Major challenges ahead
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Nov 07, 2019 at 01:17:39 PM
Dear all,
Thank you for your patience and your continue support in this project. Apology that we have a delayed update this time round since we have faced some major challenges in a few areas, and we would like to confirm the severity in those before providing you all an updates.
- Google Assistant - It has been extremely challenging in the past few months in getting support from the Google's local system integrator in geting the Google Assistant Hardware SDK for the Google Actions Development to kick-off. Overall timeline from SDK -> Python Actions Coding -> Draft to Alpha Submit for Google Review is our main challenges. We have been highlighted our timeline with the Google System Integrator and requested to expedite our project, however this is unfortunately a bit out of our control at the moment.
- Uprising costs in Google Assistant - the costing on this part has increased dramatically and much higher than what we have budgeted for. Along with the Purchase and development lead time as highlighted in point 1. We're proactively discussing with the supplier in managing both the cost & timeline at the moment.
- ASSEMBLAGE BASE and SPEAKER(s)
Video#1 - Party Mode Demo
This is to demonstrate Our Assemblage can now support the Multiple Speakers setup. Our Assemblage system can potentially support upto 8 speakers connected at the same time. Our First Launch Of Assemblage will support upto three speakers at start but we will release a firmware update in upgrading to an 8 Speakers Connection at later stage.
Video#2 - Low Latency Demo
One of our concerns is projector / Speakers setup and the lag it may produce while streaming videos from your mobile device. Good news is that we have successfully solved this challenge and ensure the Low Latency of Audio output from the Speakers in able to provide you an awesome experience in watching video.
Our Promise
We reckon we have broken our promise to our backers in delivering our first batch of delivery in Oct, and we held our heads high in taking this responsibility. There were different challenges both technically and with our suppliers in the past few months, the team really trying their best in fulfilling the timeline and solves these problem one at a time and as fast as possible. With the latest development especially on Google assistant, we reckon we may have a further delay until mid 2020 for the first shipment. However we know that a promise is a promise, so we have decided to open for our backers who would like to receive their refund to let us know here. It will be a shame for us to refund to you but this is the least we can do. For those who understand the complexity of this project and understand our difficulties, bare with us and we are trying the best we can to even advance this latest delivery date as early as possible.
Best Regards,
The Assemblage team
Challenge in re-layout the Pico projector module into the Assemblage
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Sep 09, 2019 at 09:53:46 AM
Dear all,
We are apology for the delay in updating everyone since we have came to another hurdle especially for our Pico projector.
The current pico projector module that we are developing doesn't fit into the slim round shape of Assemblage, so we have to redo the PCB layout and the case to ensure it can produce the quality of video we wanted while it can dissipate the excessive heat effectively. It may not sounds like much to everyone here but it is indeed a big deal for the project. However we are glad to tell everyone that we have solved that and we are aiming to make the final prototype based on this design in the next coming weeks.
Thank you for your patience and we are trying the best we can at the moment.
Best Regards,
The Assemblage team
We have listened! - Exploring USB type-C connector
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 04:49:56 PM
Dear all,
Apology for the delay in giving you all the updates since we just had a major breakthrough in the communication protocol between the different Assemblage modules and we are happy to say that the tech barrier has now been resolved. We have also solved the challenges in integrating multiple speakers into the system using the same solution that Philips is about to launch as well, this is aim to give the user an immersive experience during a video is being played by the projector and there will be no lags and delays of the audio from different speakers.
We are also actively working on the firmware of the TI DLP Pico Projector, it is in the final stage of development and this should migrate nicely into the Assemblage system very soon.
We have also listened to you! We are currently exploring the use of USB type-C connection for all our Assemblage modules so not only it can save our users using different cables to charge the device but it can also improve the charging performance. We will advise all of you here with the final decision since it will has a huge upcost in the production as well.
Assemblage surely is not an easy projects while there are multiple modules offer different functionalities, hence we face different challenges and tech barriers almost on a daily basis. While both the development and production team are hard at work and we can potentially rush to produce the final batch for delivery to our backers soon, but we worry there will be quite a few quality issues upon shipping. We have then decided to delay the production shipping for 2 months and we will aim to ship the first batch of Assemblage by end of Oct the latest.
Please accept our apology for the postponement on shipment but we would rather ship those modules to you all with the quality that we are happy with. We hope all our backers can understand our difficulties and support our decision.
Best Regards,
The Assemblage team
Manufacturer and software house confirmed
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Jun 03, 2019 at 04:16:07 PM
We have been working hard last month not only we have finalised the contract with the official manufacturer for Assemblage production, we have also confirmed a firmware solution house for the Assemblage software development.
The firmware is currently top of our priorities and the team not only trying to solve the different interface issues between those modules but we are also working hard in incorporating the new standard of Google assistance “MINUET-2” into the Assemblage.
Both hardware and software developments are on track and we are hoping to release some photos of the manufacturer, prototypes work in progress and the UI of the software to you all soon.
We have also launched a page in BackerKit for those that have missed the kickstarter campaign and want to order an Assemblage. We have also launched a collaboration with ONNON® for a cross-over travel Backpack that fits perfectly for your Assemblage devices too, check it out here:
https://assemblage-modular-tech-and-gadget-hub.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Help us to spread the word!
Best Regards,
The Assemblage team
Thank you and we have made it!
about 5 years ago
– Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 02:25:23 AM
Thank you all backers and supporters! We have raised 100% more funds than expected in the end, we could not achieve this without each one of you!
Since we have wrapped up the kickstarter campaign, we have since focused on the delivery of the final product to your hand.
Here's some latest schedule update:
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Early April : we have consolidated those comments from all of you. Now we are pouring them into the Design Collaboration and Optimization with our Product Design Engineering Team before we finalised the Technical Design
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By End of April : We will focus on all the CAD Designs {Mechanical and Electrical}. We will also starting both the Firmware and App Development to make sure our Assemblage system supports most functions you all have mentioned during the campaign.
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By end of May : we targeted to have a few pieces of Fully functional Engineering Samples ready and may invite some of our Backers here to conduct the "Alpha Test" as field test.
If you want to be one of the first "Alpha tester", please raise your hand here. We are looking for someone who can use it to the limit!
Best Regards,
The Assemblage Team
