Igor Zamlinsky (left) and Gleb Polyakov (right), both Russian immigrants who grew up in Atlanta. Igor is a mechanical engineering student at Virginia Tech and Gleb is a student at George Tech. kickstarter page features: redesigned thermoblock PID controlled temperature and pressure, pre-infusion, shot-time settings all these parameters are user programmable Arduino Mega controlled Vimeo Kickstarted in 2012, raised 16 times more of its target, promised to deliver the machine in 2 years time. Unable to complete the project, and sold the IPs to John Buckman , who founded the Decent Espresso machine DE1 Home barista dtusciencepark . Why crowdfunded hardware projects fail .... working with pressurized, boiling water can be a dangerous game for even the most experienced engineers, and Polyakov and Zamlinsky were just beginning their careers. Early prototypes of the machine had water “spurt[ing] halfway across the room”, and later ones sported deflecting panels under high pressur...