From an idea to a prototype
If you are following us from the beginning, you should probably remember what our first ever-built IoT device looked like.
Since then a lot of things have changed! We’ve switched from a large & expensive Raspberry Pi to a microcontroller – ESP32. It was a pretty rough journey to move from Python to C programming language, but somehow we’ve made our first steps.
Eventually, after a few months of coding, we are ready to build our first working prototypes! Of course, not all the functionalities work already, but we are hoping soon to deliver our first devices to the Beta-testers.
wHY DID WE OPEN OUR LOCAL FACTORY?
First of all, as I told you already, we plan to deliver our prototypes to the Beta-testers, and we want to do this as fast as possible, and that is because we need feedback from users. We need to know which features to focus on, what is good, and what needs to change. Everything so that our product would be perfect on the official launch.
Furthermore, with additional devices, we can share the tasks with the rest of the team, so everyone may join the development process of TheIoTLock, and write the code from home!
Most importantly we just love to gain experience & skills in all kinds of stuff, so meeting up and making workshops from assembling the devices was amazing for everyone! Even for the guys whose knowledge ends with making nice-looking CSS!
THE ASSEMBLY LINE OF OUR DEVICES
First of all, we had to order every little part from which our device is built, later on, when we had everything ready and organized, we could start the workshop under the eye of the best electrician in our Team – Nikodem.
Each one of us took the motherboard and soldered all the necessary elements to it, such as LEDs or pins. It may sound easy, but believe me, it was not! (at least for me).
Later on, we could put our device into the case, plug it in, and see whether we would set the office on fire or not!
All jokes aside, we managed to assemble everything correctly, and we were able to upload the software.
Finally, we successfully scanned QR Code and opened our virtual “doors”.
One of the locks has already been installed on our office doors, so at long last, we can throw out our keys and use our smartphones to open the doors instead!
Results
To sum up I am sharing a short video of myself trying to assemble our prototype.
It was my first time using soldering iron, so you can guess how much fun I had…
Let’s just say that I prefer JavaScript!
Have fun watching, and see you soon in another article 😉