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FX-Sabers Discussion - Including a Gallery of custom sabers. => New Ideas and Technologies => Topic started by: Theultimatesaber on April 01, 2019, 10:27:36 AM

Title: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 01, 2019, 10:27:36 AM
Greetings Fx saber community!

1) I’m looking for someone that can help me with a bring-up of Arduino on a new platform. To simplify the task this new controller will mimic a prior popular Creative Commons design (proffieboard) and provide similar features (strip LED, color profiles, possibility of accelerometer integration with smooth swing, flash on clash etc). Looking for someone with some prior experience or strong firmware skills to help get this project underway.

2) Secondarily I’m also looking for someone that can assist in saber application development.  This can be Python or other scripting to develop the observable aforementioned behaviors.

This new controller design once completed will be sent to our pcb design house and will be available to the public once our final build is complete.

Payment for this project will include the final production saber and is open to negotiation. This is an opportunity to work with an extremely exciting product and should serve as a wonderful new stepping stone for the sabering community and other DIY builders.

For more info please feel free to contact me directly at: theultimatesaber@gmail.com
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 01, 2019, 10:32:56 AM
Greetings Arduino/saber community!

1) I’m looking for someone that can help me with a bring-up of Arduino on a new platform. Essentially we are looking to code a very small controller with basic neopixel functions similar to the popular Creative Commons design proffieboard and provide similar features (strip LED, color profiles, possibility of accelerometer integration with smooth swing, flash on clash etc). Looking for someone with some prior experience or strong firmware skills to help get this project underway.

2) Secondarily I’m also looking for someone that can assist in saber application development to develop the observable aforementioned behaviors.

This new controller design once completed will be sent to our pcb design house and will be available to the public once our final build is complete.

Payment for this project will include the final production saber and will equally reflect whatever input / assistance you are willing / able to provide. This is an opportunity to work with an extremely exciting new product and should serve as a wonderful new stepping stone for the sabering community and other DIY builders.

For more info please feel free to contact me directly at: theultimatesaber@gmail.com where we will send over the necessary NDA and be able to discuss in more detail.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: jbkuma on April 02, 2019, 06:54:46 AM
This was a joke, right?
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: K-2SO on April 02, 2019, 07:28:37 AM
This was a joke, right?

Somehow, I don’t think so. Everyone wants to come into this hobby thinking they’ll make quick money.  :undecided:
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Kolgrima on April 02, 2019, 09:59:12 AM
This was a joke, right?

It was posted April 1st! and it does sound like a joke! So if it looks like a duck... :wink:
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: JakeSoft on April 02, 2019, 11:03:34 AM
I wasn't sure what to make of this either. I'm all for more new stuff being developed, but not sure why on earth you would want to use Python for something like this. That *would* be a funny idea. I also noticed he/she cross-posted this to three areas of the forum, although I see at least one of them was taken down.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: ShtokyD on April 07, 2019, 11:48:14 AM
Why not just use a Proffieboard?
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 12, 2019, 09:04:43 AM
We are designing a new board for a product we’re developing. Proffieboard is not in production.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 12, 2019, 09:10:01 AM
Apologies for the confusion everyone.. no this was not an April fools joke. And no we are not in this to “make a quick buck”. Our company background is in martial and performance arts and we are working on a new design that suits our martial arts schools style of performance.

This is our first time building / designing a board like this and know next to nothing about what we need.. wether it’s python or something else we genuinely need some guidance! Any and all info is helpful. We intend to build this as a production model saber which means we intended to design our own board / controller.

Would really appreciate some friendly feedback.

We have our own pcb design house ready but still need someone to help with the bring-up of the firmware etc.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: JakeSoft on April 12, 2019, 10:01:57 AM
I guess the first question you should ask yourself is: What is your motivation is for taking on such a project? Then share those reasons with us. Do you just want to do it for fun? Is there a business need? You want to learn new skills? Are there capabilities you need that no existing product can give you? Do you want to own the means of production? I'd suggest that you need to know and understand the answers to those kinds of questions before you can proceed, and then share them with us.

