Services / 04
$ cat /services/rapid-prototyping
Rapid Prototyping
Working hardware in weeks, then a measured march of revisions.
- working hardware, in weeks
- revisions, each moving one number
- % detection across the march
The first prototype is allowed to be bulky, hand-soldered, and held together with fasteners from a drawer. It is not allowed to be a render. A working object on the bench settles in an afternoon the arguments a slide deck can host for months.
From V1 onward the march is measured: every revision exists to move one named number, accuracy, power, size, or cost, and gets cut only when that number is defined. Six revisions took the pour spout from 84% to 99.4% detection. The compute cylinder walked the same road from bench mule to beta hardware.
Method
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Build the crude one
V1 optimizes for existing, fast. Off-the-shelf modules, oversized enclosure, real function on the real task.
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Name the number
Each revision gets one metric to move and a threshold that defines done. No revision ships without its number.
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Cut the next rev
Short loops: print, assemble, flash, measure. The bench stays warm between revisions.
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Field it
Instrumented pilots in the real environment generate the data that decides the next revision, and the one after.
Deliverables
- Functional prototypes, V1 in weeks
- Revision plans tied to metrics
- Printed & machined enclosures
- Small-batch builds
- Instrumented field pilots
- Revision logs & decision records
Bench
- 3D printing & light machining enclosure turns in days
- Small-batch SMT assembly pilot fleets, in-house
- Instrumented pilots every unit phones home its data
- Revision discipline one metric per rev, logged