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Hello Backers!

It’s been a busy past few weeks here at Tingbot HQ since the holidays. We’ve been rolling up our sleeves, getting our heads down and completing the groundwork for Tingbot production.

I’ll keep the intro short as I’m sure you are all eager to hear what’s been happening so here goes….

Tide Electron

Great progress is being made on the Tide for Windows/Linux port! We’ve chosen Electron as the framework - the same technology used by GitHub’s Atom editor and the Slack app. The basics of the app are coming along nicely.

While the Tide is rising, if you’re on Linux or Windows and know a bit of python you can get started with your Tingbot apps already. Install a copy of https://github.com/tingbot/tingbot-python with pip install git+https://github.com/tingbot/tingbot-python.git and you can write apps using the Tingbot APIs and the simulator.

Big thanks to @Rob4001 (Rob Wilson) and @furbrain (Phil Underwood) for their help with Tide thus far. And if you’d be interested in getting involved with the new Tide project (powered by Javascript), please head over to https://github.com/tingbot/tide-electron and check out the issues - there’s still plenty to do!

Injection Perfection

Ben and Ian (a product design friend of ours) have been heads down working on the final optimisations for the injection moulded side caps of Tingbot. Our first prototypes were produced using SLS 3D printing, which was a really effective way of testing how our end caps house the electronic components.

A previous prototype of Tingbot using SLS 3D printed caps

Injection moulding offers us greater strength properties than 3D printing which means we’ll need less plastic/thickness and achieve a better overall effect.

We’ve taken our final designs and shelled them to reduce sinking, waste and cost, and we’ve been exploring a range of finishes for the outer surfaces to get Tingbot looking top! Were pleased its going well on the CAD front and are really excited about progressing to manufacturing!

PCB production + Backlight control

We’ve just finished off some clever tweaks to our Tingbot screen module, which you can see in KiCad below.

The final revision of the board will include PWM backlight dimming under control of GPIO18. All other main design features remain largely unchanged and have been proven in the prototypes that have been built to date.

The team are working closely with our screen module manufacturing partner - ITEAD Studio in China - and they have been procuring the necessary parts to begin manufacture. Given the imminent Chinese New Year celebrations the next major update about production is expected to be towards the end of February. ITEAD Studio have a proven track record in the production of screen modules, PCBs etc. and we are pleased to be working with them to bring our vision to reality.

What’s Your Flava?

We’ll be sending out a short survey after this update for all Tingbot backers to choose their styles. Now is your chance to tell us what Tingbot you want to see turn up on your doorstep in May…so mull the options over and send it back to us :)

And finally…

Tingbot Shoutout backers, keep your eyes peeled for your name on the special Tingbot showreel app hitting your inbox & The Tingbot Ocean by the end of the month!

Thats us for now, thanks for all the kind messages of support so far :)

- The Tingbot Team