brian_krejcarek

Love it. Though, not sure what we’ve got going here would work the best in that particular scenario. It’s really more for work, where things are spread out over larger areas. We’re leveraging the phones already in peoples’ pockets to be the readers per se. Nonetheless, shoot us an email at [email protected] and we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.

Yes. That’s very much how it actually works, except there are no actual Bluetooth connections or pairing formed that directly link a single phone to a label. Instead, multiple devices (the more the better) all listen for beacons from labels that can be shared as a team. In this way, it works really well at companies with lots of employees walking around the office, warehouse, campus, etc., and needing to keep track of shared assets.

Similar to Slack, anyone at an organisation can create a team and invite people. Then, things labeled by a team member are visible to other team members who can see it’s current location, along with who it’s with and where it’s been over time. Note that it works different than Tile. For instance, in that it doesn’t beep when searching for something. Rather, it’s location is shown on a map. The application space is targeted more toward industrial or commercial applications from hospitals to factories, warehouses to laboratories, etc., where sound might not be very helpful.

Spot on. We'll be iterating.

The size of the labels is 28mm x 76mm x 0.5mm. We’d love to get smaller, but at the moment, we’re concentrating on making them thinner. The adhesive is acrylic-based and pretty strong. Some of our initial applications are things like tools and storage containers. Down the road, there might be applications for a more re-stickable variant with an adhesive similar to that used for Post-it notes. Interesting thought regarding equipment calibration labels (i.e. electronic test equipment? scientific or lab equipment?). Maybe even food staples like coffee beans, oils, or longer term perishables like pharmaceuticals even.

Thanks. At the moment, unfortunately it's not rechargeable. We've reduced the bill of materials count to almost nothing. It's just a few parts, mainly adhesive tape and aluminium foil, so it's meant to be used more like an RFID label that works without scanning. That said, we do have some R&D going to implement an energy harvesting method that could extend the life for several years (that's actually how David and I met years ago, in roughly that technology space).

Thanks. Correct, it’s not rechargeable. Rather, primary (non-re-chargeable) lithium-based electrochemistry in very tiny amounts on thin films. We do have some energy harvesting stuff up our sleeves here too, but that’s down the road a bit.

We’ve heard from those in the military about scenarios where the whole site or compound goes into lock-down if one little piece of equipment goes missing. Putting labels on everything even remotely sensitive could be doable with a simple label. We’ve been thinking about how to enable really strong low level encryption without burdening the overall cost. Agree, that’s important for these kind of applications.

Exactly. This is very much an intended application. It’s also perfect for hospitals because of the density of staff with phones and tablets as they walk around. Not having to install readers and gateways, as you mention, is also helpful in reducing barriers to deployment, i.e. by avoiding the network security issues of connecting directly into the network. Re: Code Yellows — Interesting. One thing we’ve been thinking about is putting the labels on to those patient bracelets you get when you’re admitted. They’re almost the exact same size. The app would know where a patient is located in the hospital, as well as what doctors or staff, along with what equipment was also with that patient.

Simply put, yes, the app is currently setup to show a chain of custody over time, which may mean providing the metadata you mention. Specifically, the app currently shows who had a specific delivery at what time, and where, shown chronologically.

But this is also an example by which we’re building a platform for other more sophisticated tracking that could extend beyond just one carrier. For just in time supply chains, Got-it labels could enable automatic updates as deliveries go from one carrier to the next. The carriers themselves don’t need a specific scanning tool for barcodes or RFIDs. It’s all automatic. On the receiving side, when packages arrive on receiving docks, or even on a construction site, we can automatically signal into systems or directly to people that are awaiting the delivery.

Cool. Yeah, e-ink and other sensor hardware is something that we’ve been considering down the road. It could be added to our reel-to-reel process. But for the moment, we really want to stay focused and keep the hardware very low cost for asset tracking applications.

Agree, temperature is easy to add. We’re not quite setup for it at the moment, but considering it in the future for the right opportunity.

Funny you should mention 433/868/915 MHz. That’s my background in previous wireless sensor based technology companies. The barrier to entry problem we always ran into was having to install gateways. The approach with Got-it is to leverage the phones already in employees’ pockets, making it really easy to integrate at work.

Thanks!

— In the current ones we’re shipping right now, the battery is one of those thin lithium primaries, ~0.45mm. But, in the version that’s coming out, we’re coating the anode and cathode materials on two different substrates and laminating them together on a reel-to-reel process.

— They’re pretty durable, but they are labels (laminated polypropylene and PET) with a very thin layer of polyurethane foam less than 0.3mm. Water resistant: yes, but underwater, probably not. Those that are shipping now aren’t fully hermetically sealed, but the next version will be, as the lamination stack-up forms part of the battery pouch.

— Yes, they are flexible. The only issue we’re having at the moment is their thickness of 0.5mm and dissimilar materials of the stack-up causing some pulling-back of the laminates around really tight radii. But, we think we’ve solved this in the next version, targeting an overall thickness of 0.3mm and different materials.

— The battery level is something that’s included in the beacon message, and is updated once a day.

Not paired via a BLE connection, but associated with the Got-it app by tapping an integrated NFC on the same label substrate. It’s a non-connectable beacon. This way, all the phones that are associated as part of a team can listen for all the items that other team members may have added as well.