Cubit News
almost 9 years ago – Thu, Mar 03, 2016 at 09:30:40 PM

Hello backers! We have exciting updates for you today. Let’s get to it!

Manufacturing Update

Cubit Controller and AC switch case tooling is done and we have approved the final samples for mass production. This was the longest part of our manufacturing pipeline. Check out the look:  

In addition, the boxes that will carry Cubit to your door are approved and being manufactured.

All the electronic components for the Cubit Controller and the 24 different Smartwares are being shipped to our manufacturing partner as we speak. That includes over 32,000 capacitors, over 7,000 microcontrollers, 6,000 JST connector cables, and hundreds of motors, sensors, and LCD screens. We have been checking and rechecking our component lists to ensure that we get the most reliable and highest quality components.

We are still on track to have everything manufactured in March, however with boxing and shipping, we expect you to receive your kit in April.

Workshop Improvements

While waiting for manufacturing to finish, we have continued work on Workshop. The main focus has been on first-touch experience, documentation, and simplification of the UI.

One-touch Cubit Pairing
Pairing your Cubit Controller with Cubit Workshop is now completely seamless. Workshop detects nearby Cubit Controllers over Bluetooth and will pair with a single button press. No other configuration required. You can go from installing Workshop to working with your Cubit in under 10 seconds.

Documentation
Cubit allows users to make their own programs using Lua. We have a fully documented Lua Smartware library that allows for direct control over Cubit and its Smartware. Check it out:

Simpler UI
We have been trying to allow for newcomers and pros to use Cubit effectively. You have seen the “advanced” mode in all of our screenshots to this point. Here is a look at our “simple” mode: 

In addition, we have been working on getting our blocks to be more than simple data input or action blocks. The Buzzer Sequencer allows you to set up songs using the buzzer. Each block has a tempo and setup for different notes and pauses. Chain together Sequencer blocks to create amazing songs. Synchronize multiple Buzzers to create complex songs using chords. 

Shipping Information

If you have any changes to your shipping information please change them on your survey as soon as possible or email [email protected] with your updated information. Add-ons have been locked down as we now have our final item counts.  

As always, thanks for your help and support. Please contact us know if you have any questions or concerns. Cubit is coming to you soon!

Cheers,
The Cubit Team

Manufacturing Begins
almost 9 years ago – Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 08:16:19 PM

Happy New Year to all of our wonderful backers! We have been working hard over the holidays to deliver the best Cubit we possibly can. Let’s get to it!

When Do I Get My Cubit Kit? 

The question on everyone’s mind. Our timeline now puts us in March. The Manufacturing Process has begun! We have sent of our final CAD files for the AC Switch and Cubit case plastics to get tooled. The tooling and injection molding of the cases is the longest step in our manufacturing pipeline.

Next comes the board manufacturing. The schedule we have worked out with our manufacturing partner has that starting in 4 weeks.

Software Improvements 

Hardware development is mostly tied up optimizing for manufacturing and in continued testing of the 24 different Smartwares. Software development is still going strong and mainly focused on bug fixes, polish, and workflow. We do have some exciting things to show though. 

Navigation

A hard part with any visual programming tool is how to handle complex programs. We have thought about it a lot while implementing Workshop’s UI. With the new icons in place, we wanted to show off what happens when you zoom.

This allows you to get a quick idea about what is happening in the Plan. 

Console

Workshop maintains a live connection to the Cubit Controller. Perfect for rapid prototyping. Any lua function can be run directly in the live Lua console (including our Smartware control libraries). We’ve also added asynchronous operations like setTimeout and setInterval.

Surveys

We are still missing a few surveys. Please fill these out soon. We are locking down surveys on January 25th. If you haven’t filled that out yet, expect an email from us soon!

As always, thanks for your help and support. We are anxious to get Cubit into your hands as soon as possible.

Cheers,
The Cubit Team

Manufacturing Update
about 9 years ago – Tue, Dec 01, 2015 at 10:08:28 PM

Cubit is getting ever closer to release. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are anxious to get Cubit into your hands.

Manufacturing Timeline

Here on the Cubit team, we want to be as open as we can about Cubit’s development, manufacturing, and shipping. We have been working closely with our local manufacturing partner in Fremont, CA for the past several months. We have been working with them to finalize the PCB designs, source all the needed components, and to finalize our plastics and boxes.

