[Progress] Robotics/STEM Product Development

[Bitwise]

I thought it would be fun to document my struggles and progress with developing and marketing a new product for the STEM crowd. My background is heavy in science and technology and very, very light in marketing and eCommerce. This is a brand new product and not a re-branding of an existing imported product. I'm not going to drown anyone in technical details, but I'm not going to leave them out, either. It might be useful for other members to get an insight into the challenges and dead ends. I've never done this before.

My target market consists of parents who want to buy STEM kits for their kids and teachers who want to buy STEM kits for their classes. I'm specifically targeting robotics vs. chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, and so forth. I feel I have a way to add value existing products in this space do not. My first task is to examine all products in this space and to establish the feasibility of building what I have in mind.

So, this past week -

I knew nothing about eCommerce so I bought and read the books "Ecommerce: Amazon FBA - Step by Step Guide on How to Make Money Selling on Amazon | Shopify: Step by Step Guide on How to Make Money Selling on Shopify" and "Selling on Amazon: Unlocking the Secrets to Successfully Generate a Long-Term Passive Income Business by Selling on Amazon". I felt both were extremely mediocre and would not recommend either, but since I knew nothing at all about selling online I did learn some useful stuff regarding FBA, the Amazon fee schedule, and Shopify.

I researched and documented every STEM and robotics kit I could find on every online retailer. I also read all of the reviews for every product. I created a spreadsheet listing the product, rating, sales rank (if available), and the major pros and cons and expressed in the reviews. Reading all of the reviews I realized a common theme - parents buy STEM kits to spend time with their kids, not teach them science. The positive learning experience is justification and the cherry on top, but the real focus is bonding with their children. In fact, products that attempted to teach too much were reviewed negatively. This is positive for me - adding complex features around programmability and customization would increase the support burden for my product. I was worried that keeping it somewhat simple would be a negative, but instead I think it could be a positive. I noticed the price point I'm targeting is fairly free of competition.

I shopped around locally and scraped together some things I would need to build a very rough mockup of the product. After playing with these materials I sketched out a rough product design and decided I might need some custom parts made.

Injection molding is, of course, expensive in the worst up-front and inelastic way possible. I studied ProtoLabs (Proto Labs: 3D printing, CNC machining, and injection molding services) and some of you might be interested in them. They create tooling/molds using aluminum (a process called soft tooling) vs hardened tool steel and this reduces both the up-front cost of the mold and the life of the mold. The up-front cost was still high, though, and the per-item cost was also high for my application.

I investigated some different options, but have come to the conclusion that my fabricated parts can be realized using die-cut 3mm acrylic sheets. This has the advantage of having both a low start-up and per-unit cost. I learned how a steel rule die tool is made and found several firms who do this sort of work.

Knowing I'm now designing for sheets and not an injection mold, I designed the parts I'll need using Autodesk Fusion 360 and I'm printing 3D models of them as I type this. Having 3D printed models should let me build and test my MVP entirely in-house without needed major design changes when I ramp up to create the first batch. Fusion 360 also does great photo renderings which may come in handy later for marketing stuff.

Since this product would be used largely by children 12 and under, I believe it falls under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This act, passed about 10 years ago, mandates that every manufacturer of a product that may largely be used by children issue a report asserting the product is safe. As part of the report drafting process, parts have to be tested by government-approved independent labs. Most of the concern is regarding lead and phthalates. There are small batch manufacturer exemptions and the testing and certification process doesn’t seem especially insurmountable.

This is a robot, so some roboty stuff was in order too. I designed the circuit I'll need for this application and chose the microcontroller I'll use - an AVR ATTiny85. They are cheap, capable, easy to program, and ubiquitous. I'll be controlling DC motors with this application, so I picked the h-bridge chips I'll be using as well as several options for motors. I have a handful of DC motors handy I'll build the MVP with. I started writing the firmware in C and have it ready for testing once the parts that are printing now finish.

So - in summary so far

• The product idea appears to be novel and it seems reasonable that it would add value in ways the existing, similar products don't
• Cost-effective manufacturability seems strongly possible without requiring a huge upfront cost/risk
• My next steps are to complete an MVP for immediate, limited testing. That means neighborhood kids and their parents, probably. I may attempt to give one or two away for Christmas. If they like it…
• Then I’ll keep learning about eCommerce and marketing online and will create a landing/product page, will register the URL, launch a website, etc. The goal here is to gauge and collect interest in the form of pre-orders. I’ll then listen to the market and will decide if this is worth continuing to pursue.
• Because nobody will know this website and landing page exists, I will probably also launch some ad campaigns, but I don’t know how those work yet.

