Turning Ideas into Tangible Objects
As a prototype development company, we take great pride in blending embedded electronics with imaginative physical workmanship. We have the people, knowledge, facilities, and technology to help our global family of clients of all sizes quickly transform raw ideas into fully functional prototypes (works-life and looks-like) that are ready for manufacturing and assembly. We blend the new (embedded electronics, 3D printers, CNC, etc.) with the tried and true (traditional woodworking and metalworking) to deliver fully functional prototypes on time and on budget.
We are a one-stop shop. We specialize in rapid prototyping, real-world testing and evaluation, custom fabrication, and low-volume manufacturing. Under one roof, we can perform the design, engineering, and manufacturing of the mechanical and structural components, electronics hardware, and firmware, as well as user-facing mobile, web, and desktop software.
Our work goes beyond the physical to encompass the entire user experience because people interact with their devices not only physically but also through software interfaces on their phones, desktops, and the cloud. The data generated by Internet-connected devices must be securely transmitted and stored in the cloud. Users need simple and elegant ways to analyze and comprehend the data their devices generate. We can help here as well. Our work across many Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud providers (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and many others) makes us prepared to find the right provider for your specific needs.
Bottom line, we have years of design and engineering experience with a variety of embedded system applications, including industrial control systems, environmental monitoring, unmanned systems, agricultural projects in developing nations, cutting-edge wearable electronics, and art installations. That experience is ready for you to leverage for your product ideas.
If you have questions or would like to discuss ways we could help you, please feel free to contact us.
Open Source Components + Custom Design
= Fast, Effective Solutions
Green Shoe Garage is helping to pioneer truly open source product development. We are committed to the Maker and Open Source ethos and are big supporters of the Open Source Software and Hardware movements.
We utilize modular open hardware, software, and design tools to the greatest extent possible in our work. There is no sense in wasting resources reinventing the wheel for every new project. Nor is there any need to spend a small fortune on closed, proprietary products that lock you into a single vendor forever. We firmly believe if you can’t open something up and tinker with it, that you don’t really own it. Opting for open-source solutions frees our clients and us from having to spend time and money negotiating licensing fees. That means more resources are dedicated to making your dream a reality. At the end of our design effort, we will provide you with the specifications, schematics, CAD files, bill of materials (BOM), and software source code for your project. In short, you own your product. We help make your ideas a tangible reality.
We use a wide variety of embedded platforms, sensors, and actuators; we’re not going to sell you single-vendor solutions. We also encourage clients to, in turn, release their products under open-source licenses by showing how open-source encourages faster innovation and a greater likelihood of business success than proprietary solutions. This is crucial in a world where products are no longer islands unto themselves.
We take great care to design products that are both pragmatic and elegant because products aren’t worth the “paper they are drawn on” if they aren’t designed to be user-friendly, manufacturable, sustainable, repairable, and secure.
Partners, Not Just Clients
We seek to work alongside clients who share our same “can do” attitude and who also desire to disrupt the status quo. We specialize in collaborating with clients looking for a custom, one-of-a-kind solution or a proof-of-concept that will meet their exact specifications when no commercial “off-the-shelf” solution is suitable.
We look to work closely with our clients because we know that the best design cannot overcome poor project management. We leverage rapid iterative design and embrace the counter-intuitive notion that failure is a critical part of the creative process. By failing early and often, you get to a better solution faster. That’s better for us, better for our clients, and better for the end-user. In short, our mission is to engineer the best damn solutions for our clients and the world.
Getting To Market
We can also work with you on the business side of a product launch as well. Market surveys, business model development, and pricing models are a few of the work products we can assist in developing and refining.
Want to know more about how we operate? Take a deeper dive on how we do what we do.
“I skate to where the puck is going to be,
not where it has been.”
~Wayne Gretzky