continues to be the fastest and most accurate way to place mini LEDs that allow mass adoption of the new technology. Products are launching this year allow you to hold LightPaper in your hand.
An open letter to our future innovators
As you dream about your name on a patent that changes the world or inventing the next game-changing technology, we hope you consider a few things before joining a team of engineers.
In our industry, we need bright minds that are not afraid to break a few conventional rules and think outside of the box. The next wave of placement technology demands innovation like never before. From our engineers, here are a few things to practice before you join a team like ours:
Don’t Fear a Problem
You will be solving problems that we don’t even know exist yet. On our team, the expectation is to attempt to tackle problems without fearing the result. When facing a roadblock, our engineers look for solutions independently first before bringing it to the whole team. This environment is fast paced and demands creativity and problem solving at the individual level first before bringing a problem to the larger team. You do not need to know everything, but learning how to find information and potential solutions is critical.
Present Solutions
We do have a team of engineers for a reason. When it is time to ask for help and consult with your team, coming to the conversation with solutions you have tried or researched is a requirement. You have to take initiative to try to solve the problem and then present the possible solutions to the team as opposed to presenting a challenge empty handed. Asking for help is very necessary, after you have already attempted the challenge independently.
Document and Communicate
This world moves fast and there is a lot of information to track. Document what you do and communicate clearly to your team. It seems simple, but it is so important for the pace of our work.
Dream About Possibilities
As we continue to improve our technology, our team needs untamed creativity that can imagine products that do not exist. We need engineers that can think about the potential applications for thin, flexible light. We don’t need you to know how to get there just yet, but we need your creativity and imagination to identify where mini and micro LEDs could change everything.
Our technology keeps evolving and our engineering team does too. When we look to add new team members to our team, we do not need the experts, we need the curious, creative, determined and smart.
We hope to get to innovate with you soon.
-Rohinni