What are good books and articles I should be reading?

What problems with my approach do you see? What am I not doing that you feel I should be doing and what am I doing that I should stop?

 

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[D.Davis]

I think you're off to a great start because I too share a few methods that you're using. I have 2 CR-10 S Max Printers enclosed in a custom designed 8020 enclosure with Space Heaters for ABS printing. I design in Fusion 360 and slice in CURA. I also have a CR-10 S for PLA printing. My electronics are built using Elegoo Products and High Torque DC motors until I dial in on injection molding and surface mount electronics manufacturing (considering positive market response). If you haven't picked up the O'riely book "Prototype To Product", I think you should as it gives you a lot of things to think about should your designed product take off after marketing. My suggestion would also be to read as many Marketing and E-Commerce books as possible when you're not designing. I also recommend studying crowd-funding methods such as Kickstarter to validate your prototypes. Good luck man! I dont see too many designers and engineers on here and I love seeing different prototype creation methodology.

 

[Bitwise]

I think you're off to a great start because I too share a few methods that you're using. I have 2 CR-10 S Max Printers enclosed in a custom designed 8020 enclosure with Space Heaters for ABS printing. I design in Fusion 360 and slice in CURA. I also have a CR-10 S for PLA printing. My electronics are built using Elegoo Products and High Torque DC motors until I dial in on injection molding and surface mount electronics manufacturing (considering positive market response). If you haven't picked up the O'riely book "Prototype To Product", I think you should as it gives you a lot of things to think about should your designed product take off after marketing. My suggestion would also be to read as many Marketing and E-Commerce books as possible when you're not designing. I also recommend studying crowd-funding methods such as Kickstarter to validate your prototypes. Good luck man! I dont see too many designers and engineers on here and I love seeing different prototype creation methodology.

Thanks for the book suggestion! I just bought it on Amazon and am looking forward to reading it over the holidays. Do you have any title suggestions for marketing and e-commerce?

Do you like CURA? I switched to Simplify3D from slic3r when I bought the FlashForge Pro I'm using and it's worked great so far. At the time slic3r was so bad I was just thrilled to have something that worked.

With respect to PCB design and SMDs - I spent last weekend learning KiCAD (open source) and I like it a lot. It has some sharp edges but after many tutorials and some playing around I was able to capture a schematic and a layout without too much difficulty. I'm still a total novice at it and I'm going to send a rough design off to a fabber just for the experience and practice before the final PCB design is ready. PCB fabrication is available really, really inexpensively these days. I'm planning on using a lot of SMDs in my design just due to the cost savings. I've found I can hand solder them way easier than I expected to be able to, so I can hand assemble some boards for testing. Liquid flux is the key - I use a pen applicator and a fine tip soldering iron ($30 on Amazon). No expensive rework station required (yet). I'm planning on getting a quote for full assembly from a PCB maker, though where they would apply all of the components and program the microcontroller prior to shipping the boards back.

It looks like the Elegoo kits are Arduino-based. Are you writing any code for your product? If so, are you planning on burning the Arduino software onto an AVR or re-writing it for another microcontroller?

Kickstarter is amazing and I keep a close eye on the projects there. I'm planning on using it as a marketing tool - if the MVP is successful I'll order the first batch of products then do a Kickstarter with a really low goal amount to (hopefully) ensure funding. My thinking about Kickstarter as an idea-stage funding vehicle changed when I read the bolt.io articles Kickstarter is Debt – Bolt Blog and Kickstarter != Product/Market Fit – Bolt Blog Bolt.io in general is sobering as hell and their experience is one of the reasons I'm opting for a product that doesn't require much up-front capital and where the costs are variable.

 

[D.Davis]

Cool! I really think you'll enjoy the book. As far as other books to suggest as far as starting with E-Commerce and Marketing, I will only recommend a couple because once you read them you'll want to branch out to your own things. I started with "Will It Fly" by Pat Flynn, 1 Page Marketing Plan, and E-Commerce Evolved by Tanner Larson. From there I made a plan and branched out to the other 40 + books on my shelf.

