Tue Oct 9 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Oct 09, 2018 at 10:18:15 AM
Hello Indiegogo Family,
Wow, time flies and it’s already been a month since our last update. We apologize for missing the September 20th targeted delivery date. It has been an extremely stressful month for us to work with our contract manufacturer. Last update we mentioned pushing updates more often. We’ll continue with that mentality and try to ramp up the update frequency.
Hardware
Good news on Mu tag production
We begin our 1,000 unit production kick-off! The issue that had been lingering on Mu tags (not programming) was finally solved and our CM has finished programming 1,000 IC units successfully. Hurray! To all our supporters who stayed with us through these tiring times, especially when the supplier (Digikey) sends you bad units which is a least expected anomaly. After rigorous testing of our programming methods, PCB layout, and hardware debugging, the batch of IC’s were found to be faulty and it took us a few months just to figure that out. If we only had full control over production we could have resolved this much quicker, but that’s the nature of a tight budget and inexperience.
QC Testing Updates
After receiving and testing the QC samples we compiled a list of several problems with both Mu charger and Mu tag. All of the Mu tag issues were fairly minor and easy for our manufacturer to resolve during the production run. However, there was one critical issue with the Mu charger that must be resolved before shipping.
The tolerances on the PCB laser-cutting were slightly off the mark which led to the PCB inside wiggling while plugging it in your USB. A loose USB connector was also a major issue during our beta testing. To cater to this problem, our CM suggested a new Mu charger PCB run of 1,000 units with some tolerance tweaks to ensure that it stays robust for good user experience. We had discussed and explored the option to use an epoxy inside to strengthen the assembly, but based on our CM’s suggestion and informu’s goal of providing the best product, we decided to pay more for making new and better PCB’s. The Mu Charger PCB designs with updated tolerances are ready and we will start manufacturing them next week.
Software
App Progress
Both apps are nearly complete with the core functionality of iOS working and a few more bugs remaining on Android.
For iOS Tom had to do lots of major refactoring to resolve any lingering bugs and clean up some spaghetti code so that the remaining core features could be completed. After cleaning up the code he has now completed the core functionality of the app. There remain about 65 hours of additional time to integrate our AI model, feedback features, and some general polishing.
For Android, Tom has continuously pushed the software development company forward with early morning meetings and thorough app testing of new builds. The contractor has finally resolved the majority of bugs with just a handful more to go! However, they were unable to complete the Left Behind notification feature to our standards. We’ll have to resolve that functionality ourselves which will likely take several additional weeks. We anticipate some refactoring will be required just like iOS.
Delivery
Mu charger PCB production will begin next week as well as full Mu tag production. Once the Mu charger PCBs are ready then Mu charger will move into full production. We are still waiting on an elusive timeline from our CM :(. Once we receive some sort of ETA from them, we’ll add a few weeks to the date they give us and then pass along an ETA for the first 1000 Mu charger and Mu tag deliveries!
Again and as always, thank you all very much for your support! We couldn’t do this without you!
If you would like to provide any feedback or have any questions, please email us at [email protected].
Wed Sep 5 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Sep 05, 2018 at 10:03:47 AM
Hello Indiegogo Family,
We have more updates from our contracted manufacturer (CM) and some updates regarding the app.
Hardware
Full Assembly Test
First fully assembled QC sample
Our CM completed the first full assembly of the Mu tag and Mu charger! They are now on the way for further inspection and testing. If everything passes the tests, then we’ll be ready to produce all 1000 Mu tags. If any problems are found, then adjustments will be made and another quality control test will be performed.
Malfunctioning Bluetooth Chip Inspection
Bluetooth chip analysis
Suspect malfunctioning component
Our CM sent a malfunctioning chip to a testing facility to see if the problem could be identified. A fairly thorough inspection was performed comparing a working chip to the malfunctioning chip. I problem with a component inside the chip was discovered and may have been the culprit. All of the chips have already been replaced by the chip manufacturer, but it was nice to shed a little bit of light on the issue.
Software
Some Frustrations
We have been working with a software development company to build the iOS and Android apps. Everything was going well until this past month when bugs were not getting fixed. After thoroughly testing both iOS and Android apps, a number of bugs were found that are not acceptable. Especially bugs causing the Left Behind notifications to not work properly.
