Smart Pod User Interface – Customized Backgrounds
We are developing our own home automation app that will be used to control and monitor the various systems within the home. This app will be like the control center to control the lights, temperature, appliances, music, blinds, door locks, and also be able to check the status of the many sensors that are part […]
Installing the Sides of the Seapods
The SeaPod has three main sections, the bottom, the roof, and the sides. These side sections are critical when it comes to securing the roof section and the bottom section to hold everything together. The sides are the last section to be installed so it can be a little bit tricky.Building this first SeaPod prototype […]
Delivery Drone 6 – Digital Twin
Here we have what we are calling the “digital twin” of our first delivery drone build. This digital rendering is an exact image of what the drones will look like, down to the millimeter. We can use this model to 3D print individual pieces and see how everything fits together.This is essentially what the finished […]
SeaPod Production Mold Progress
We have spent the last almost two years designing, building, and perfecting the prototype molds for the SeaPod. These are the molds that we have been using here at the factory to build the first prototype of the SeaPod. The prototype molds also acted as a form of research and development for our production molds […]
Inaugural Pod’s Anchor Deployment
The first SeaPods and EcoPods that we will launch will be floating on our TriPod base. The outriggers will sit about a meter below the water but the entire structure will be floating. These homes don’t have a propulsion system so we have to use an anchor below each outrigger to keep them in place.These […]
Smart Pod User Interface – Possible Design
Grant is back to give us a walkthrough of the new user interface for the Pod Companion app which will be used to control everything inside the SeaPod, EcoPod, and GreenPod. The design that you see here is hopefully going to be pretty close to at least the launch version of the app. We want […]
Raising the Roof!
We are back at the factory with some very exciting news, the roof has been raised! We got the first SeaPod roof lifted and placed on the center spar where it will be mounted. This process took quite a bit of work and cooperation but we are in good shape now. The roof has a […]
How to find the perfect match!
The steel tubes that we use to make the spars and outriggers begin their lives as a flat sheet of steel that is then rolled into a tube. This process gets things close but usually not perfect, so we have to go back and do a little work to get things where we need them […]
Delivery Drone Build – 5 – Package Testing
So we know that the delivery drone will fly, but it needs to be able to carry and deliver packages to the destination. To make that happen, we are using an electromagnet that will secure the payload during flight. Electromagnets work by using electricity to magnetize themselves and can turn off the magnetization by turning […]
Crash Test Dummy Pod
One of the challenges when working in the water is water pressure. Water pressure gets higher as you go deeper and can crush structures if they are not properly reinforced to sustain the pressure. Since we want to have the option of an underwater room, we need to be absolutely certain that the structure won’t […]
How to make electronics last longer in harsh marine environments
The marine environment is extremely harsh for things like electronics, and with us building a smart home that will float in the ocean, corrosion is one of our biggest enemies. We need our homes to stand the test of time so one of our biggest ongoing priorities is to find ways to protect the electronics […]
Inside the Super Bowl
Grant is back at the factory with an update about what he calls the Super Bowl. This is the underside of the SeaPod roof section. This is made up of 16 sections that go together like pieces of a pie to give us one solid roof.The molds will always have slight imperfections and while we […]
Inside the SeaPod Central Hub
This is a quick little tour of the inside of the SeaPod central hub. This is the main point of contact where the three outriggers will meet in the middle as well as where the vertical central spar will be connected. This central hub will support all of the weight of the home so it […]
Pod Door Production
The SeaPod door has been quite the journey thus far, but we finally have found a good footing and we are making progress toward having these doors in full production. Through vendor changes, design changes, and everything else that we have been battling, we think we have found what we are looking for. The default […]
Delivery Drone Build – 4 – Live View & Software Integration with Delivery Control Center
Here we have a demonstration from Omer to show what the live view camera can see and also the “control center” for the custom-built delivery drone. This system is designed to fly autonomously and land and takeoff from the SeaPod or EcoPod home. To do this, the drone has to be able to see where […]
Delivery Drone Build – 3 – First engine run & indoor flight testing
Here we have a quick video showing the first time that we fired up the motors on the drone and also the first indoor hover test for our custom-built delivery drone. After we got everything assembled and wired up, the next step is to turn it on and make sure that everything works and so […]
Astro ASV announcement and update
Our original Manta project has taken a bit of a turn in a different direction, and we have been making good progress on it so far. The ASTRO(Autonomous Surface Transport & Recycling Operations) ASV(Autonomous Surface Vessel) has some pretty important differences from the original Manta idea.There are two main parts of the ASTRO name. The […]
Delivery Drone Build (part 2) – Custom 3D printed parts, lidar distance sensors, installing motors, electronics, propellers
Here are some progress pictures of the construction of our custom-built delivery drone. We started with the main airframe and now we are moving into getting everything assembled and wired together. We are utilizing our 3D printing technology to make our own custom parts for the drone so that they fit the exact specifications that […]
Delivery Drone Build (part 1) – Construction Started
One of our goals for the SeaPod, EcoPod, and GreenPod was to have a system in place where we can make deliveries to and from the home in a quick, safe, and convenient manner. We determined that the best way to make that happen was with an aerial delivery drone that can fly from a […]
First use of new Telehandler
Grant Romundt Construction
We recently acquired a new(to us) telehandler here at the factory. A telehandler is a piece of equipment that is sort of like a forklift combined with a boom lift. It can lift several tons of weight and has wheels so that we can not only lift but also move heavy materials or equipment around.This […]