Revised Design of the XTND Board
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 11:14:14 PM

Hi!

You might have noticed we’ve been revising the board’s design, as we mentioned in Update #20. The design has gone through several changes since then, which has been necessary primarily due to changes of internal components. Let’s take a look at the details.

The Deck

As we mentioned, one of the main reasons for the changes is the battery technology. It made a slight difference in the thickness of the board, which is a small price to pay for better and safer batteries. Moreover, the thickness is different only in the center of the board and not on the sides, which makes it nearly unnoticeable. The new battery pack also has better lifespan and increases output of the motors. And, naturally, it is easily swappable.

We’ve also considered a shorter version of the board, but we agreed it would divert too much from the product you chose to back, though quite a few of you liked it better and riding it in real life was awesome. Nevertheless, the main advantage of a shorter board is that it is more comfortable and easier to carry, but we’re pleased to say we managed this even with the original design and without a significant change in its length. A person of an average height now won’t have to drag the board on the ground when holding it by the trucks. The length of the board is 862 mm (as opposed to the original 900 mm) and the width is 237 mm at its widest point.

The Trucks

Moreover, we readjusted trucks to accommodate weight sensors in order to improve the quality of collecting and processing data, and several parts around the rear trucks were made a bit wider for the sake of durability. We also changed the attachment of the bumpers to make sure they won’t get damaged or detached from the board even with rougher handling.

The Wheels

Since our aim is to make the XTND Board as easy to maintain as possible, the two wheels with motors are now completely covered, which keeps them from getting wet and prevents the dirt from getting in, thus prolonging their lifespan. In order to match all the wheels, we adjusted the front wheels as well so now they have twice as much polyurethane, which will make riding significantly more comfortable.

What’s Ahead

Now, more testing is ahead of us. We’re putting every bit of the board through all kinds of load tests, with a primary focus on motors, to make sure everything is functional and safe. In the upcoming weeks, we will also work on stabilizing BOM (Bill of Materials) and preparing CAD documentation for the suppliers. This is an essential step for the factory pre-check DFM (Design for Manufacturing) review. It will help us specify cost estimates and manufacturing plans so that we can progress quickly, eliminate risks and save money in case we make changes after the production starts.

That’s all for the design today. How do you like the look of it? We really appreciate all the feedback on the previous design suggestion and we’d be more than happy if you could tell us what you think even this time.

Thank you for your amazing support, we really appreciate it.

- XTND team

Testing, testing, testing and more testing
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 07, 2018 at 11:11:44 PM

Hello everyone,

Let’s get right to it. Here’s a list of topics we’re covering in this update in case you don’t feel like reading the whole thing:

• Shipping Schedule
• Merchandise
• Sensors
• Motors
• Design

Updated Delivery Dates

Let’s rip off the band-aid.

We’ve had a delay and we’re going to have another.

But will the boards be delivered at all? Absolutely.

We’re on a right track and it’s not just empty words that any team would say to save face. We’ve never been more excited about the updates we’ve been writing, but the time that got wasted at the very beginning with mindless bureaucracies, fighting with investors and waiting periods is hard to catch up with. We know it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows, but that’s unfortunately how it is. Building a hardware product of such complexity is difficult and it has its pitfalls one cannot anticipate before they actually happen. Most of the setbacks are caused by things that have very little to do with the actual product, and much more to do with running a starting company. And, the fact that everything just takes time. A lot of it.

To say we’re sorry about this would be an understatement. Though we’re making amazing progress every day and though everything’s looking better than ever, on many levels it feels like a failure. Because we’re letting you down. Letting down not just a someone, but roughly 300 people we made a promise to is really hard to deal with. We know some of you are disenchanted with us as well as the fact that a lot of Kickstarter projects get delayed, and we don’t blame you. We get frustrated as much as you do. But at the end of the day, we’re still here working tirelessly to see this through.

As for the actual dates, we would like to push it to January so that we can take our time to do everything right. The quality is what matters after all and we don’t want to rush it at its expense.

Though we realize how inconvenient this is, for which we sincerely apologize, we will do everything we can to make it up to you with the final product that will be worth the wait.

