Winter is coming
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 08:10:13 AM

Hi there,

The time is flying by relentlessly and there are a few things we’d like to share with you.

BackerKit

There is still a number of you who haven’t completed their survey yet. This information is crucial for the whole manufacturing process so we would like to ask you to do it as soon as possible. You should have received a couple of BackerKit reminders as well as an email from us by now. If you haven’t, or if you have any questions or issues, please get in touch with us so that we can sort it out. You can reach us at [email protected].

Come shape the future with us

We’ve decided to reinforce our ranks so we’re currently looking for suitable talents to join us. The XTND team is built on incredible people, but we know there are more of you out there. We want to give more people the opportunity to realize their potential and help change the way people think about urban transport. Right now, we’re primarily looking for mechanical engineers, firmware engineers, and electrical engineers, but not exclusively! Do you think you have what it takes or know anyone who does? Get in touch with us at [email protected].

Challenges we’re facing

We have both good news and bad news. The bad news is that at this point we are certain there will be a delay with the delivery, for which we are sincerely sorry. There are no shortcuts in making something epic and we simply do not compromise on quality, but there is a downside to that. Setting up our development and production process will take longer than expected. We will be informing you about our progress regularly, but it is hard to estimate the total impact at this point.

The good news is that even though we will have to wait a bit longer to hit the streets on the XTND Boards, it will be absolutely worth it. We have the best minds of the industry working for us and we are excited about our first-born more than ever. You have put a lot of trust into us, which means the absolute world to us. We’re just asking to extend that trust for a little longer.

Development

After finishing the complete specification of the board, we launched into creating and improving the architecture of all the systems. The result is a development interface that is not exactly the final version of the board yet, but its reliability and functionality are meeting our requirements.

At the moment, we’re focusing on optimizing the key function, which is the board’s drive. It’s essential that the board is reliable and works the way it’s supposed to. Designing and manufacturing a top electric motor is a challenge that is as good as alchemy. It is one of the reasons we had to change our supplier for motor manufacturing. We still have a lot of work and testing ahead, which will take some time, but we’re on the right track. As for controlling the motors, we made a huge progress. Our new speed controller is nearly half the size with multiple operational capacity. We are rather satisfied with the accuracy with which we can control the board even at lower speed.

We have also tested dozens of various components and sensors to find those that complied with our requirements in terms of quality and durability. Then, we made the first draft of PCB that we’ll keep revising until it’s all ready for mass production. We primarily devoted time to automatization and pressure sensors that are very important to us.

As for the software, we have made further progress with our algorithm and data analysis. We’re training our brain on sample data that we generate in an artificial interface.

In the upcoming weeks, we’ll be focusing more on design and user experience that starts with individual parts of the product and continues through packaging and unboxing to the very first ride. We want everything to be clear and simple so that you can have the best experience possible.

Thank you for your support as well as all the encouragement that you keep showing us. It constantly inspires us and drives us forward.

- Your XTND team

Brief BackerKit Update
over 6 years ago – Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 10:14:05 AM

Hello backers!

Firstly, there are still some of you who haven’t completed their survey yet so we’d like to ask you to do it as soon as possible - otherwise you’ll be getting those awkward email reminders until you finally do it and we’re sure nobody likes that. If you need any help with the survey, just let us know and we’ll sort it out.

Secondly, we want to let you know we’ve made the XTND Board available to pre-order on BackerKit for the general public so if you know about anyone who wants their own XTND Board and missed our campaign, you can give them the good news! We’re very excited about it as there has been quite a demand for the boards after the end of the campaign. Nevertheless, we’ll be glad if you help us spread the word, too!

Hope everyone is doing swell and we’ll be looking forward to the rest of your surveys!

- Your XTND team

Recent Developments in XTND
over 6 years ago – Tue, Oct 03, 2017 at 07:15:52 PM

Hello backers!

We hope you’ve all had time to take a look at the BackerKit survey over the last week. Besides very few exceptions, everyone seems to be navigating through BackerKit without any difficulty and though we’re still waiting for a few answers, most of you already managed to complete it successfully.