Even for pro engineers, it often takes years of development to go from prototype to a finished board if you are starting from scratch. Even Erv Plecter himself has been working for months on his latest project and he is recognized as one of the best in the business and he is a pro electrical engineer to boot. If that doesn't scare you, then more power to you; I encourage anyone who wants to learn to do so. Just be aware of what you're getting into. If you have no background in electrical engineering or software development then you're in for quite a learning curve.

With all of that said, quite a bit of open-source stuff already exists. Google "Universal Saber Library", "FX Saber OS", "Proffie OS" for examples of open-source saber projects. If all you are after is code, there is a ton of it out there to start with.

 

 
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: K-2SO on April 12, 2019, 10:03:33 AM
This post was merged with the other one like it - K-2SO
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: jbkuma on April 12, 2019, 10:24:32 AM
I'll add that if what you are looking for is a proprietary platform and/or you are planning on making a profit from the work involved then a completed saber is not very much compensation for the work involved. 

Normally there would be a contract regarding disclosure, intellectual property rights, and potentially licensing fees or royalties.  Once the board is developed there is also the question of technical support, updates, etc.

Clarifying your intentions would certainly help.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 12, 2019, 10:48:32 AM
Ill have time to respond more thoroughly later this evening. Much tension I sense in this forum though! It makes me sad to think of the history that must have warranted such skepticism :( 

The short answer is this.. yes there is a definite niche within the available saber products (a large niche) for this product that we’re designing. And yes there is plenty more information on our company and project goals that will most certainly be disclosed to any interested parties once the standard NDAs are signed and dotted. We are not a “brand new” company.. we have a very successful past history!

The scope of this project (for now) requires someone on a consulting basis who knows and understands these saber coding platforms so that they can help us to ask the right questions and get our PCB design and schematic team that is currently on hold properly oriented. The compensation for this consulting is ABSOLUTELY not limited to simply a single final working product.. and I apologize for whatever gave you that impression. The compensation should and will reflect in multiplicity whatever input / assistance you provide in making this part of the project come to fruition.

I realize that at this moment the exact scope of the project is relatively vague, however at this stage that is exactly why we are looking for someone experienced to help us start asking the right questions and map out the details of what we will be needing. 

To clarify we are not looking for assistance with the design and execution of the saber housing itself.. just the brain. We are essentially wanting to build something similar to a proffieboard with a few less bells and whistles (for now) - (a very compact board with basic Neopixel control.).. If you have any interest at all please pm me so we can send over an NDA and discuss in much more detail at your convenience! :)
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Kolgrima on April 12, 2019, 11:45:42 AM
With all of that said, quite a bit of open-source stuff already exists. Google "Universal Saber Library", "FX Saber OS", "Proffie OS" for examples of open-source saber projects. If all you are after is code, there is a ton of it out there to start with.

I'll also add that if you do go the route of basing your product on an opensource design be aware of the license requirements. Often opensource means whatever you build on top of that must also be opensource. Meaning you must provide the source code or hardware design files freely. For example, if you were to take the Proffie design and add something or change something to that design, those changes must be made public they can not be propriety. Just something to keep in mind.

If you want something propriety you'll have to build it completely from the ground up and that is something you will most likely need to do on your own because chances are if there are folks out there that can do it, they already have, and they have their own product.

On the other hand, if you are building something opensource as JakeSoft said you have a huge pool to draw knowledge from, and help will be easier to find.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: jbkuma on April 12, 2019, 12:10:11 PM
As far as asking the right questions, the questions being asked here are really minimum qualifiers to determine if someone might be interested enough to even begin a dialog.