XTND T-shirts & Important Address Issue

The XTND T-shirts are all set and good to go! In fact, they have been for a while now, but we’ve been waiting for some of you to complete their addresses because we don’t want anyone to miss out on this. So, in case you haven’t, please check, complete or update your address until June 15 so that we can schedule shipping right afterwards.

If you have any issues whatsoever or don’t know how to change your address, drop us a message.

Those of you who have been in touch with us directly to make a different arrangement, we keep you in mind as well and everything is as we agreed.

If you missed this update and didn’t fill out your address in time, don’t worry, you won’t miss out on your XTND T-shirt, you’ll just get it later.

Sharpening the Brain

We finished an advanced design of the board’s brain which contains all the chips and sensors that the XTND Board will be equipped with. We’re very satisfied with how this sensory part works because it is the part of the board that makes it intelligent and most unique.

We’re testing everything in real conditions outside and we’re not going easy at it. In the following weeks, we’ll focus on collecting all necessary data and subsequently analyzing it, optimizing the evaluation system, improving the firmware and designing the final version of the brain’s PCB.

We’re also paying special attention to weight sensors that are important for the board to be safe to use. These sensors have an important role for weight detection system, anti-collision system and step on recognition.

All these sensors along with the ESC that we designed make a great combination that will have a huge positive impact on the board’s behavior while riding.

The Wheels Are in Motion

We’ve done quite a lot of thorough testing on motors. We wanted to report on every testing at first, but we soon realized it would be more or less the same update every time. This process took a bit longer than we expected. There have been a lot of different motor versions and individual iterations. Every change and adjustment stalled us a bit because we had to wait for the manufacturer to incorporate our requirements.

Nevertheless, the latest testing showed that the motors meet our requirements, which means we can start designing the final construction so that the motors will look good, too. Naturally, we will be optimizing them and improving their efficiency, but we’re very satisfied with the results at this point.

New Look of XTND Board

Changing the type of battery technology, which we mentioned in the previous update, required changing the board’s design as well so we came up with several versions with different dimensions and shapes while we were at it. Afterwards, we narrowed it down to two versions, one of which is shorter than the original one.

This week, we’re manufacturing prototypes of both to compare and test them to see which one is better. The shorter version would be primarily lighter, more comfortable to carry around and more maneuverable (given its smaller turning radius). On the other hand, the original has better stability as longer boards do. We will thoroughly test both versions to see what they are like in real life, what their riding qualities are and if their dimensions offer an ideal stance while riding (the width of the board and the space between feet) and don’t cause problems, such as wheelbite.

We couldn’t keep the original design because of the battery technology and the fact that we still want to keep them inside the board. The new design is more dynamic and modern, which better reflects the nature of the product while keeping its clean and simple design. And we hope that you like it as much as we do. We always value your opinion so do let us know what you think about the new design and whether you’d prefer the shorter or longer version.

We really appreciate all the wonderful support you’ve given us and hope that you can stick with us to the very end. It wouldn’t be possible without you after all. And we’ll be forever grateful for that.

- XTND team

A Quick Motor Testing Report
about 6 years ago – Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 05:41:08 PM

Hello guys,

We went to test the motors in the facilities of Brno University of Technology accompanied by our motor and battery manufacturers as well as technical advisors. We had 3 different motor variants to test and ultimately to choose one that would be used for the final run of prototype development and then mass production.

The testing showed that, unfortunately, none of the variants were quite what we were aiming for. But that’s absolutely normal. Though it might look as bad news at first sight, the outcome is actually positive because it gave us the answers we were looking for, and that’s what testing is for. Figuring out which ways are not the ones to go is just as important as figuring out the right ones.

So, what will happen now is more testing of further iterations that we already have lined up for next week, which will be a quicker process than it has been till now. In the meantime, we’re working on ESC and a new deck design to accommodate the batteries we mentioned in the previous update and will hopefully get back to in the next one.

Thank you all for your awesome support!

- XTND team

The good, the bad, and the surprise
about 6 years ago – Tue, Apr 03, 2018 at 11:19:35 PM

In the recent weeks, we’ve been going through a lot of decision making. We’ve also made a lot of changes and a huge progress in terms of product development as well as our company as such.

