Hey guys, it's always so good to be back, writing about something that we are passionate about. Over the last few days this week, our brand partnerships and number of lab series sessions are growing and increasing. In less than 3 weeks, we have officially established 180 lab sessions and we're about to add another 60 more to make it 240 lab sessions in total for the next 12 months. 240 lab sessions spread across 5 brand partnerships. That is currently where we are at. How about the companion articles which we have been talking a lot about in my previous articles? Well, the companion articles will always be double the number of the lab sessions, which means we would have a whopping 480 companion articles to churn out in the coming year. With 240 lab sessions and 480 companion articles coming to this learning platform, we know that there is a clear demand for the more basic resources that we need - Arduino, Raspberry Pis, Beaglebone, electronics kits, sensors and so on. With demand, you need a supply that can keep up with the demand.
With 240 lab sessions and 480 companion articles coming to this learning platform, we know that there is a clear demand for the more basic resources that we need - Arduino, Raspberry Pis, Beaglebone, electronics kits, sensors and so on.
Contribution from Our Brand Partners
Now, because we haven't officially secured a brand partnership with an electronics distributor, locally or internationally, some of our brand partners are okay with helping to support some of the basic needs we have for the lab series by supplementing it to their sponsored hardware and devices. But it is important for us to explain it clearly here that those quantities are only enough to sustain the first weeks and sessions of each lab series for each individual brand. Perhaps not every brand might be able to provide us with their own set of Arduinos, Raspberry Pis and Beaglebone (depending on whether they have surpluses too).
How Much Do We Really Need?
When there is a demand for something, the very next questions most people will ask is, "so, how much do you need? What are the numbers that you'd be looking at?"
Well, in this section, we are going to break it down and then make a sensible projection based on those numbers, multiply it across the different lab series, and that should give us the baseline numbers of what we would need.
Now, for each lab series, we will be thinking of making roughly 12~15 projects each. And for each project, we will be implementing both an Arduino-version, Raspberry Pi-version and Beaglebone version of it respectively.
Depending on the nature of the project idea, some might require the use of a different model or specification, flash memory size and so on, so having a supply of each of the more popular models would be necessary.
For some of the brand's lab series, we will often be using multiple boards at once to demonstrate how a feature works across their range of products (for example, different screen sizes), so that is another factor.
Product Applications, Project Showcases
Another really important aspect of our live lab series is the fact that we are using a project showcases approach to learning and educating people about the products in focus. Also, we are exploring the potential product applications, which also means testing each product against multiple Arduino boards, for example. Which means, we are going to need a lot more.
With each project showcase, we are actually building a real project. (We may end up putting some of these ideas on kickstarter if they show promising possibility of generating some revenue which might be a possible side income to help keep this platform and community going financially.) Okay, so with the project showcases, chances are, we will not be reusing those Arduino boards, or Raspberry Pis, or Beaglebone, which then also means we need a replenishment of quantities.
1 + 2 + 3 x N = ?
Okay, it is starting to feel a little bit confusing. So let's write them out:
We need at least 5 Arduinos + 5 Raspberry Pis + 5 Beaglebones on standby for teaching and demonstration purposes. These are not be to used for project showcases.
With an estimate 15 projects (at least), that means we need another 15 Arduinos, 15 Raspberry Pis, 15 Beaglebones.
5 + 15 = 20 each
Now, let's say that we have more project ideas based upon the requests from the community members, and frankly, one project showcase per month is actually quite little. We are thinking of doing one every two weeks, which brings us to about 23, say 24 projects a year. Let's use that number.
5 + 24 = 29 (let's round up to 30, easier to count)
So, in final conclusion, we will need about
30 Arduino boards - 5 to be Arduino Uno since it's the most basic + 25 of the rest (most popular models like Uno, Nano, Micro, Mega, Leonardo) in equal quantity for a start
30 Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ - Since there really aren't a lot of different models here, we will stick with 20 RaspPi 3 Model B+ and maybe 10 Zeros
30 Beaglebone boards - 10 Beaglebone Black, 5 Beaglebone Black Wireless, 10 Beaglebone Green (by Seeed Studio), 5 Beaglebone Green Wireless (by Seeed Studio)
So, in the course of an entire year of lab series for one brand partner, we could use up to 90 different development boards. Now, let's look at the demand that we have. With 5 lab series, that would be...
90 x 5 = 450 development boards in total
P.S. We forgot to add that the number you just saw is just the baseline figure. Honestly speaking, it could potentially be even more down the road.
Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone, Sensors, Dev Kits, and More
So, here comes the most important part of our article. We are looking for a suitable electronics distributor that can support our lab series demands. But not just for the Arduinos, Raspberry Pi or Beaglebones that we need. We also need a relatively large supply of sensors, dev kits and more. We need parts that can support us as we design our curriculum over the entire course of those lab series, and we need to know what sensors and components are at our disposal so we can easily plan creative ideas of what can be done for the project showcase. Yes, we are going to be needing multiple items, multiple temperature sensors, gas sensors, proximity, and the list goes on and on.
To be very honest, we are speaking to a number of different brands at the moment that does produce electronics kits and their own variation of the Arduino Boards - brands like Adafruit, Sparkfun Electronics, Seeed Studio, Adeept, Sunfounder, DFRobot. Some have not gotten back to us, and a few are still in the pipeline but discussion is ongoing.
Now, my question to them is, we have the demand now, and which one of you wants to be the supplier?
Now, my question to them is, we have the demand now, and which one of you wants to be the supplier? Potentially, your products can be featured and used in hundreds of live lab series over the next 12 months, plus we have committed and proposed to do a dedicated lab series for you as well.
Potentially, your products can be featured and used in hundreds of live lab series over the next 12 months, plus we have committed and proposed to do a dedicated lab series for you as well.
In our minds, we certainly do have a preference of who we would like to have sponsor us on such a large scale, but to be fair to all, we want to keep that preference to ourselves. Least to say, we do want Seeed Studio to be one of our sponsors, if they decide to change their mind about sponsoring us after a few of our existing lab series has started. This product sponsorship to be used in every lab series available is truly a one-time offer. And honestly, we only need one of the brands to say yes at this point. For example, if Sunfounder says yes to sponsor all the Arduinos and Sensors and Dev Kits we need for the entire year, then we honestly probably won't need to use the other brands, at least for the next 12 months. But we will still feature the other brands in their very own dedicated lab series, that is what we have promised and proposed.
This product sponsorship to be used in every lab series available is truly a one-time offer.
Electronic Distributors
The other thing is that we have also reached out to potential local electronics distributors and companies in Singapore, since that is technically where we are based at the moment. Plus it makes getting the items probably a little easier and more convenient. Thing is, they have not gotten back to us and we have cautioned them that if they miss the opportunity, they are not going to get the opportunity again, maybe for another year, at least. But if they do decide to support our needs for the next 12 months, we would clearly be very appreciative about it. Due credits will be given to those who's willing to help support our vision and cause.