A client came to us to look at a way to allow them to improve their chocolate offerings to their customers - namely the ability to have custom packaging capabilities.
The system had to be easy for staff to use, and interface into their existing CRM system
Our client came to us because the GSM modems they were supplying to their customer had an atrocious signal to noise ratio when they were recording or playing back the audio.
In order to fix this a circuit was made to remove the GSM noise that was being added to the signal, and also allow the volume levels to be controlled.
This simple circuit allowed the client to pass an acceptance criteria their customer had imposed on them.
When we were first approached by our client with something they needed for their range of agricultural machines, they gave us a bunch of wires soldered around a collection of relays, a "circuit diagram" created by an employee who had left who had no idea how to draw circuit diagrams, and asked "can you make me more of these, please?"
We decided not to reverse-engineer the mess of wires, and instead opt for a microcontroller based solution that had the same outcome - namely something that allowed their machine to switch between 2-wheel and 4-wheel steer in a sensible manner, presenting the user with the current state of the wheels.
This design has been through many iterations. The client is happy with the end result, but the designs have been to make it cheaper, easier to make, more resilient to incorrect wiring, or fit into the new dashboard that was created.
The latest incarnation now has a 3D printed case so it can drop straight into the dashboard of the machine.
The same client with the Steering Control came to us with a problem they'd been having - namely the pumps they were using on their machines could overheat if the user had left them on. Since they were in the process of switching over to a new pump (that was powered by the engine's crank-shaft, rather than an external electrical pump), they needed something that can be easily retrofitted to their fleet - but the quantities needed were too low for volume production.
We designed a simple circuit which made the pump adhere to the manufacturer's duty cycle - and warn the user if the pump was still on, and if it was stopped because it had been left on too long.
Since the manufacturer's duty cycle allowed the pump to be on for 5 minutes (and then off for another 5 minutes), the circuit was designed so the main controller could be swapped for a high speed variant which would allow them to ensure that the pump had been wired correctly, and that the duty cycle was actually being adhered to.
The LED stick was something our client had an idea for - but not the skills to construct.
The premise was that the dongle would have 4 LEDs in it, each a different colour, and an API was needed to allow applications to control them. This would allow dongles to be installed in data centres, and the status of the application easily monitored across many servers without needing monitors.
This went through several design phases, each one making the device smaller and smaller, until the final design was made.
The LuCiD was an idea proposed by our client to have a device that could be plugged into a USB port of a computer, and then display information about the status of that computer (as well as limited control over the computer). The idea was that it was a small device that their engineers could carry around with them, and do an initial triage of any system that was misbehaving before relying on an external keyboard and monitor. There was also the possiblity of having these embedded within the computers as well.
This went through three iterations - the first one used a 16x2 text LCD , with three buttons to allow user interaction. The second iteration changed the display to a monochrome graphic LCD (but still retained the three buttons). The final iteration used a colour graphic touch-screen, so no buttons were required.
We were asked to make something that could take a Mini-PCIe modem, and connect it to a laptop via a USB cable. A prototype was made for the customer, who then developed a larger version which could take full-size mobile handsets.
Our client wanted a way of controlling a CNC machine remotely, and simulate it in real-time so they knew what it was doing. Two boxes were made; the first being a CNC controller which could take a USB memory stick with the program needed to run on it, and the other took the signals from the CNC controller (which were stepper motor drivers), and relay it over an RS232 connection to a computer.
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