Hello Air Lab backers! The campaign closed at the beginning of June, and the results exceeded our expectations. Thank you all for trusting and supporting our project. We are working to get everything production-ready and will provide more details about our expected ship date in a future update. Read more about our progress so far.

New Enclosures Arrived!

We received the new enclosures last week and are really happy with the results. We simplified the manufacturing process by adding steps to the inside wall, harmonized the angle for easier machining, and added bevels around the external edges. These bevels make a significant difference in how the device feels in your hand. Now it is just right!

Beta Testing Units

With the arrival of the new enclosures we proceeded to assemble a new batch of devices in-house. We are excited to ship those 15 units to specific individuals across the globe, who will be using Air Lab in their everyday lives and will share valuable feedback with us. Stay tuned for some reviews and further updates.

Packaging Prototyping

Another important step for us is to design the packaging to give you a nice unboxing experience. We have been busy prototyping some ideas, and we will continue refining the design, exploring new materials, and incorporating new ideas for the final packaging, but we are happy with this first version for the beta testing units.

EMV Testing

We have successfully pre-tested the Air Lab for EMV radiated emissions and conducted emissions. Emissions from the device are barely noticeable. The early investment into a 6-layer board with full power/ground pours seems to pay off. Unfortunately, we missed the TVS diodes on the buttons; we would have bricked the microcontroller instantly when doing the 8 kV HBM ESD test. Luckily, we have a final prototype round lined up in which we can fix that!

Next Steps

We remain focused on manufacturing as we finalize the orders for the bigger components and deal with battery certification. We already met with a local PCBA company and look forward to seeing the first devices roll off the reflow oven soon. Our team is also growing as we welcome a very talented industrial designer who will support us on multiple fronts, from packaging to tutorials.

That’s all for now. Thanks a lot, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.