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Company make-over

One of the keys to building a successful company is having a stable environment and team. We’ve been working on this from the start of the year, which led us to move to bigger and much better premises. The new environment makes a significant difference for our efficiency and growth. Plus, we have a lot more opportunities and new technologies at our disposal as well as new talents.

Along with the change of scenery, there have been a few changes in our team as well and now we’re very pleased to say two new colleagues joined our ranks: Martin Gren and Marian Galba.

Martin is an unstoppable and ingenious mechanical engineer who’s helped us make a significant progress in a very short time. Having worked for a project designing flying cars, Martin has an impressive mechanical background and experience with R&D in mobility.

Marian is a promising talent in charge of the board’s design that will join us full-time as of next month so we’ll tell you how he’s doing in the next update. We’re very happy to have them both.

Development

Motors

The motor development is in full swing as you’re reading this update. We are aware of our promise to you, backers, to deliver you a great performing motor in a compact package. Therefore the progress is slower and more demanding than if we just buy the motors from China and rebrand them.

Over the course of our Kickstarter campaign, we didn’t go into much detail about our drive technology mainly because we didn’t want to give away our know-how. In any case, there have been quite a few changes concerning the motors. The biggest change from the design we posted on Kickstarter is that we got rid of the planetary gearbox. It’s because the gearbox was too unreliable and too noisy, and we want to give you the best user experience we can achieve.

The reason we spent well over 18 months developing our very own motor with the planetary gearbox is that it allowed us to use only one motor to achieve the desired output. This solution had a great impact on the overall weight of the board without having to compromise on output or range. Nevertheless, we came to the conclusion that it’s not the best solution in the long run.

Technology advances every day and we’re glad to say that we ourselves made a huge progress concerning the motor. At the end of the last year, we designed a motor that has similar parameters as the one with a gearbox. Manufacturing the prototype, unfortunately, took several months while we were waiting for special materials, magnets and tools. We used the best materials available in order to get the best results.

There will be a few more iterations, but we’re on the right track. We are focusing on their performance and heat generation in particular. The motor will be less noisy and more easily manageable, which we believe you’ll appreciate.

Batteries

Over the last couple of weeks, we also paid a lot of attention to the final design of the battery pack. While we were working on several iterations with our manufacturers, we also had some serious discussions about what type of batteries to use in the mass production of the board. After careful consideration and much thought about the pros and cons we chose Li-Ion batteries as opposed to the Li-Pol batteries we used originally. We chose Li-Pol batteries primarily because of their low profile dimensions, the ability to provide high amps as well as their high specific energy capacity, meaning a ratio between stored energy and a unit’s weight.

However, we decided to go with Li-Ion batteries mainly because Li-Pol batteries are sensitive to higher temperatures, which makes them susceptible to damage or even explosions. They are also more difficult to manage in terms of depletion, they break more easily and have a shorter lifespan.

These are very significant findings that led us to rethink our choices. Since safety is our primary concern, we decided to favor the safer battery type even at the expense of the few extra millimeters they’ll take up.

We believe it’s a step in the right direction and that the batteries along with our energy efficient motors will make a great combo.

Things that aren’t going that great

Parting ways

We had to end a cooperation with our marketing agency. We know some of you have pointed out that we don’t communicate enough here as well as on social media. The primary reason for this is that we hired a marketing agency that was supposed to help us work out a systematic, consistent communication strategy so that it would be done in an expert and well-thought-out way, for which we were waiting several months. But despite the recommendations we got for them, we were very disappointed. It took us over 6 months of very unfortunate cooperation with absolutely no results to finally come to terms with the fact that they weren’t the way to go. It took us this long because we didn’t want to throw away the time, effort and money we’ve put into it by now, but here we are. We’ve learned an important lesson and we’ll do it differently now.

Hardships of hardware startups

They say hardware is hard. We can certainly testify to that - building a hardware company from the ground is a real challenge. We wish we could tell you everything is going smoothly, but this is a world where nothing is ideal or goes according to plan. We’re very sorry about the delay, w know it’s not exactly great, but we’re dealing with it the best and quickest way we can. The whole team is putting in maximum effort to deliver the boards to you as soon as possible. We cannot tell you how much we value your support, especially when it’s not all going great. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together and we want nothing more than for you to ride our boards across the globe.

