Connected robotic lawn mower
The Brief
A global leader in garden power tools needed to create an internet-connected robotic lawn mower. They required a complete solution, which included embedded product hardware and software, as well as specification, design, testing and roll-out of a secure back-end service.
They needed assistance in selecting the most suitable communications technologies, cloud frameworks and services, and also in finding third-party providers that could partner with a global brand’s mass-market product.
New communication protocols had to be defined to ensure sustainable business models for the high-data-demand product.
Data structures and APIs needed defining and implementing, to support all external interfaces such as Consumer phone apps and business web service solutions, all from a single code base.
The Solution
We advised the client to use cellular communication instead of WiFi for their home and garden environment as it provided a more ubiquitous and reliable solution. However, this required us to create an efficient and dependable data exchange protocol to meet the business’s OpEx requirements.
We designed a complete embedded hardware and software module that could interact with the intelligent robotic motherboard and serve the cloud control and reporting needs of the connected server mothership safely.
To meet the project’s immediate feasibility funding milestones, we adopted an agile development approach and demonstrated a complete and viable product concept hosted on our servers within weeks of the project’s start. Once the product viability was confirmed, we partnered with the client’s internal IT and data division to integrate the cloud solution into their back-end servers and software services.
We collaborated with the client’s marketing and engineering divisions to develop the first version of their cross-platform consumer apps and internal web dashboard tools.
As part of the specification and development process, we introduced and worked with third-party eSim providers and hosted solution partners to deliver a fully integrated, tested, and mature end-to-end IoT solution.
We supported the customer in several key system choices relating to:
– Wireless standard choices
– Communication protocols
– Cloud frameworks and services (including charging models)
– Cloud data user access profiles
– Production methodologies & test systems
– Consumer app UX relating to latency issues, live
web data versus static App data and choice of
cross-platform development tools.
Our software activities permeated every aspect of product development, from embedded code and comms solutions to UX consumer app development and engineering web interface design, and everything in between.
This included specification, design and test of a complete cloud framework database structure, business rules definition and application development.
It also included support for the manufacturing, test process, and post-release support for features such as live OTA software updates.
Careful consideration needed to be given at the initial architectural development stage, due to high-level choices on the distribution of processing load across the system having long-term UX, feature flexibility and cost implications.
Careful choices had to be made to balance the downward pressure on consumer product BOM cost with the need for feature-rich functions and performance of a high-value product. Adding wireless comms to a noisy electric motor presented a number of RF challenges.
Fen had to be mindful that the core modem hardware design would become a key building block for future products on the client’s roadmap.
A suite of tools was developed to isolate and test each element of the system solution.
– Bluetooth emulators were used to bypass the cellular infrastructure during the development of the embedded lawn mover module.
– A consumer unit emulator was developed and used to stress-test the cloud solution loads of up to 250,000 lawnmowers.
– A system-level regression test solution was created to support test-driven development methodology.
We specified, designed and installed a cellular RF verification test rig in the client’s Far Eastern volume manufacturing facility.
We also specified, designed and installed a final assembly production fixture enabling parallel processing of multiple modems for final verification and registration on the cellular network. This also provided the facility to match individual product barcodes to cellular IDs on the back-end customer server.
We worked with the client to effect significant savings in both the CapEx and OpEx facets of the product.
After the first version product release, Fen investigated and implemented lower BOM-cost, new cellular standard devices in the embedded modem.
Our extensive knowledge and experience in working with communications standards allowed us to design a comm’s protocol so lean, that the eSim provider had to review their commercial model for data charging.