A big surprise to us, the software development company underestimated the project and had already allocated developer resources to other projects. After a week long negotiation, we were able to get the iOS source code at a reduced cost. Tom is now working diligently to get all of the iOS bugs resolved and to a highly stable point by September 20th.
While Tom works on the iOS app, we are letting the software development company continue debugging the Android app. Things are moving forward with Android debugging, but slower than we would like. Once Tom has got the iOS app to a stable point, he will work on the Android app if the software development company has not yet finished it. This means that there is a possibility that we’ll ship Mu tags to our backers with an iPhone first.
For the Android users, please do not be too concerned. The app in its current condition is mostly working, but with too many unacceptable bugs. If things do not progress very far with the software development company these next few weeks, then the Android app will probably be delayed 3-4 weeks after the iOS app is ready.
Continued Updates
We are now very close to the completion and shipment of the product. At this stage it makes more sense to push shorter updates more often rather than a single long monthly update. This also seems to be the preference of our backers.
If there’s anythings else we can do better please let us know by emailing [email protected]. We are very excited to get the product in your hands soon!
Tue Aug 28 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Aug 28, 2018 at 05:42:25 PM
Hello Indiegogo Family,
Great News! We solved the PCB assembly issue!
As you know from the last three monthly updates, we were slowed down entirely due to this issue. Our contracted manufacturer (CM) confirmed the new batch of ICs working after PCB assembly. The LED was blinking, and the Bluetooth function was also working.
This has been a crazy long process to diagnose the problem, then solve the problem from multiple parties' effort.
Our CM also produced 20 units of Mu charger. The CM has fully assembled samples with connectors and batteries in transit for ultrasonic welding, this is the last step to finish the Mu Tag samples before making all of them. We are excited to see how Mu chargers fit with Mu tags.
We asked the CM to provide a new estimated delivery timeline. Because they have already missed timelines many times, they refused to make a timeline commitment at this point. However, we are strongly pushing them to deliver the product to us in Colorado by September 20th. We are working relentlessly towards this plan.
Tue Aug 14 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Aug 14, 2018 at 06:35:57 PM
Previous Update
Hello Indiegogo Family,
We are finally back with our July monthly update after acquiring enough details from our manufacturer (CM) on resolving the PCB assembly issue.
The PCB Assembly Issue
Testing Timeline
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[Wed 8/16] Program 10 newly assembled PCBs.
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[Wed 8/16 or 8/17] Assemble another 20 PCB samples.
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[Wed 8/22] Have 10 units sent from China to US for additional testing.
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[8/20-8/21] Send 10 PCBs to Ultrasonic Welding - Plastic Part.
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[8/22-8/24] Have all results.
After a bunch of testing there are suspicions that the manufacturer (CM) received a bad batch of Bluetooth chips (ICs) from Digikey. It's an extremely rare situation and not controlled by us or our CM. They ordered a replacement batch of 1000 units that just arrived August 10th and immediately began PCB assembly with the new ICs. We expect to know if the PCB assembly issue has been fully resolved at the latest Friday 24th of next week. We’ll also get results of the full plastics assembly by that time. Same like you, we would love to move the testing process much faster.
Solving the Problem
While our CM was getting replacement ICs, Raza, our CTO was also performing our own tests to 100% confirm there were no issues with our design and programming procedure. Even though a different CM had already produced 50 units successfully, we didn’t want to have any doubts that could potentially cause further delays.
Previously Raza received and thoroughly tested the malfunctioning assembled PCBs from our CM. He also purchased some new PCBs from a different manufacturer and components from Digikey. After hand soldering four Mu tags they all worked! Raza tried two different versions of the same BLE family just to be sure of design. He used T4 solder (normal) and T5 solder (low temp) on 2 boards each respectively. Out of the four, two of them (T4 solder ones), he reflowed thrice because the solder was not melting correctly. Then he tried programming one of the original malfunctioning boards that he resoldered with a new chip and that one also started working! Therefore the Mu tag design and programming is absolutely proven to be correct. It’s also unlikely that the chips were being heat damaged because they were reflowed three times with a normal temperature solder and still worked.
