Fathom One | The Affordable, Modular, HD Underwater Drone

Manufacturing Update #3
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 06, 2018 at 08:58:00 PM

Hi Everyone!

It’s going to be a busy month for us, so we wanted to get a quick update in at the beginning. Let’s dive in.

Shipments have progressed according to schedule, and we have all the necessary electronic components now at the manufacturing facility. As we mentioned in the previous update, some of our components have longer lead times for the full balance, but we now have what we need to start several preassemblies.

A preassembly, as the name implies, is a building process that takes place before the entire drones is built. A good example of this is the custom printed circuit board (PCB).

Now that we have all the electronics, we can start assembling and verifying the PCBs for the drones. We plan to have sample boards in hand later this week, allowing us to test and validate everything is functioning properly. Months ago, when we first had these PCBs designed, we were able to both validate them and use the boards in our subsequent beta builds. With that in mind we’re not expecting there to be any issue here, but if there happens to be something, we want to catch it before we build hundreds of them.

As expected, the first injection molded pieces should be arriving at the manufacturer within the next week. As soon as they have arrived, we’ll be visiting in order to approve the samples and greenlight production of the full batch. We’ll have an update on this as it happens. In the next one to two weeks we’ll have shipping address surveys sent out for those of you that have moved. We’ll be sure to remind you, but these will be sent to whichever email account you have connected with Kickstarter, so keep an eye out.

In summary, everything is progressing as planned since the last update, and we will continue to provide updates throughout the month as we execute the build. We continue to expect the final build and ship process to begin this month.

Thank you for all the support!
-The Fathom Team

Manufacturing Update #2
about 6 years ago – Tue, May 01, 2018 at 04:14:44 PM

Hi Everyone,

Spring is here and with it, lots of news. Let’s jump in.

As we continue getting closer to shipping, we’ll have more precise news and information to give. We want to address the lack of specifics some of our updates have had, so here goes.

Let’s start with component shipments. Overall this is proceeding well. Some bulk orders have begun to arrive at the manufacturer’s facility and more are coming everyday.

Our current tracking has all of our PCB components arriving by May 18th. It is also possible that we will be able to start building PCBs sooner if everything continues arriving ahead of schedule; regardless, we will start assembling Fathom One circuit boards as soon as we can. As it stands, producing PCBs can be done quickly enough so as not to interfere with other parts of the build.

We have several modules being integrated into the Fathom One that are purchased already assembled. Some of these modules have slightly longer lead times than components for the PCBs. An example of this type of component is the tether used with the F1. We purchase this already assembled so that when it arrives, it’s ready to go. We expect it all to be in hand by the end of May.

Lastly are a couple of exceptions. Because of our volume, not everything we ordered can be immediately supplied in full. In these cases the shipments have been split, with part of the order coming now and part coming in the future. The two components to which this applies are the WiFi routers, and electronic speed controllers (ESCs). In the case of the WiFi routers, the split shipment should not affect delivery; we should have enough in the first shipment to produce all ordered drones. The ESCs have the potential to cause slight complications, however this may not be an issue. Our initial shipment of ESCs will contain 550 pieces. If three ESCs go into each F1, that means enough for roughly 180 units off the bat. Our remaining ESCs - roughly an additional 1,700 pieces - should be arriving a couple weeks later. In a best case scenario, they will arrive in time and we’ll never have a shortage. The more likely scenario is that we simply have to ship drones on a rolling basis, allowing for the balance of several component orders to arrive. For each of these components we’re expecting the first shipment in line with other purchased modules.

On to injection molding. This process has been underway with our partners for a while now, and we’ll continue to give more updates on this as we have them. Currently we expect to be receiving plastic parts for the F1 in the beginning of June. This is another area that may proceed a week or so ahead of schedule, but regardless, as soon as we have plastic parts, we’ll begin assembling drones.

With all of this in mind, if everything goes well, we expect to be able to start building and shipping drones in June. Our initial expectation was that this would be happening at the end of May, so while we’re a couple weeks behind, everything is moving forward efficiently and we’re excited to be so close to shipping drones to each of you!

Lastly let’s talk a bit about logistics. In the coming weeks you can expect to see a survey to confirm your shipping address. We’re not sure exactly what format this will be in yet, but we’ll be sure it’s clearly communicated when it is sent. If you have not moved since backing or pre-ordering the Fathom One, you will not need to take any action. If you have moved, just be sure to carefully enter your new address so we get it right. If you are unsure as to whether or not your address has changed, we’ll include the address we have on file so that you can compare it to your current one.

Alright, that is all for now. As always, thank you for the patience and support. We’re getting really close and it’s getting more and more exciting thinking about everything you will do with your Fathom One!

-The Fathom Team

Manufacturing Update #1
about 6 years ago – Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 07:16:57 PM

Hi Everyone,

We’re back for a quick update on the status of all things Fathom, so let’s dive in.

First of all, the big news this week is that we’ve gotten all of our components ordered! Bulk shipments of each individual piece of the Fathom One will soon be packaged and shipped to the manufacturer for assembly here in the U.S.

A couple notes on this: Getting everything ordered took a couple more weeks than expected for two main reasons. First, because some components were quoting us with extended lead times, rather than split the orders for various components, our manufacturer deemed it wiser to order all components at the same time once all lead times were brought under control.

In regards to the extended lead times, there were several items that were going to take much longer to ship in bulk to the manufacturer. A good example of this was a specific capacitor on a custom printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) used in the Fathom One. Supply and demand for these types of components shift rapidly and constantly. As such, this capacitor was quoted as having a 44 week lead time, obviously an unacceptably long time. In response, we went back to our partner who developed the PCBA and, in conjunction with the manufacturer, we found an alternative solution that brought the lead time into an acceptable range.

This type of dilemma is something that we were only able to discover after our purchase order with the manufacturer was placed (on the date of our previous update) and we began working more formally with them to place component orders. However we want to continue being transparent about these types of things as they happen.

We’ve also been working diligently on quality assurance (QA) processes for assembly. At first blush, this means a basic checklist that can be followed during manufacturing that will ensure each drone is assembled exactly the same way. It goes deeper than that though. For example, we’ve also been working on designs for various test fixtures to aid the assembly process. Test fixtures will allow us to quickly test drones at various stages of the assembly process to ensure consistency, and remove ambiguity, all without sacrificing time. QA checks and test fixtures will allow us to start the build more quickly, make fewer errors, be more consistent, and finish more quickly.

Our next steps primarily involve waiting for components to be shipped to the manufacturer here in the U.S. as well as working with the manufacturer to get the physical assembly space setup and ready to build.

As a final note to this update we want to bring up something that some of you have asked us about in the past: investment. As a preface, everything discussed below has absolutely no bearing on the manufacturing and shipping of any pre-ordered units. With that in mind, Fathom is a startup, and as such is raising investment. Some of you have asked about investing in Fathom, something that is typically hard to do with private companies. However, we have partnered with a company named NetCapital to allow anyone to invest in Fathom in exchange for equity. Again, this investment is unrelated to Kickstarter or otherwise pre-ordered drones. It will be used to help the company grow, produce future units, pay for office space, hire employees, find our way onto retail shelves, etc. It also offers a way for you to follow us behind the scenes on our journey after Kickstarter.

This opportunity ends on April 2nd, so if you are interested in investment of any size, please visit invest.fathomdrone.com

That is all for now. As always, a big thank you to everyone involved and thank you to everyone who has reached out both publicly and privately with your support -- we really appreciate it!

-The Fathom Team

Homestretch Timeline
about 6 years ago – Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 11:00:23 PM

Hi Everyone!

This will not be the longest of updates, but it is one of the most exciting, so let’s jump in!

First of all, we want to thank all of you for your patience. We know we are overdue with this update, but as we said to some of you that reached out to us, we have been very close to finalizing several things and made the decision to postpone the update until we could talk about them. Unfortunately we got stuck in a state of “almost” for longer than we expected. We understand this was frustrating to many of you. It was unfortunate, however it was not purposeful. We’ll do better at striking a balance between updates based on progress and updates based on the time that has passed as we move forward.

As you may have guessed, this update has to do with delivery, and we have great news! Manufacturing is officially underway! It has taken a little longer than expected but, needless to say, we are extremely excited to get started.

While it’s true in some cases that manufacturing can be set up quickly, this is most common for companies which already have a contract manufacturer in place, or have a relatively simple product that is easy for a manufacturer to take on. In Fathom’s case, we had neither. The manufacturer search started from scratch, and the product to be built was a rather complex one. It is not uncommon for this process to take six months, and considering our search began in full earnest this past fall, we are proud of the speed at which progress was made.

Now that we have officially passed this milestone, we’ll have a much clearer idea of our timeline. With that in mind there are several things that will take place between now and shipment. This can be broken down into three main steps: shipment of components, tooling, and assembly.

First and foremost is the shipment of components. The heavy legwork of sourcing each component that goes into the Fathom One was largely taken care of during the initial stages of partnering with the manufacturer. This will make it much easier to now place an order without having to first vet the supplier.

The next piece is injection mold tooling. This step has already been significantly simplified by the time spent in previous months ensuring the Fathom One designs were ready to be molded and produced at scale. We will be working with an affiliate of the manufacturer which should expedite the tooling process and allow us to move forward quickly. Tooling will also take place in parallel with shipping components, further cutting down any time spent waiting.

The last step to take place will be the assembly of units. While we’ve done everything possible to make this as simple and straightforward as we could, there will still be time required to get everyone up to speed. We will be working closely with the manufacturer at every step of the way to help everything go smoothly.

With all that needs to be done, we’re estimating a twelve week lead time between now and when we can ship out drones to all of you.

There are a couple things that could have an effect on this timeline. Firstly, because the RC industry is based almost entirely in China, many of our components will come from there. The Fathom One incorporates many different components, all of which have varying lead times. It’s likely that some pieces will come in sooner than scheduled, while others take the full scheduled amount of time to arrive. We’ll keep you updated on the status of component shipment as we move forward.

A second and similar point has to do with unavoidable Chinese holidays. We ended up running into the Chinese New Year, which meant many of our vendors shut down for the better part of February. Now that they have reopened, all component orders will be placed.

There may be other things that could positively or negatively affect this timeline, and we will be sure to communicate them as they are encountered.

That is all for now. We’re in the homestretch! Thank you again for all the patience and support. We’ll be back with more information in the next couple of weeks.

-The Fathom Team

Update #12
over 6 years ago – Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 07:09:49 PM

Hi everyone, 

Holiday season is upon us and before things got too crazy we wanted to get a quick update out. This will be shorter than normal, but we wanted to keep everyone in the loop!

First off, a quick update on manufacturing. As it stands right now, we have all but finalized a partnership with our contract manufacturer and are currently awaiting a final proposal. Unfortunately, the holiday season has slowed some of the progress on our manufacturer’s side. We’ll have to wait a little bit longer to get things underway, but everything is still moving forward, and we’ll continue to keep everyone updated on this as we get more information!

In the meantime we’ve been working on bug fixes and features that will help you have a better piloting experience. Several of these fixes include: updates to temperature cut-offs, live video feed improvements, and modular tether extensions.

Temperature cut-offs: Built into the Fathom One are components that monitor the temperature of the internals in different locations. This helps us keep all the electronics on the inside healthy. On occasion, these cut-offs were too low and ended up tripping an unexpected drone shutdown procedure even while still being at an acceptable temperature. We have since made updates to those cut-offs so that you’ll be able to use the Fathom One more rigorously and in warmer conditions.

Live video feed improvements: The live video feed being sent to the controlling device has always been very important to us; it’s also a very complex system. In previous software versions, there was a somewhat obnoxious ‘flashing’ that would happen on screen with some devices. The screen would blink with a black screen for a split second several times in a row, interrupting the live video feed experience and making control more difficult. We’ve since fixed that flashing bug and from then on we’ve had crystal clear live video feeds.

Modular Tether Extensions: Lately we’ve been doing more experiments with modular tether extensions. These would allow you to add on additional tether as you see fit to the standard 100 feet of tether that will be shipped with the Fathom One. It works rather intuitively. All you have to do is plug one tether into an extension, just like you would a string of lights, and as easy as that, you can continue to link multiple tethers together for more range!

Lastly, if you haven’t gotten a chance to check it out, Dale Atwood recently took a Fathom One unit down to the Bahamas. With it he dove into and explored an underwater cave! This is one of the coolest things the Fathom One has done which makes us all the more excited for what we’ll see when all of you are out there exploring. You can check out his trip with this link: bit.ly/FathomDaleAtwood

 

That’s all for now. As always, thank you for the support. It has been an incredible 2017 and we are so grateful to you, our Kickstarter community, for the encouragement you have given us. We have big plans for 2018 that we hope will help you continue to build a community of people that want to explore, share, and discover the world around them, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Happy Holidays,
The Fathom Team