Prototypes and validation

Some jobs have no part to copy and no appliance to repair. What there is, is an idea and the doubt over whether it is going to work.

A prototype exists to answer that question before spending. A first version is built, tested assembled and in real conditions, and corrected on the spot as many times as it takes.

Correcting early costs an afternoon

Almost nothing works first time, and that is precisely the point. Finding the problem once the batch is already made costs far more than finding it in the first part, and it is the difference between correcting and scrapping.

The rounds cover whatever needs touching, without splitting the problem between specialities: mechanics, electronics and programming. When the same person handles all three, correcting doesn't require coordinating anyone.

What we need in order to quote

• What problem you want to solve and for whom. You don't need to arrive with the solution worked out: very often finding it is precisely the work.
• What the prototype has to achieve to be considered good. It is the most useful question of all, because without it there is no knowing when to stop.
• Whether there is anything already done: a sketch, a drawing, or an earlier version that didn't quite work.
• Whether it is a one-off to settle a doubt or the step before manufacturing a batch.

What is left at the end

The assembly validated and working, and the model archived with the parameters already proven. If another unit is needed in two years, or twenty, they are made the same way without starting over again.