One of the realities of doing business with China. Everyone's trying to raise the price after we've already accepted their quotations. The testing lab is saying we need to test the LED to laser safety standards. The PCB assembly house forgot - whoops! small detail - to add the cost of the stencils to their estimate. Stencils are several micrometers thick laser cut metallic masks used to place solder only on the PCB pads.
We're fighting hard to avoid getting whacked at every corner and we've been fairly successful up to this point. We'll move the LVD testing to another lab - they seem more honest and will do the job for less. The assembly cost went up but only by a bit, not the amount they had in mind.
The good news is that we were able to test the few components that have substandard packaging or other strange properties, and determine that all can be handled by the assembly machine.
One of the components in particular uses a reel whose compartments are too wide, so there is some uncertainty in the position of each chip; if the machine isn't able to precisely pick up a component then its PCB placement may also be uncertain. However, their machines are truly state of the art with robotic vision algorithms that can visually determine the exact location of the chip that's been picked up! We did a test pick and place and we can gladly announce we don't have a problem after all.
Having renewed our arrangements with the PCB house all is pending us getting enough cashflow to bootstrap this process. As planned we'll be manually assembling the very first units and as shortly as possible after that switch to machine assembly.
Machine assembly is vitally important to be able to put out enough pieces to satisfy demand. Assembling one remote and one receiver by hand takes 3 to 4 hours, and the PCBA guys themselves confirmed this is how long it would take for them to do it manually. Machines can do the job in 5 to 10 seconds per set!
Today the last remaining bits of the firmware were completed.
1. The remote control firmware can now be reprogrammed just like the receiver's and the DL2K-LINK's, ensuring maximum flexibility for tweaks and updates in the future. We will continue to polish the firmware until the release date.
2. The last firmware feature was implemented: silent commands. Silent commands are vibration patterns (sort of like morse code but more precisely like a monotonal melody) used for communication with the wearer. There are a total of 9 possible patterns. They can be manually, programmatically or automatically activated. Automatic activation for now is only used when the receiver enters canine mode - this gives the wearer a necessary advance notice that this mode is being entered. Manual/programmatic activation of the other 8 commands is triggered with the remote control or DL2K-LINK.
Silent command codes require some learning; for this reason they will be integrated with our courses. Negative/positive feedback e-learning should allow quick memorization of these simple patterns. Both the pattern and the corresponding meaning will have a default (for now only patterns have been decided) but they will be easy to customize.
When will manual/programmatic activation be useful? For instance:
- speech is impossible (due to distance or for privacy reasons) or undesirable (full robotic control of the male wearer is finally possible)
- DL2K-LINK is used to issue timed commands (think of it as "task manager" for your male)
Trying to make everyone happy as long as it doesn't delay launch or cost a fortune. Some have commented saying they would like the device not to have the company/product name on it but as you can guess it slightly interferes with marketing :)
So instead we're checking with the manufacturer how much it's going to cost to create very thin overlays, in cheap material (pvc not polycarbonate), with very weak adhesive (ideally like a post-it note), having the exact same design as the current one but without the company name. When you want to go stealth you apply this label on top of the overlay. Then you can theoretically remove it whenever you want to see the real overlay in all its glory. This way you don't need to damage or mod the immaculate and beautiful overlay in any way.
Of course if your kids find this, the labeling is your last problem if they start pushing the buttons :)
How many people would actually use this if it were available?
Some might say this product took longer than a pyramid to build...
But the question that drives us is, was Cleopatra into Male Training? Well she very probably would have been had she been blessed with push-button male management products by DreamLover Labs, in particular this pharaonic "Cleopatra" model DL2000.
First of all admire this gold model in all its glory... (click to enlarge)
Then observe how the three dimensional features on the receiver prevent paint from properly settling along the edges, which lets the LED light shine right through those edges in a unique and beautiful way. The opaque corners "come alive" with light when the LED is activated, symbolizing the terrible curse cast upon all transgressors! (click to enlarge)
This time the overlay is thicker, the holes are cut properly, no glue is coming out, the surface is flat and the colors are correct. The keypad will be black in the final product.
Last picture color retouched to show actual real life colors:
