Every title that is underlined will open a video if you click on it.
Funded through Kickstarter
- Ability to move forward with building the product.
Selection of Contract Manufacturer
- After a long vetting process, we selected a US based partner that has integrated offshore facilities and a California-based engineering development team.
Analysis and planning the mobile app
- Defining goals for the app, drawing first user flows, visualizing use case diagrams, producing wireframes (line sketches of the interface).
Mobile app development starts
- Tech stack is selected.
- Development and testing environment is established.
Industrial Design Development
- Increased seed capacity.
- Surface refinement.
- Solar roof redesign.
- Suet ball attachment design.
Custom content for over 500 birds
created
- Bird profile defined.
- Content management system designed and developed.
- Custom descriptions, illustrations and stickers done for over 500 bird species.
Global chip shortage and supply chain challenges
- COVID-19 starts affecting component availability and supply chain/logistics.
- Redundancies in engineering and component selection built into the design to try to mitigate shortages and lead times.
Electrical Engineering Development
- Testing Wi-Fi range, bird detection solutions, seed sensor solutions, and power consumption scenarios.
- Electrical engineering development continues, working closely with sourcing for component availability.
- First prototype PCBAs (circuit boards) built and assembled.
- Still waiting on long lead camera module components.
All art assets produced
- The app now contains over 50 animations, each full of character.
- First version of sound design implemented.
- Branded icons for every bird spicies developed.
All main app flows developed
- Photo-taking flow.
- Collection flow.
- Paring flow.
- Login flow.
Cloud infrastructure complete
- Selected AWS as our cloud infrastructure provider.
- Completed design of cloud architecture.
- Implemented most of the core cloud infrastructure services.
- Deployed most of the Bird Buddy services.
Sourcing and vetting of 3PL partners
- Detailed requirements and RFP produced to vet potential partners.
- Vetting additional 3PL partners to mitigate COVID-19-induced supply chain issues.
- Final components sourced.
PCBA and end-of-line test fixtures complete
- First batch of PCBAs produced for fixtures and initial firmware development.
- All components required to start mass production are in the factory.
- Test fixtures and test processes validated and shipped to the factory.
Packaging design and supplier selection
- Vetted multiple packaging suppliers.
- Structural packaging design prototyped and artwork finalized.
- Packaging materials selected.
Packaging production complete
Passed FCC and EMC testing
- Electronics passed initial functional and safety requirements testing.
3rd Party Logistics partner selected
- Large global 3PL partner selected.
- Technology integration underway.
- Bird Buddy tours the main warehouse and fulfillment location.
Accessories manufactured
- Accessories manufactured and waiting for shipment.
Critical software improvements
- Video quality evaluations.
- Video processing improvements.
- h265 benefits
- Preparing data for AI inference in multiple models.
- Working on the improvement AI pipeline.
Firmware release candidate complete
- Secure communication and AWS integration - done.
- Secure Over The Air updates - done.
- Device provisioning - done.
- Video streamming - done.
- Still images - done.
Final QA and firmware polish complete
- Testing framework in place.
- Stress testing all key features on statistically significant sample sizes.
Final manufacturing and assembly
- Final components go into mass production.
- Final assembly.
- Weekly batches start leaving the factory.
Inbound transport
- We have our first inbound bookings scheduled, securing an early allocation on the containers.
Gradual fulfillment roll-out
- The fulfillment of the devices has started - you can find a more detailed schedule and further information here.
First Units Delivery
- First units were delivered to selected customers for real-live testing.
Fulfillment
- US fulfilment is completed for our early backers and back orders.
- European and ROW fulfilment is in progress.