Question 1

How do you see the Flow - and other tangible devices like it - as being better than Thalmic? Assuming Thalmic ever works, and actually ships.

Accepted Answer

One of the major changes in human computer interaction will be the shift from one generic and centralized device like a smartphone towards a multitude of ubiquitous interfaces that are designed to fit the right task / person / time / or situation. These include speech (Ubi), gesture recognition (Thalmic Labs) or tangible UI (Senic) for example. That's why it's impossible to apply one standard to all all user interfaces; it depends on the above factors. Here is what we know from human computer...

Question 2

How much of an advantage for you is it that you're able to manufacture in your families FAB?

Accepted Answer

Our entire team has experience with overseas manufacturing and our family owned Fab has developed and shipped hundreds of thousands of electronic components from and to China. 1) Advantages of manufacturing locally: There are many misconceptions about overseas manufacturing or aspects that people don't consider. We talk about this topic a lot and also write about it on our blog. This post for example talks about 5 reasons why startups should consider local manufacturing and caused a lot of su...

Question 3

What is the current production capacity with the family owned manufacturer in Germany? As demand increases, what is your plan for scaling up additional manufacturing capacity and what impact do you believe this will have on your manufacturing margins?

Accepted Answer

1) Right now we're using 1 assembly line which allows us to scale up to 10 millions units per year (at 3 shifts a day). We have room for 5 assembly lines in total within our Fab = 50 million units. We also have the possibility to use other facilities we have worked with close by or outsource to lower income countries to increase margins. I would not recommend doing this before the second or third version of Flow. 2) The current price for the pcba including components for example is 19 USD at ...

Question 4

Congratulations on your success thus far. What is your 5 year and 10 year plan for your company?

Accepted Answer

Thank you Dilraj, much appreciated! Our overall goal is to benefit from the advantages of technology but get rid of it’s drawbacks (for example: slow time to action, human limitations, cognitive load, user experience or accessibility. More on our blog: http://bit.ly/1CzPFAJ). Imagine a world where technology is blended into the world around us; into objects, machines, tables or glass. This way, the interaction with technology becomes seamless and natural and we can focus on the work at hand a...

Question 5

Hello, do you have new progress updates at Senic? Any new sales numbers or new clients? New contracts or potential partnerships with other companies interested in developing or adding haptic tech to their products? Any idea when you might seek a series A?

Accepted Answer

Hi Dilraj, we have a number of updates. Here are a few. - Just signed an agreement with one of the 5 largest furniture makers in the world (to be announced publicly soon). The goal is to integrate our technologies into their furniture. - Other companies that are interested in integrating our technology mostly come from the car industry and health care. - We're launching a big marketing campaign on May 12th with focus on controlling connected devices with a large number of beautiful pictures a...

Senic (YC)

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