We have been very conscious of the timelines needed in order to hit our January release date. We want to deliver the best possible product out of the gate and provide the best Cubit experience to our backers. In order to meet those goals, we made the decision to delay the release of Cubit by a few weeks. The main culprits for our decision to delay:

• We have been putting extra effort into the design of the plastics for the AC Smartware and the Cubit Controller case
• We decided to go with a different version of the 9-axis orientation sensor
• More work was required to switch to our new bluetooth than we originally budgeted

These were all conscious decisions on our part in order make sure that we delivered the best possible experience right out of the box. We are now on track to ship at the end of February/early March. Please let us know if you if you have any questions or concerns around our new timeline.

New Connector Update

We discussed the new Smartware benefits in our last update and we wanted to post an updated look at the new Cubit Controller board versus our original design. There is a small size increase in the overall board, but we have found that this allows for easier handling. The on-board button and LED have also moved from the edges to more central locations.

UI Polish

We are doing some additional passes on the UI to make it as usable, intuitive, unobtrusive, and pretty as we can. One aspect we have been working on lately is our menu bar. Check out the latest icons and look.

Let us know what you think of the new look. 

C++ Cubit Connection Library

We have always wanted for Cubit to be a platform that could grow with the user: going from picking up electronics for the first time to being an expert builder. We wanted to provide a pipeline that starts at using Visual Programming, progresses to making your own programming blocks in Lua, creating entire programs in Lua, and then connecting Cubit to programs running on a computer using C++. The Cubit Software team has been putting the final touches on our C++ Cubit Connection Library. This is the library that Cubit Workshop uses under the hood to communicate with the Cubit Controller and will be available to all Cubit users. Control your Cubit remotely through your computer, use your computer to log information coming from the Cubit Controller, or allow your Cubit to access the web through your computer.

Finalize Surveys

As we get close to shipping, we will be asking all our backers to ensure that their shipping addresses and survey choices are finalized. We will be sending out another update as that deadline nears, but these will need to be finalized by the end of December.

As always, thanks for your help and support.

Sincerely,
The Cubit Team

Getting Close
about 9 years ago – Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 11:53:52 PM

We are getting ever closer to our January ship date and we think we are on track to make it on time. That means we are doing our final passes on the hardware as we prepare to send off the final designs to our manufacturing partners. In that vein, we have some changes we wanted to run by you, our backers.

New More Robust Connectors

In our Kickstarter video we showed you a Cubit with very small connectors. We have been doing continuous testing with hobbyists, students, and enthusiasts. After many broken connector pins and concerns regarding current-carrying capacity, we decided to upgrade the connectors and cables to the JST-XH standard used in many quadcopter battery connectors. This means a stronger, better connector, able to supply more power to Smartware, a stronger “lock-in” when attached, and no more bent connector pins. It also means a slight increase in the size of the PCB board.

Check out the new connectors (versus the old and an LED for scale):

What we want from you is your thoughts on these connectors. Please send us over any feedback that you have.

New Bluetooth Module 

We also upgraded our Bluetooth module to the BM77 from Microchip. We tested several and found this to meet our design needs and goals for Cubit. This should allow us to offer greater functionality and power saving options for your bluetooth enabled projects.

Cubit Workshop Updates 

Cubit Workshop is getting a bit of a facelift. We have added the ability to add and change between different “Themes.” Get the look and feel that you want from Workshop with the click of a button.

We have also been trying to make Workshop even faster and easier to use. We have added easy connections for hooking up wires.

 And a more intuitive menuing system:

New Kit Available

For New York Maker Faire we built several rover platforms to show off what can be built in minutes using Cubit. The feedback we got for the platform was amazing and we want to offer the rover kit to our backers. We have added the Cubit X-1 Rover Kit as an add-on in the BackerKit Surveys for our backers. Check it out!

As always, we want to thank you for your continued support and feedback. We are very excited to get Cubit into your hands.

Sincerely,
The Cubit Team

New York Maker Faire
about 9 years ago – Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 02:06:47 PM

First off we wanted to thank everyone for completing the surveys we sent around a month ago. We have about 70% of the surveys collected. If you still haven’t filled out your survey, please follow the email link and let us know your shipping information and check out the add-ons that are available for your Cubit Kit!

The Cubit team is in New York this weekend for the New York Maker Faire. After a long flight from San Francisco, we received a warm welcome at MakerCon last night.

If you are attending NY Maker Faire this weekend, come check out Cubit in Zone 3 in the Startup Zone, booth number CG10.1. We are showing some awesome demos and spreading the word about Cubit.

New Website 

Cubit has a new website and pre-order page. Check out the new look at:

www.cubit.cc

This will become our community site where people can discuss Cubit and post their projects for the world to see.

As always, we are very grateful to all of you, our backers. Without you Cubit would not have been possible.

Thanks for all your help,
The Cubit Team