10X zoomed picture of hand assembled parts prior to reflow
Blue (Aug 2018), Green (June 2018 - when the issue started) and Red (Dec 2017).
One board from the green batch was resoldered with a new chip and it worked highlighting our suspicion that the batch of chips that our CM received was probably bad.
What are we going to do this month? When can you expect the delivery?
Apart from the timeline of our CM trying to fix this issue with their manufacturing team, we are internally trying to make sure everything goes right. On addition to the 4/4 units we got working after hand assembly, we have internally ordered 10 units with PCBA from a different facility (without our CMs involvement) and should have it by the end of this week. We will be testing those as well to make 100% sure that there is no design or software issue here. Also, our CM has been trying their own programming method, but just in case they would prefer ours, we plan to prepare a few of our own programming molds ready within the next 2 weeks to make sure that doesn’t cause any delays. We have been in continuous communication with our CM regarding this issue and have stressed unfavourably the importance and priority of solving this issue and moving forward. Over these next couple of weeks we’ll have some more clear answers. When the PCB assembly issue has been resolved then we’ll estimate a new delivery timeline and post another update immediately with the details!
We owe tremendous gratitude to all of you for not giving up on us :)
Thank you all very much for your support!
Don’t forget to email us at [email protected] for the quickest response to any queries.
Mon Jul 2 '18 Announcement
almost 8 years ago
– Mon, Jul 02, 2018 at 07:09:10 PM
Previous Update
Hi Indiegogo Family,
We are back with our June monthly update.
This is so frustrating! We fully expected to start shipping out the first batch of Mu tags this week, but really regret having to say that our CM ran into an issue producing our PCBs.
Hardware
PCB Issue
Everything was looking good until the Bluetooth chip and other components were soldered onto the PCB. Programming the Bluetooth chip was successful and functional after testing, but then nothing would work after soldering. The CM tried a low temperature solder, less solder paste, more solder paste, and some other testing without success.
We know the PCB design is good because we actually manufactured a small run of these PCBs with a different manufacturer for our last Mu tag build that we hand assembled. Unfortunately the way a CM works is that they handle the full scope of the manufacturing from components, to PCB assembly, to plastic assembly. We simply cannot produce PCBs through a third party manufacturer and then have our CM use those PCBs for the final product build. It’s not feasible and we have little negotiating power to do so. Once the CM solves this issue though, everything will be streamlined and ready for mass production.
Left: working PCB; Right: bad PCB
The CM shipped a few of the problematic PCBs from China that we are now testing. We also shipped some working PCBs to our CM so they could also make some comparisons of their own. They tried X Ray testing to figure out solder shorts, but there didn’t seem to be any. We tried programming the assembled boards ourselves which did not work. This verifies that it’s a hardware issue. Raza is now diagnosing the PCBs to help find a resolution to this problem. We found that the units which don’t work don’t power up and they show some shorts and low resistance paths between some power pins internally. So, we have also contacted the chip manufacturer to verify soldering profiles and make sure the CM is following reflow guidelines to avoid any internal IC damage during assembly process. Sure, this setback is hard, but we are not here to give up! We will try everything we can to get this resolved this asap.
Software
Debugging
The apps are really close to being complete, but we are still going through final debugging for both iOS and Android. We’ll use the extra time that we have until manufacturing issues are resolved to ensure the app is as bug free as possible for release.
All features are completed except for data collection, so there’s not much else to update about the app aside from final debugging. The data collection feature architecture was only finalized last month, so we are waiting until after the final debugging of current features to integrate this feature.
What are we going to do this month? When can you expect the delivery?
Ship 1000 Mu tags???
We would love to promise that we’ll ship 1000 Mu tags this month, but we will not have an answer until the PCB assembly issue is resolved with our CM. Instead of waiting another month for an update, well release an update as soon as the manufacturing issue is resolved. We are doing everything we can to fix the problem! We at informu, more than anything want our product in your hands. It has been such a long road and we want to definitely see it through. We want to let our backers know how much their support means to us. It is your support and motivational encouraging words we have received that keeps us going, further and further! Thank you once again for believing in us and moreover being patient with us. We will not let you down!
Thank you all very much for your support! We couldn’t do this without you!
Don’t forget to email us at [email protected] for the quickest response to any queries.
