Prototyping
From sketch to working prototype.
Electronics, microcontrollers, and embedded software — built, programmed, and enclosed under the same roof as our printers and lasers. You bring the idea; we hand back a device that works.
Where hardware ideas usually die
Most hardware ideas make it to a breadboard and stop. The wiring is fragile, the code is a demo, there's no case, and turning it into something you could actually use — or show — means finding an electronics person, a firmware person, and a mechanical person who will all talk to each other.
That's the gap we fill. We do the electronics, write the firmware, and make the enclosure in one shop, so your idea comes back as a finished object: a device that powers on, does its job, recovers when things go wrong, and looks like something you'd put your name on.
It's the same discipline behind our drone practice — where the electronics fly, the firmware can't crash, and every gram is budgeted — applied to whatever you're building.
What we work with
Microcontroller builds
ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), Arduino-class AVR, and STM32 — chosen for what your device needs to do, not what's fashionable. Dev-board and module based, so the first working version arrives in days.
Sensors & I/O
Temperature, humidity, pressure, motion, GPS, current, distance, cameras, displays, relays, motor drivers — wired, powered, and read correctly, with calibration handled in firmware.
Connectivity
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for local control, LoRa for long-range low-power links, and plain old serial/USB when that's the honest answer. Data can land in a dashboard, a database, or a daily email.
Embedded software
Firmware in C/C++ and MicroPython: sensor drivers, state machines, power management for battery life, watchdogs so it recovers by itself, and over-the-air updates when the device lives somewhere inconvenient.
Power
Battery selection and charging, sleep-mode budgets measured in microamps, and honest runtime numbers modeled before you commit — the same engineering discipline as our drone builds.
Enclosures & mechanical
This is our home-field advantage: custom enclosures, mounts, panels, and light pipes printed and laser-cut in-house. Your prototype doesn't end as a bare board in a sandwich bag — it's a thing you can hand someone.
What people bring us
Product idea validation
A working, enclosed prototype you can put in front of users or investors — before you spend on tooling and production.
Monitoring & data logging
Temperature in the greenhouse, current draw on the compressor, water level in the tank — sensed, logged, and visible from your phone.
Machine retrofits & automation
Add sensing, interlocks, counters, or remote monitoring to equipment that predates the internet.
Custom controllers
Purpose-built control boxes: the buttons, readouts, and logic your process actually needs, instead of a spreadsheet and a stopwatch.
Drone payloads & companions
Sensor pods, trackers, and companion electronics for aircraft — designed alongside our drone practice so weight and power budgets are real.
Installations & exhibits
Interactive pieces, lighting, and kinetic work where electronics, enclosure, and reliability all have to survive the public.
How a prototype comes together
Discovery
We start with what the device should do and where it lives — not with a parts list. You leave the first conversation knowing if it's feasible and roughly what it costs.
Architecture & bench proof
We pick the microcontroller, sensors, and radio, then prove the risky parts on the bench first. The bill of materials is yours from day one.
Build & firmware
The real prototype: soldered, programmed, enclosed in a case made a few feet away, and tested against the things that actually go wrong — power loss, bad readings, lost connections.
Handoff — you own it all
Source code, wiring diagrams, BOM, and documentation are yours, not hostage. When you outgrow the prototype, we help you package it for PCB design and scale manufacturing.
What we are — and aren't
We're a rapid-prototyping shop, and we're honest about the boundary. We build on proven modules and dev boards because that gets a working device in your hands in days instead of months — and it keeps every part replaceable and every design decision reversible while the idea is still moving.
We are not a high-volume electronics factory. When your prototype earns its next step, the handoff package we deliver — schematics, firmware source, BOM, and test notes — is exactly what a PCB designer or contract manufacturer needs to take it to scale. You'll never have to start over.
What should it do?
Describe the device in a few sentences — what it senses, what it controls, where it lives. We'll tell you if it's feasible, what we'd build it with, and what it costs to find out.