Our Guiding Principles

Not Just a Product, an Experience

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, and users need simple, elegant ways to analyze and comprehend it. Our work across many IoT cloud providers (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and others) prepares us to find the right provider for your specific needs. We can also apply AI and machine learning to help unlock the hidden value sometimes trapped in large datasets.

Open Source Components + Custom Design = Fast, Effective Solutions

We are supporters of the open-source software and hardware movements. We use modular open hardware, software, and design tools to the greatest extent possible. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel for every new project, nor in spending a small fortune on closed, proprietary products that lock you into a single vendor forever. We firmly believe that if you can’t open something up and tinker with it, you don’t really own it.

Opting for open-source solutions frees our clients and us from negotiating licensing fees, so more resources go toward making your idea real. At the end of our design effort we provide the specifications, schematics, CAD files, bill of materials, and software source code for your project. In short, you own your product. We just help you 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 release their products under open-source licenses, showing how open source encourages faster innovation and a greater likelihood of business success than proprietary approaches. We take great care to design products that are pragmatic and elegant, because products aren’t worth the paper they are drawn on if they aren’t user-friendly, manufacturable, sustainable, repairable, and secure.

Partners, Not Just Clients

We seek to work alongside clients who share our “can do” attitude and who want to disrupt the status quo. We specialize in custom, one-of-a-kind solutions and proofs-of-concept that meet exact specifications when no commercial off-the-shelf option is suitable. We support clients throughout the entire development lifecycle: conceptual design, detailed engineering, prototype fabrication, laboratory and real-world testing, and low-volume manufacturing.

We work closely with our clients because we know 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. Our mission is to engineer the best damn solutions for our clients, fast.