Update – 12/02/2015
We have decided to go ahead with crowdfunding on Indiegogo. As promised, rodinhooders are the first ones to be informed. Reserve your smartboards at:
Limited smartboards available.
Update – 27/01/2015
We are soon going for crowdfunding on wishberry.in. There would be a limited number of smartboard up for grabs. Rodinhooders would be among the first ones to be informed about the same. Keep an eye on this post!!
Update – 07/01/2015
Third prototype is ready and looks better:
Also, we have fb and twitter pages. Follow us.
Br
Sandeep
———
Dear All
Inspired by positive feedback on received on POC, I’ve gone ahead and I’ve something, which probably is just a step behind MVP.
So, this is what it does (a couple of other features not mentioned here include – Time based scenario activation and timer on an individual device):
And here is how it looks at the moment:
It works great but looks ugly. This device has been installed in my room and is serving me well since last 20 days. To make it look really smart, I need to get customized encapsulation. This customization requires much more money than I’ve already invested.
So, I request your feedback if the idea and product is worth investing further. Also, do you think this is the right time to approach an investor? Any leads for polycarbonate manufacturers?
Br
Sandeep
(PS: I still hold my day job in order to pay my bills and fund this)
asha chaudhry
hey sandeep – very neat video!
so while everyone else gives you feedback – i’d like you to share your twitter handle at the bottom of the post so i can make you famous :))))
also, pls share the link of this post on your previous one so people who are following you there, will get the latest update!
Sandeep Gupta
Thanks Asha. Don’t have a twitter handle. Sharing FB link via PM.Nice idea about previous post, will update that as well.
Rishi
Great progress Sandeep! Guessing switchboard is also touch?
I think on the last question “if the idea and product is worth investing further” you’d know it better than any one else 🙂
Sandeep Gupta
Thanks Rishi. No, the current one is not and also for future it would be push button and not touch. I’m intentionally not going to keep it touch based as finding your way on the panel becomes much more difficult (especially during night). I think a bit of ruggedness is required on a switch board.
Rupin
I have a lot to share.
The initial tooling costs can be reduced to a large extent by 3D Printing. I am currently working for a customer who is building something similar, but specific to a industrial product, not a home based solution.
I can attest to the fact that 3d Printing can get you a 99% ready prototype in a matter of few days, and at a 10th of the cost of traditional dies and injection moulding.
I havent seen the entire video, but I am sure you would have figured out a problem, that the app and the state of a switch should be in sync. What I mean to say is that if an appliance is off through the app, and turned on using a physical action outside of the app, the app should be able to show this new state when opened next.
What you have is a starting point for a lot of IoT devices, which is still in its infancy around the world. You have the advantage of time to work on this idea till it becomes full blown.
We could talk more about this. If you are keen to pursue, reach out to me at rupin.chheda@gmail.com
Sandeep Gupta
Thanks Rupin. Yes, the status on app and physical one is in sync. You are right, this is the basic framework for IoT. Infact, if I consider time as a virtual device, this smartboard is already interacting with this virtual device. One can define rules to automatically activate a scenario at a given time. Eg, at 10, tubelight of my room goes off, night light turns on, socket is turned on. At 3 in the morning, the speed of fan is reduced to 3 from 5 as Delhi is getting colder. Going forward, a generic rule engine would be required which can cater to process any event from any physical or virtual device.
I’ll contact you regarding 3D printing.
Sandeep Verenkar
Neat work !
I attended a startupsaturday at Bangalore last weekend and the topic was IOT.
The lead speaker was Avinash Gautam of Silvan Labs, who does a lot of work with builders on home automation front. Check them at https://www.silvanlabs.com
If it helps I could connect you to him.
Sandeep Gupta
Hi Sandeep, these guys seem to be doing a lot of work. My work is more focused on room automation currently and am trying to avoid a cumbersome solution. Also, it is aimed to be much cheaper than other solutions. I’ll contact you for connecting with Avinash probably when this thing is more in shape.
Sandeep Gupta
We are now accepting interests from early adopters.
Early adopters would get an offer to purchase the Smartboard at a discounted rate and also help us in kick-starting. This offer would only be restricted to first 100 early adopters. Log in to our site and express your interest to reserve your Smartboard.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Why not post on wishberry? They are ideal for these kind of projects
Who is the core customer?
Can you get the IIT’s etc to start using it? Show some ICONIC users…
Sandeep Gupta
Thanks Alok for feedback. I have been thinking about crowd funding of late, would look at the same. I can offer one piece of smartboard to the initial investors who would crowd fund the project with some minimum amount.
The core customer is the end home users and builders of high-end apartments, currently. In future, would evolve the it for office users.
Also, I’ve two options – do the complete development, supply, maintenance etc all by myself or the second one in which I am more interested, is to sell the technology to a well established switchboard manufacturer and let him take care of complete cycle with me focusing on technology side only.
Not sure about IITs, but I think I can target some high end apartment builders to use the same.
Partha Chakraborty
Hi Sandeep,
You should apply to the Haxlr8r program in Shenzhen, China. It is one of the best hardware acceleration programs and the greatest thing is that you get to be present in the hardware capital of the world.
For details, you can visit haxlr8r.com.
asha chaudhry
hey sandeep,
read this and thought of you!
https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/04/the-ring-is-real/?ncid=rss&cps=gravity_1462_-8796962794666063723
any progress on SmartBoard since you posted this…?!
Sandeep Gupta
Hi Asha
Thanks for sending the link. People are doing some real cool stuff.
Update – prototype 3 of SmartBoard is ready is looks better than before (pic attached).
Br
Sandeep
asha chaudhry
sandeep – can u update your post and ADD the pic for everyone to see?
attachments get missed completely.
here’s another something called SwitchMate
https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/07/switchmate-lets-you-control-your-light-switches-from-your-phone-no-rewiring-required/
Sandeep Gupta
Hi Asha,
Already updated the post yesterday. I hope it is visible.
asha chaudhry
awesome!! can see it wide & clear 🙂
thanks!
Sandeep Gupta
We are soon going for crowdfunding on wishberry.in. There would be a limited number of smartboard up for grabs. Rodinhooders would be among the first ones to be informed about the same. Keep an eye on this post!!
Sandeep Gupta
We have decided to go for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. we are live at:
https://igg.me/at/hihsb
Please contribute generously 🙂
asha chaudhry
congrats! all the best.
you’ll need a twitter handle to promote your crowdfunding campaign. pls create one and add it on the post sandeep. it will help me promote you.
Sandeep Gupta
It’s already there –https://twitter.com/home_in_hand
asha chaudhry
can you pls add it at the fag end of your post? it helps me while tweeting. i won’t be able to track it in the middle of your post or in the comments. thanks.