I do like CURA, but I've never tried anything else to be honest so I cant really rate against any other slicer. I write code at a very high level and outsource a lot of it to freelancers. The Arduino platform isnt that challenging, but my purpose is to validate my idea and outsource the rest. It goes into much more detail than that but Im all for letting people who eat, sleep, and shit specialties such as PCB design and Design Aesthetics.

Thanks for your insight on Kickstarter! I am new to it and you gave me some things to go and read. Good luck!

 

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[Bitwise]

Updates -

• I've scrapped the initial product vision and target market. After much searching I was able to identify a product on the market today that provides some of the same features my initial product was intended to. After reading all the reviews I decided users weren't thrilled with the same features. Even though my product would present them in a different way, I concluded users would still not be thrilled.
  
  
• I've changed the product and market to an older segment (14+) not currently well served by STEM robotics of the type I'm developing. There's more than can be done with this age group from a learning and teaching perspective. There's more "meat" in this product and more than can be done with it, while still focusing on doing a single thing well.
  
  
• The re-imagined product will require Bluetooth connectivity, a companion website, and companion smart phone apps. Users will be able to write and share programs for this robot. I'm comparing several FCC pre-certified BT modules for inclusion in the product. I've outlined the software architecture and identified the components I can use to rapidly develop what needs to be created. I'm still planning on using an AVR micro controller.
  
  
• I've put together a rough BOM to work out what the cost might be for this product. It requires two motors and I purchased and tested several types. Unfortunately the type I initially selected wound up being very expensive even when sourced in bulk quantities so I've changed the motor technology to a less expensive, albeit less precise, type. I'm creating a new works-like prototype to test the less expensive motor technology. The rest of the BOM looks good, with the estimated costs for the BT module, PCBAs, and injection molded parts being the long poles in the tent.
  
• I had hoped to get away without injection molding, but this re-focused product is less about building a robot and more about programming it, so I'm leaning towards a pre-assembled unit based on injection molded parts. The most successful products in this sector are built that way so it's likely that's what customers expect and want. Injection molded parts means a higher up-front cost for me in terms of design and tooling, but a lower ongoing per-part cost.
  
  
• I still haven't learned much about online marketing and running ad campaigns.
  
  
• Where I think I am erring right now is by not getting more feedback from prospective users. I've learned from past experience that robotics products are hard to describe to users and it's much easier if they can see it. If I'm happy with the works-like prototype I'm going to introduce it to several people I know who fit the target market and will record their experience in a survey.
  
  
• I also haven't set up a domain or landing page yet. If the works-like prototype with the new motors is satisfactory, I'm planning on designing a looks-like 3D model, photo render it, and use that on the landing page. I need to learn more about the risks and proper way to run campaigns before I test the market in this way.
  
  
• I've identified the regulations that likely apply to this product in the US and EU and none of them are insurmountable. The largest technical challenges are around designing injection molded parts in a way that makes them as inexpensive as possible to create and assemble, and in designing the PCB in a way that makes getting FCC certification as inexpensive as possible. The good news is that the circuit is simple; the bad news is that it uses motors and must use the BT module in precisely the way intended by the manufacturer.

 

[D.Davis]

Updates -

• I've scrapped the initial product vision and target market. After much searching I was able to identify a product on the market today that provides some of the same features my initial product was intended to. After reading all the reviews I decided users weren't thrilled with the same features. Even though my product would present them in a different way, I concluded users would still not be thrilled.
  
  
• I've changed the product and market to an older segment (14+) not currently well served by STEM robotics of the type I'm developing. There's more than can be done with this age group from a learning and teaching perspective. There's more "meat" in this product and more than can be done with it, while still focusing on doing a single thing well.
  
  
• The re-imagined product will require Bluetooth connectivity, a companion website, and companion smart phone apps. Users will be able to write and share programs for this robot. I'm comparing several FCC pre-certified BT modules for inclusion in the product. I've outlined the software architecture and identified the components I can use to rapidly develop what needs to be created. I'm still planning on using an AVR micro controller.
  