In the meantime, let us bring you up to speed on what we’ve been up to beside the surveys and how the product development is going, along with a few behind the scenes pictures of our workshop.

Product Development

As we already mentioned a couple of times in the comments and the previous update, we had a few issues with the bank due to a failure of their system. Basically, this means that though we had received the money from the pledges, we couldn’t do anything with it. It put a damper on a lot of things, but everything is well now and coming along.

Since our last update, we’ve spent a significant amount of time dealing with all the key suppliers and manufacturers. Unfortunately, we had to reconsider working with some of them as they did not meet our requirements in terms of quality in mass production, but we are already in the process of replacing them. This primarily had to do with the manufacturer responsible for making our motors.

Another major task we’ve been tackling is engineering and software specification, which means describing functionality of the whole XTND Board to the last detail and with pinpoint accuracy. Though the whole process is demanding and takes quite some time to complete, it is absolutely essential in order to make sure the product will work reliably and be cost effective to manufacture.

The XTND Board is divided into several large parts that are developed independently and consist of further parts and components. First, there is hardware, such as the board, trucks, wheels or lights. We’re drawing up a document we call Master Specification in which we describe all the dimensions, requirements, material structures or production methods.

The second very significant part is electronics, which also includes the sensors we use to measure and analyze all necessary data. Right now we’re drawing diagrams of the entire system in order to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be. We’re also considering how big the PCBs should be, what the requirements are for the processor so that it can process the data, what size and type of batteries we’ll use, and what conditions, temperatures and humidity we’ll work with.

The third part, as we like to call it internally “the brain”, is the software. Structured into firmware responsible for controlling of all the components, sensors data processors to record, preprocess, package and forward the data and our secret sauce - the “AI link”. Currently the software and electronics teams are busy to setup development environments that will mimic the board - the test beds. We are going to use them for development and debugging of all features. In one of our next updates we will share a few more details on the “AI link”.

At the same time, this results in the final bill of materials (BOM) of all the components with their detailed specification and requirements.

Naturally, design is also inherently subject to this scrutiny. Right now, we’re working on improving the remote’s design. We’ll share the result with you once it’s done so that you can give us your thoughts on how you like it.

Marketing and Sales

We’re devoting a lot of time to finalizing the XTND brand, which includes defining our long-term vision, objectives, and values that constitute the core of our brand. We’re also preparing a series of photos and videos that we’ll share with you through social media.

Moreover, in a couple of days, we’re going to make the XTND Board available to pre-order again so everyone who missed the campaign will get a chance to reserve a board, too. The pre-orders will be managed through BackerKit similarly to the Kickstarter pledges and the link for the pre-orders can be found at the top of our campaign page or on our website.

Partnerships

Joining forces with other companies that share the same vision is a great opportunity to make sure our customers have access to everything they need to make their riding experience even more enjoyable, safe and worthwhile. We’ve been working on establishing partnerships with top brands that we love and whose products could be great accessories to our board. We’ve received many offers for cooperation, but we take good care to choose only those that are in line with our vision and offer top quality products. For the moment, it’s helmets and backpacks that we’re considering. We’ll update you on its development.

Events and Glamor of the Tech World

We took part in a few worldwide prestigious events. The first was Future Port Prague, which is the largest international visionary and futuristic conference in Central Europe. Mirek was there as one of the guest speakers and experts on AI, robotics, IoT, and new materials to talk about the future of urban mobility. He also shared his experience with life in Silicon Valley and running a Kickstarter campaign.

In September, we also participated in TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. Though we didn’t present our product there this time, we used this opportunity to network with a great number of important people, partners, and investors that could play an important part in the future of XTND.

Anyway, that’s it for now, but we’ll be in touch again soon with updates on our progress so stay tuned! And please don’t forget to complete your surveys before the deadline, which is October 15. If there is anything we can help you with, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

- Your XTND team

Update #13 - The Survey’s Out!
over 6 years ago – Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 06:32:39 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Update #12 - A couple of things we’ve been up to
over 6 years ago – Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 12:57:22 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.