Transforming an IoT idea into a Product

So, you dirtied your hands connecting wires between a number of h/w modules, wrote an arduino sketch, got it to work with a cloud service, perhaps even wrote an App to build that amazing IoT idea you imagined a few months ago. And now, it is there, alive in your hands… exactly the way you had imagined! You have never been more convinced about the usefulness of your idea.

But, what next?

Put it on the shelf and forget about it? Maybe put it all on github, write an instructable and expect others to take it up from there?

OR maybe, you think this is a niche idea that can be converted to an actual product?

We started with such an idea, realized it and made it into a product for anybody to use. In this session we will discuss various aspects of transforming an IoT idea to an IoT product.

This slide deck was presented at @barcampbng Monsoon 2015 session.

Transcript

1. Transforming an IoT idea into a Product 1 No magic wand to transform
2. Software • Firmware • UI / Frontend Hardware • PCB • Enclosure 2 Marketing • B2B, B2C • Digital Selling • Own shop • Resellers
3. #include <disclaimers.h> 3 ESP8266 Wi-Fi X
4. Firmware • Where are my logs? • SSID configuration ◦ WPS ◦ SmartConfig ◦ AP (web based) 4 • Discovery ◦ UDP Multicast ◦ Brute-force
5. Firmware 5 • API ◦ TCP ◦ REST ◦ MQTT • OTA • Redundant storage
6. Frontend • Mobile Apps ◦ Native ◦ Hybrid ◦ WebApp • WebApp ◦ Javascript Framework ◦ UI Framework • WebApp Hosting ◦ Heroku, AWS, GCE 6
7. Web App • Choose the UI framework and Javascript framework • Angular Material and AngularJS • Do wireframes first • Use the selected framework to make the wireframes. • go ahead and host the wireframes • Add business logic later 7
8. PCB Design Make Component sourcing Assemble 8
9. PCB Design How do you choose PCB Designing software? Capability, Licensing, Libraries, Community Why we chose KiCad Opensource Free for commercial use Component libraries including ESP on Github Easy to use for 2 Layer boards atleast Design considerations SMD vs Through hole horizontal vs vertical mounting Connectors for components like ESP 9 Make sure that Breadboard gives you a thumbs up first
10. PCB Make Lot of Bangalore and within India options available Why we chose DirtyPCBs.com Simple interface Two weeks for gerbers to PCBs cost effective 10 gerber files in PCBs out
11. PCB Component Sourcing • Local • Real Shops like SP Road,Bangalore • Online • Lot of shops • electroncomponents, onlineTPS, robocraze …. • Aliexpress • almost anything! • delivery time vs. shipping cost trade-off 11
12. General Rule - Pipeline flush 12 Try a real or test order with suppliers Supplier expectation order delivery Did you get what you expected? “I dont mean rule the world”
13. PCB Assembly • Lot of local options available • Cost is typically per solder point basis • Giving one assembled pcb as a sample can avoid lot of errors • Local option is advantageous in the initial stages of corrections and rework 13
14. Enclosure 14 • Design ◦ OpenSCAD ◦ FreeCAD ◦ 123D Design • Design considerations ◦ Snap-fit ◦ Tolerance • Print ◦ 3D Printing ◦ CNC Milling ◦ Molding
15. Thank you! 17 Urmil Parikh Mohan Y urmil@klarsys.com mohan@klarsys.com @ zmoteio