  
• I've put together a rough BOM to work out what the cost might be for this product. It requires two motors and I purchased and tested several types. Unfortunately the type I initially selected wound up being very expensive even when sourced in bulk quantities so I've changed the motor technology to a less expensive, albeit less precise, type. I'm creating a new works-like prototype to test the less expensive motor technology. The rest of the BOM looks good, with the estimated costs for the BT module, PCBAs, and injection molded parts being the long poles in the tent.
  
• I had hoped to get away without injection molding, but this re-focused product is less about building a robot and more about programming it, so I'm leaning towards a pre-assembled unit based on injection molded parts. The most successful products in this sector are built that way so it's likely that's what customers expect and want. Injection molded parts means a higher up-front cost for me in terms of design and tooling, but a lower ongoing per-part cost.
  
  
• I still haven't learned much about online marketing and running ad campaigns.
  
  
• Where I think I am erring right now is by not getting more feedback from prospective users. I've learned from past experience that robotics products are hard to describe to users and it's much easier if they can see it. If I'm happy with the works-like prototype I'm going to introduce it to several people I know who fit the target market and will record their experience in a survey.
  
  
• I also haven't set up a domain or landing page yet. If the works-like prototype with the new motors is satisfactory, I'm planning on designing a looks-like 3D model, photo render it, and use that on the landing page. I need to learn more about the risks and proper way to run campaigns before I test the market in this way.
  
  
• I've identified the regulations that likely apply to this product in the US and EU and none of them are insurmountable. The largest technical challenges are around designing injection molded parts in a way that makes them as inexpensive as possible to create and assemble, and in designing the PCB in a way that makes getting FCC certification as inexpensive as possible. The good news is that the circuit is simple; the bad news is that it uses motors and must use the BT module in precisely the way intended by the manufacturer.

Awesome!! Looking forward to hearing about your first bundle of units sold. Best wishes

 

[Bitwise]

Updates -

I'm geeking out pretty hard - I'm deep into product development mode and very focused on solving the challenges around this product. What I've found is that it's really difficult to get accurate feedback on a product like a robot without having something people can actually use. I could hack something together in a weekend with an Arudino micro and an HC-06 Bluetooth module, but I'm taking the time to build the prototype using the same technology the finished product will. Worst case scenario if I decide to not bring this product to market I'll know all of this stuff and it'll be immediately transferable to the next product I design.

• I watched all of the Dragon Innovation DFM course videos and can't recommend them strongly enough - Design for Manufacturing Course Archives - Dragon Innovation Blog
  
  
• I watched a ton of Pluralsight courses on Fusion 360 and using it for injection molding design. Learned some great stuff, has made my 3D models faster and better.
  
  
• I have quotes for injection molding and the tooling was cheaper than I expected for production steel molds. I was pleasantly surprised. I'm still changing the CAD models and haven't added drafts/ribs/etc. so the quote is only a ballpark right now.
  
  
• I talked to a startup-focused CM to get an idea how they worked. I'm not sure yet how assembly is going to go with this product - I'm tempted to do the first batch myself in my garage or something to work out all the bugs in the process. I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of controlling quality and spotting problems myself for the first run. I'm still making up my mind about test, assembly, and packaging.
  
  
• After much searching I've found several competing products. There's nothing wrong with these products, per se, they just weren't marketed at all. I was looking for exactly this sort of product and it took me days/weeks to track them down. Marketing is really important I'm finding.
  
  
• I read everything I could find about the competing products - reviews, manuals, videos, etc. I spotted a couple of technical problems related to the motors that users experienced on other models and have updated my design accordingly. I bought a few and played with them myself.
  
  
• On the motors - I've flip flopped on the motor technology several times and am now planning on using small High-Power Carbon Brush (HPCB) gearbox motors with integrated magnetic quadrature encoders. These are small, powerful, have a long life, and I've found I can't build an optical encoder cheaper than just ordering these from China. I built several prototypes around an inexpensive optical encoder because that's what some of the competing units did. For huge production volumes it makes sense, but not for what I'm doing right now. I could always redesign it later if I wanted.
  
  
• I've created several full prototypes, each time scrapping an old model for one with fewer parts and that's easier to assemble. What I've got now is only a few parts and all but one can be accomplished with a single pull mold, but I'll probably make more changes before it's done. I'm still using Fusion 360 and an inexpensive 3D printer to build the test parts.
  