Refunds

Lastly, the refunds. We understand this might be inconvenient for some, but we had to put a freeze on refunds until the boards are delivered due to mounting complications related to them that are proving to be considerable setbacks. It is a difficult decision to make, but it's necessary for our project to succeed. Though we wish we could oblige you all in every way, as we understand anyone can find themselves in a difficult situation or simply change their mind, we have to focus on our mission at hand, but it won’t be possible if we have to keep sorting out issues with refunds, not to mention what a waste of resources it is for us as well as you. Moreover, there are plenty of ridiculous fees connected to refunds that devalue the money we all put in and it’s just not possible that we shoulder the fees ourselves if we want to keep this project alive. We understand that this decision will bring all sorts of negative reactions, but we have to stick to our decision.

To leave on a nicer note

XTND T-shirts, XTND T-shirts for everyone!

The reason we’ve been urging you to make sure we have your correct addresses, besides the obvious, is that we have XTND T-shirts prepared for you all. It was supposed to be the surprise we hinted at in the previous update, but we’re still waiting for packing we commissioned and for some of you to complete your addresses. We hope to send them out soon, but it might be a few weeks. We will let you know in any case when we are about to ship them so that you can keep an eye out for them.

Anyway, that’s it for now. If we want you to take away one thing from this update, it’s that despite all the complications the startup life throws at us, we’re still alive and kicking, making huge progress every day. We believe that together we’ll achieve what we’ve set out to do. Plus, given the progress we’ve been making, you can expect more frequent updates from us.

Thank you all for sticking with us!

- Your XTND team

New progress, challenges and delivery dates
about 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 30, 2018 at 11:39:32 AM

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had nice holidays, got some rest and kicked 2018 off with the right foot. We got some rest as well, but we haven’t been idle. Here’s some of the things that kept us busy.

Development progress

Most of our attention has been set on the motors over the last few weeks. As we mentioned in the previous update, we’ve been looking for a new supplier, but unfortunately, it’s a very slow process. At the end of last year, we started working with a company that fits our demands and now we’re waiting for them to deliver the samples we designed. Since we designed a completely new motor from scratch and all of its parts are custom-made, it takes a few weeks to manufacture the samples (it requires special materials and tools, neodymium magnets and so on).

As for the sensors, the biggest challenge is to optimize the pressure sensor so that it is precise and reliable. We’re running a lot of different tests, measurements and optimizations at the moment.

On the software engineering front, we have made a good progress improving the board’s firmware, as well as setting up the analytics and optimization pipeline.

Firmware is a program that runs on the board computer and manages things like collecting sensor data, communicating with the remote controller, operating the motor, turning on/off the lights, and running smart algorithms that optimize battery and motor performance. In the last two months, we’ve worked on better integration of the individual processes, as well as tighter cooperation with the motor’s driving unit.

The analytics pipeline enables us to collect anonymous usage and performance data, store them in the cloud, and train AI models, which we can then send back to the boards to teach them new tricks. This process is very similar to how Tesla cars learn from each other how to act in various driving situations. The data that we collect during testing will help us train the initial behavior of the board’s AI features. However, some of the smart features will need more data from real world use, and you can expect to continually receive firmware updates as we improve the features over time.

Shipping schedule updated

All of us are painfully aware we were supposed to deliver the boards at the beginning of this year. But we had to deal with unexpected setbacks, such as drawn-out issues with banks or suppliers, and it created a delay.

We’re sorry that we can’t make our optimistic estimate work and deliver the boards in the first half of 2018. We’re all working hard to get it done as soon as possible, but it takes time. Every bit of work on the board is crucial and every minor mistake we don’t eliminate at this stage would be much harder and much more expensive to fix down the road. That’s why we need a bit more time.

Here’s the updated shipping schedule:

• Super Early Bird - August, 2018
• Early Bird - September, 2018
• Kickstarter Exclusive - October, 2018
• Pre-orders (3-4Q 2017) - November, 2018
• Pre-orders (2018) - December, 2018

In the meantime, we’re preparing a small surprise for you to make the wait more bearable. Just make sure that we have your current addresses.

Thank you all for bearing with us. It wouldn’t be possible without your support and patience.