All New Pre-Production Prototype
For the last few updates, we’ve been quite technical! So for this update we’re going to share the fruits of all our hard work on the component selection, testing, prototyping, and process research that we’ve previously shared with you along the way.
The Case
In a recent update, we shared with you our visit to a thermo forming company. We’ve been working hard with them to get our first batch of test Joto cases made. We’re having the first 10 cases built for our test units, so we can continue to test, tweak and improve the performance of Joto.
We received the first two tests back last week, and even if we say so ourselves, we’re pretty pleased with the results!
We loved watching the process of the cases being made, and really wanted to share this with you. So Carmen and Barney went up to the factory for the day to film the process from start to finish — we hope you’ll find it as satisfying to watch as we do!
See video here: https://vimeo.com/236068779
As soon as the cases arrived, we couldn’t wait to get the robotics parts into their new home. In fact that’s why our update is a little later than usual. We wanted to put all the finishing touches together so we could show you what we’ve been busy developing.
The App
As you know, Joto isn’t just about the hardware, we’re building the software platform to support all the amazing things you’ve said you want to do when you finally get Joto on your wall.
We want to make sure the foundations of this software platform enable it to grow and develop with our community’s needs. It’s important to get it right, so we’ve been working hard selecting the software frameworks, as well as designing the structure to allow this to happen.
It’s just a lot of code at the moment (which maybe we’ll save for another tech heavy update), but we couldn’t wait to connect the software to the hardware, and have our fully working native app up and running and connected to Joto. There is still lot’s more to do, and we will be sharing more details in the near future about how we’ve designed the software to allow integrations, API connections and developers to be able to build mini apps very easily for Joto — we think you’ll like it!!
The Big Reveal
So this is the big moment, all the parts, pieces, electronics, software (and of course hard work and sleepless nights) have come together and we’re ready to show you the big reveal of our pre-production model ready to go to China to be built. We could talk more about it, but how about we just let Joto do the talking by showing you this video — they do say a picture paints a thousand words after all ;-)
Director’s Notes!
The eagle-eared amongst you will have noticed that there is a not so nice vibration when Joto makes larger moves. That’s actually the wiper mechanism resonating a little. We had to loosen it up as it was catching on the new plastic cover slightly. Some very small adjustments are still needed to fix this vibration. But as you know — we’re focused on making things as quiet as possible.
Even the not so eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that Barney’s phone screen lost in a fight with a road — but we didn’t want to wait for some ‘genius’ to fix it before showing you the new Joto.
What next? We’re off to China!
It’s time to get Joto on a plane and out to China. Barney and Jim are heading there shortly to kick off the full production process. It’s obviously incredibly exciting and slightly nerve-wracking at the same time! We’re hoping to share some good news with regards to our manufacturers shortly too, so watch this space!
Thanks for reading. If you have any question, requests or would like to tell us about an idea you’ve had for Joto, drop us a line at hello@joto.rocks
The Joto team