  
• I've worked out the mechanical challenges regarding some mechanisms within the robot. I'm printing, testing, and then re-printing parts over and over to see how the design works in the real world. I'll need an ME's once over to see if I'm doing something dumb that will wear out the components in six months or something.
  
  
• I've worked out the technical challenges in the application/app/web app layer of the product and at this point it's just an exercise to complete to production standards.
  
• Bluetooth is a central feature of this product. Right now I'm using a BLE Nordic chip in the nRF52 family. The pre-certified module I'm playing with right now is the Fanstel BT832. Their US presence is in Scottsdale, which I think is kind of cool. I was hoping for something akin to a certified version of the HC-06 but it turns out Bluetooth is way more complicated than I thought.
  
  
• I'm considering scrapping the idea of using a main microcontroller at all and just building the entire firmware application within the nRF52. This is exactly what the author of Prototype to Product wound up doing once he looked deeply into the Nordic stack and now I understand. It's got a fast ARM processor, the BOM would be shorter, and board would be much simpler if I could just do everything within the Nordic. It would also go a long way to taming the complexity of Bluetooth. I've designed the firmware to be fairly simple for the robot - I think I'll spend much more time on the Bluetooth integration tasks. I have a Nordic NRF52-DK development kit on order - should be here next week.
  
  
• I ran into a problem, though - the BT832 module can't be soldered directly due to the pads on the bottom of the module - it''s SMD and there's no way to get to the connections with an iron. I was frustrated with not being able to make my own SMD boards so I decided today to buy a T962 re-flow oven - appears to get the job done once the required modifications are made.
  
  
• I recently attended a class on low-cost, fast video production for marketing. Easier than I thought - the "Quick" app from GoPro is pretty amazing. I think I'll use it for the first few videos.
  
  
• I'm reading Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding and it's fascinating. Highly recommended if you're into this stuff.

Next steps -

• My obsession for the past week or so over the Bluetooth module and firmware is because I need to finalize the schematic and create a PCB. Once I have a PCB that works I'm going to hire an EE to review my design, fix it, and get it to a spot where it will certainly pass FCC verification. I'm concerned about the RF emissions from the motors and will need the help of a pro to isolate it. I need to develop the robot firmware within the Nordic tools to see if that's all going to work for me.
  
  
• I need to redesign the product again to use the new motor technology I've decided on for now so I can fully test everything working together.
  
  
• I need to finish the user experience software and decide how I'm going to support iOS. Android is my usual playground and I'm wondering if I can use Xamarin for all platforms. Haven't tried yet.
  
  
• I'll build a few units and send them to groups, friends, etc. for feedback. If it goes well I'll shoot some videos and start the Facebook & Instagram campaigns.

This has been a lot of fun so far and the more I learn about the realities of hardware manufacture the more techniques I'm learning to reduce my initial cost and risk. This may look like a lot of work, and it is, but it's stuff I wanted to know, enjoy learning, and that I can do reasonably well. Paying someone to have worked out my product to the point it's at now would have just been too expensive and risky for me.

 

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[D.Davis]

Sounds good! Glad you're enjoying it. Can't wait to see your product!

I too am in this space and hope we aren't competitors (lol). If we are, cool, I look forward to navigating the challenges of a future booming industry with you!
I will keep this short as I haven't released a full, marketable version of my product. I am building (my printers are currently running as we speak) and selling a few units (my goals were my first dollar and my first feedback) right now. I will combine the feedback from the units AND the painful reviews of existing products in the market and go in that direction.
The only advice I can really offer you is to just get something out there and let your target market give you critiques. At this point, a lot of people are using the same process you are (myself included) in a similar space (myself included). Dont get scope creep and analysis paralysis because you dove to much into the details. If its really a product that your target market would absolutely love, use their feedback to decide on methodology!
I admire you for learning injection molding and trying to perfect the PCB process, etc. Just remember though: Get the damn product out there!

Good luck bro! I'm hoping someone that's been successful in this industry will chime in.

 

[Bitwise]

Sounds good! Glad you're enjoying it. Can't wait to see your product!