At a minimum you'll need to answer is whether or not you plan on this being proprietary.  If so, realize there is a triangular formula to any project relating time, quality, and cost.  Each expectation will affect the requirement of another.  And as the saying goes: you might be able to get two, but you can't have all three.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: K-2SO on April 12, 2019, 12:16:29 PM
Ill have time to respond more thoroughly later this evening. Much tension I sense in this forum though! It makes me sad to think of the history that must have warranted such skepticism :( 

Yeah, well some of us (especially the staff members) have been around a VERY long time, are well familiar with the past history of the hobby (and former/current players), so yeah, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted.  :police:
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: JakeSoft on April 12, 2019, 04:42:45 PM
If all you intend to do is use the boards within your own organization for performances and things like that, you could produce exact clones of any of the open boards, use the free open-source software, and nobody would care. It's only a problem if you try to sell them to others. You may have less work to do than you think.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: Theultimatesaber on April 15, 2019, 11:27:06 AM
Apologies I thought it was implied that any board we end up designing based on open source material would ofcourse be published and made public as well.

Well I feel we’ve pretty much covered the minimum basics involved in this project. Anyone who is interested please feel free to reach out. I’ll direct my design team to the open source libraries that were previously mentioned and see how far we can get with that. It would still be great to have someone on the side to consult with while we are working on this however.

Surprised we haven’t found anyone yet! This is a genuinely awesome project.
Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: jbkuma on April 15, 2019, 03:13:24 PM
Those that have been engaged here have been waiting for this answer since your first post.  It should have been pretty obvious that it wasn't clear.

The fact that you have been slow or unwilling to answer many of the questions posed here is not very encouraging for an aspiring developer.

I think you are vastly underestimating the amount of work required to go into this project.  The hardware is the easy part, especially if you are just using the reference design of an existing project.  Building a board from scratch is relatively easy compared to writing the code.

Even the commercial, proprietary prop board builders aren't doing this full time.  So the hundreds of hours needs to be spread across someone's free time.  Taking on a project like this precludes doing one's own projects or other commissions for a significant period of time.  Most of the people on this forum who are capable of this sort of work are already deeply engaged in maintaining own projects with other new development in the works.  The code for the existing projects has been developed and refined over the course of years.

A fully developed project like this could be worth tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.  Someone capable of taking on a project like this would need to be convinced that it is worth developing it for you and not themselves.  If you are looking to hire someone to develop this code base I don't think it would be unreasonable for that person to ask for several thousand dollars, including a portion up front, milestone payments, and a royalty on sales.  Even with the potential to make that kind of money, the time required is really not something many are interested in.

If you really are just looking for an opensource solution that will work to suit your specific need, you are probably better off contributing an existing project and adding in the additional functionality you need.

Title: Re: Looking for help with bring-up of Arduino on a new platform
Post by: JakeSoft on April 15, 2019, 07:20:11 PM
I'll add that the saber sound landscape is getting increasingly crowded these days. The major incumbents have huge networks of affiliates which has the side effect of creating places online where only certain branded products can be sold (and in some cases even be discussed). They'll be mostly fine no matter what thanks to gaining, IMO, a well deserved loyal following having been around for years and gaining that brand recognition.

The open source boards are relatively new, powerful, flexible, and sold for little or no profit by a few enthusiastic engineers and programmers who are just doing it mostly to have a bit of fun. (It's kind of like a garage mechanic who builds/restores a muscle car in his spare time.) I am proud to count myself among those few with the skill-set and the will to engage in the open-source stuff, however we all have day jobs and families and our own projects going on, as JBKuma said. That's why you may find difficulty finding any takers. It's not that your project sounds at all unworthy. Personally, I think it sounds cool. It's just that those with the skills you seek are already applied (and in some cases over-applied) on other projects.

I do wish you the very best, though. I don't want to be negative or discouraging. I really like it when new players enter the game especially when they start talking about new open platforms. That's where I like to play, but unfortunately I only have so much recess time, so to speak, and I'm not alone in that.