How to go about prototyping a commercial product?

[Bronius Motekaitis]

Hi Fellas (and Ladies?)

I'm a software guy, and pretty much any software idea can at sprout wings or legs or at least be prototyped in clickable wireframes.. But how does one go about prototyping a hardware device?  I've got two ideas in mind (either of which would make GAZILLIONS, but I'm just passionate about the idea and want to see it through of course.... :| ) but don't know where to begin nor how serious to take myself.

Idea 2: Simple in concept, far-fetched in reality, relatively expensive to play with.  It's along the lines of solar tubes in that it channels outside light to bring more into a room.

Idea 1 is too simple to embarrass myself by asking online without first just trying to whip something together at home! :D  But suppose early home workshop prototyping looks good, where would one go from there to formalize a prototype and begin testing and marketing?

Thanks!

-Bronius

--

http://www.bronius.com
web | kiosk | drupal development

[Brandon]

For Idea 2: Start with google 'solar light pipe' .  Is that what your thinking?

For Idea 1: Usually I start by picking a evaluation board which has input, outputs, cpu type you like.  It's the same as picking a software platform for your development.  Pretty much you take advantage of the reference designs, then start to build on top of it.  Usually there is an IDE which is specific to the hardware platform.  Run through any tutorials which are available, then get overly excited when you make a light blink.  The easiest thing to get started on is probably an Arduino of some kind.  Right now I'm using a Tiva micro-controller from Texas Instruments.

I then usually start adding hardware on a second board which uses off the shelf sensors.

Then make sure all the inputs and outputs are playing nice, then integrate them into a larger system.

 Once everything is working, you develop the final shape, enclosures, etc.

There are lots of intermediate steps, but that's the gist of my process for hardware development.

[Bronius Motekaitis]

Thanks, Brandon, for taking the time to provide a really well-informed and thorough answer!  Looks like a blog post that should be published somewhere..

Is it time for an informal gathering over lunch somewhere?  Antonio's again?  I think the herd should be thinned out a bit now that finals are almost finished?

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brazos Valley Makerspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to brazos-valley-make...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.