What we have learned for 1 year with MicroBot Push
Time flies. It’s already been more than a year since we first shipped factory-produced MicroBots last year. We’ve been really happy to be able to make this actually happened and pleased to see this novel product being usable, useful and used all over the world.
It’s quite interesting and unique how MicroBots are used, so we’ve decided to share some stats and feedbacks collected from our actual users.
A little bit of history
All started with this simple fact: we are surrounded by buttons but that could be only activated manually. And we also like the idea of retrofitting the things we own instead of buying new ones. This is how MicroBot Push was born: to connect these buttons, allow their control via smartphone, thus enabling users to make their dumb devices smart. And we are very proud to say that your idea was awarded at CES 2016!
Let’s now discover who are MicroBot Push users and what they do with it!
Who is using MicroBot Push?
The profile of our typical user is a man in his 30s, professionally active, from Japan or the US. But it is actually a little more complicated than that.
37% of users are in their late 20s or early 30s, followed by the 35–44 age range at 29%. It appears MicroBot Push managed to seduce a large range of people. Their are mostly active people that do not especially work in the IT industry. Some do but others are just simply interested in smart home or/and in improving their lives with connected devices.
87% the part of male users. MicroBot Push is mainly used by males but the number of female users is increasing day by day. This does not mean MicroBot Push only benefits to males. It improves the lives of the whole family or bunch of coworkers. Indeed, switching lights or getting the coffee ready ultimately do not advantage one person only!
56% of our users came from either Japan or the United States. This figure comes to no surprise as US and Japan are the two first countries into which we launched MicroBot Push through Amazon. But our users actually comes from a variety of countries and continents as well: Europe, UAE, Costa Rica, Singapore, Australia… So far, we have shipped MicroBot Push to over 45 different countries!
Why they bought MicroBot Push?
Our users all purchased MicroBot Push to improve their lives, in various ways.
- Save time & energy through automation — 47%
47% of our respondents bought MicroBot Push as a solution to automate their home of their office, to focus only on the things that matter to them.
Ex. Schedule the office’s air conditioner to focus on work only or schedule to turn off the bathroom’s ventilator at night because a family member always forget to turn it off…
- Accessibility and remote control — 41%
For others, MicroBot Push was also a way to make their life easier by allowing to control buttons that are difficult or troublesome to access. They gain comfort thanks to MicroBot Push.
Particularly, our users with disabilities bought and are loving MicroBot Push because it enables them to improve their accessibility and do things by themselves, activating the robot cleaner for instance. It improves their lives by a great deal.
- Save money through retrofitting — 6%
One of the big advantages found by our users is that, if they don’t want to replace their coffee machine or the appliances they use everyday to schedule and/or control them remotely, they don’t have to. Thanks to MicroBot Push, they are able to connect their existing devices for a much lower cost than if they buy a new, smart, one.
- Fun — 6%
For other users, all started for the fun — test a new, innovative high-tech gadget — before becoming a very useful little object. Once they got in touch with MicroBot Push, they discovered many use cases and find out that it is a device that completes the home automation!
“In the beginning, I bought MicroBot Push just for fun. But now I use them for home automation, combining with Amazon Echo.” — Francis C., Taiwan
How do they use MicroBot Push?
The use cases of MicroBot Push are almost as various as we have users, from light switch to hockey game’s scoreboard. Some uses do come more often as others:
- Automating one’s garage door, gate or intercom
This allowed our users to avoid getting off the car to open/close their door or get. Or getting down the stairs to open the door, which proves to be very convenient for people living in apartments.
“There’s nothing like saying ‘Alexa, trigger downstairs/upstairs garage’ to make my life more convenient than running downstairs to open the garage for friends to come in my place. It’s a commercial grade the garage door so I can’t mess with them directly and this is a great solution!” — Phil, USA
- Air conditioner, fan or heating system
Users installed MicroBot Push either to control remotely their air con or heating system or schedule it during the day or both.
- Light switch
MicroBot Push can be used on various types of switches such as rocker switch, capacitive light button…
- Robot cleaner… etc.
Those examples are among the most common uses for MicroBot Push. But other users installed it on their computer, baby food maker, alarm system, shades, PC power button, remote control, laundry machine…
MicroBot Push’s use has only your imagination for limit! All what you need is a button!
What do our users think about MicroBot Push?
I think this is the coolest thing ever. Such a simple idea. It works out of the box, very easy just download the app, turn on your bluetooth and away you go. Very happy with my purchase.” — Brendan M., US
“Yes they are a little bit expensive, but they are wonderful, they might be a little bit noisy, you so hear the whirring sound of the servo, but I just set a timer for it to push the coffee button at 7.45 am every day and I’m loving it. One less thing I don’t have to worry about.” — Danny T., UK
What they like…
- MicroBot Push’s easy and quick set up (30 seconds!)
- Integrate MicroBot Push with other devices such as Google Home or Amazon Alexa thanks to Prota hub
- Being able to adapt personalize MicroBot Push to fit their needs: define a name, set the desired calibration, add a timer…
What they like less…
- As a bluetooth-connected device, some users find the range a little short
- Issues with the stability of Prota hub, when MicroBot Push is paired with it (stay tuned for significant improvements over the next few months!).
Our thoughts
We’ve come long way, from an idea to an actual product sold internationally. We couldn’t have make it through this journey without our users. We like asking our users’ opinion because their feedback is what we value the most. Improving their experience as a users and finding new ways of improving their lives are the aims for which we work everyday. Adding the features our users need and finding solutions to adapt to their situations while keeping things as simple as possible in the basis of our research towards improvement.
A question? You can learn more about and buy MicroBot Push on our website. Besides, our support team is always available and happy to answer any questions, from a current or a soon-to-be MicroBot Push’s user. Do not hesitate to contact them!