I too am in this space and hope we aren't competitors (lol). If we are, cool, I look forward to navigating the challenges of a future booming industry with you!
I will keep this short as I haven't released a full, marketable version of my product. I am building (my printers are currently running as we speak) and selling a few units (my goals were my first dollar and my first feedback) right now. I will combine the feedback from the units AND the painful reviews of existing products in the market and go in that direction.
The only advice I can really offer you is to just get something out there and let your target market give you critiques. At this point, a lot of people are using the same process you are (myself included) in a similar space (myself included). Dont get scope creep and analysis paralysis because you dove to much into the details. If its really a product that your target market would absolutely love, use their feedback to decide on methodology!
I admire you for learning injection molding and trying to perfect the PCB process, etc. Just remember though: Get the damn product out there!

Good luck bro! I'm hoping someone that's been successful in this industry will chime in.

Ha, it would be neat if we were competitors, but I can't imagine we are - the potential variability of products in this space is just too great.

You're giving great advice and I appreciate it a lot - thank you. Scope creep and paralysis are real dangers and it's important to focus on an MVP. One challenge I face is that the nature of my product requires completing all of this in order for there to even be an MVP. I understand as well that I'm legally prohibited from selling a unit without FCC verification per Title 47 CFR Part 15 and so that's one reason I'm focused on getting the PCB right the first time. I'd rather not pay for testing more than once.

It underscores a major point I've been thinking about a lot. This project is so vastly different from a pure software project where I'd toss something embarrassing out the door and then massage it into something good based on feedback. There's basically no cost to making changes there. For this product if I select the wrong motor, make a mistake in the boards, or need to change the form factor of the robot then it could cost tens of thousands of dollars in wasted ordered material, dead boards, or retooling. It's an exciting challenge - just very different than what I've been used to in the past.

I'd be happy to try to help you with any challenges you're facing with your product. Let me know if I can lend a hand.

 

[Bitwise]

I realized I never posted an update here and felt like I should. I appreciated the feedback I received here and wanted to pass along my experience as a retrospective.

Last year I developed a full prototype for a low cost, quasi-disposal robot to teach kids and enthusiasts how to code. It was a reboot of Seymour Papert's turtle robot Above is a CAD rendering I created. Prototypes were 3D printed.

The product enables classrooms to buy an entire set of robots, one for each student, for what they are spending today on just one or two. It's cheap enough so every student can keep the robot at the end of the course and can continue to use it to learn. It can use the old smart phone you have in your junk drawer you don't know what to do with so we're recycling too. The robot is easy to start with and you can do some advanced things too, so it scales with the user. It uses common markers to draw on paper or whiteboards, so you can get immediate visual feedback on the code you're writing. Using the robot this way creates an art tie-in that makes programming and robots more accessible for students who aren't interested in technology.

The main value skew was value in terms of unit cost. The robot runs on AA batteries and the BOM + assembly would have been under $10 per unit.

I spent about 3 months of free time designing the product and learning everything I could about manufacturing. During that time I spent a lot of time with STEM groups, who would have been the primary customer. I abandoned this product idea for three reasons: feedback from perspective customers showed me the very things that give this product value (decreased unit cost) makes it unattractive to purchase (it didn't do enough), I realized fully how little money education programs have to buy things like this, and I learned the "Root" robot was going to be released. This product would have been a direct competitor and was a better value than what I was proposing. It cost more, but did much more. The Root hasn't done poorly, but it hasn't set the world on fire. They raised ~1.4M in capital and pre-orders, if I recall correctly, but have struggled to deliver because the under-priced the unit. Also, I just don't think the STEM market is large. If it were larger players would be much more active.

All in I spent less than $300 on the project and most of that was for circuit boards, chips, and 3D printer stuff to get the prototype working. I've used everything I learned during that time on better product ideas and I've become very sensitive to high startup costs and non-recurring engineering costs. FCC certification isn't something you can just gloss over and making a product with a low per-unit cost necessitates technologies like injection molding which have a high up-front cost. All of this greatly increases risk and slows down getting feedback from the market. If you have a large budget and are convinced there's demand that one thing... but for me neither were true.

Starting in June of last year I started work on a completely different product. Since then I've completed the product development using all the lessons learned from the robot project and will be bringing this new thing to market, perhaps via Kickstarter, within 2 months.

My main takeaway is not to be afraid to do hard things and to keep startup costs low. For me that meant doing all of the work myself. This had the added benefit of teaching me a great deal.

Thanks!

 

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