Espresso Machine with Patented Technology
Highlights
Since the end of 2023, PSA has been supporting an American startup that intends to revolutionize the way coffee is brewed. Their patented technology enables consistent coffee flavor every time without relying on grind size, tamp, and dose. Getting stuck at the prototype stage, they needed the assistance of true embedded experts to rectify the product and finally bring it to market.
Challenge
Client Challnege
Certify and successfully launch to market a brand new coffee machine, ensuring its high competitive advantage.
Project Objective
Refine the firmware of commercial coffee machine prototype in order to produce a market-ready product, with the goal of providing the highest performance and UX with cutting-edge technology.
Solution
Having a firmware MVP with limited functionality, PSA provided significant enhancements to provide failure-free operation and consistent control for the machine powered by a robust and feature-rich Toradex Colibri iMX6UL SoM.
With no design documentation, PSA thoroughly examined the firmware source code and recreated the development environment to empower the system with the following features:
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Optimized business logic for correct system operation
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Functional stability regardless of external factors
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Possibility of firmware updates
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Synchronization between devices comprising a coffee machine
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Improved HMI screens for better UX
To address performance issues, we’ve changed the way the device connects by transferring Modbus protocol from TCP to RS-232 interface and implementing a correspondent driver. All testing activities were successfully accomplished remotely by integrating with the client’s machine control simulator.
As a result, our client got an easy-to-use coffee machine with extensive customization options for coffee extraction without compromising performance. While the product is undergoing certification, we keep negotiating its further upgrades before the market launch.
Development Included
- Project investigation
- Firmware development
- HMI development
- Product testing
- Requirements review and updates
- Estimation for further updates
Results
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Performance issues eliminated
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The product is undergoing certification
Technology Breakdown
- 2 Software Engineers
- December 2023 to present
Further Cooperation
Pending certification completion, PSA has estimated architecture, UX, and functional updates to be implemented before launching the product to market, as well as terms for continuous support. We are happy to claim yet another startup supported and look forward to long-term cooperation.
