1. Making the
chumby™
bunnie
VP Hardware, Chumby Industries
Owner, bunnie studios LLC
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11/2008

2. What is Chumby?
• Chumby is: (1) a service and (2) a device
platform
– Chumby brings the sophistication of the Internet to
simple devices
• Service
– Widget service that enables mash-up Internet content
– Content is usable on simple, low-end devices
– Users can generate and contribute content
• Device platform
– Low-end hardware reference design, iconified by the
chumby device
– Open source hardware design
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3. What is a Chumby device?
• Open Source reference design:
– Embedded 350 MHz ARM linux, 802.11g,
QVGA touchscreen, stereo audio,
microphone, squeeze & tilt/shake sensors
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4. What is the Chumby Service?
• First you create your channels
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5. How Do you Use a Chumby?
• Then you add content!
• Channels and widgets can also be
shared between buddies (“chums”)
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6. How Chumby is Open
• Open software
– Linux-based OS
– Open-licensed toolchain
– Open-licensed support software (bootloader,
etc.)
• User-Generated Content
– Widgets can be uploaded and shared if the
user elects to apply an open license
– Closed licenses are also allowed
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7. How Chumby is Open
• Open Hardware
– Schematics
– Gerbers for boards
• Gerber is an interchange format for PCB CAD tools
– Bill of materials
– Flat patterns
– IGES for plastics
• IGES is an interchange format for 3-D mechanical CAD tools
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8. How Chumby is Not Open
• Closed-licensed software is used
– Adobe Flashlite 3.0
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9. Why we Decided to Open Chumby
Hardware
• Chumby’s value is in the network it
develops around it
– Developers
– Users
• Chumby is about adoption
• Adoption requires low cost
– Hardware is just a barrier to adoption
• Innovation is resource-intensive
• And closing hardware just is not possible
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10. Invite Innovators!
• Being open is being able to never have to
say you’re sorry
– You wish chumby had your favorite feature?
Build it yourself!
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11. How do we Make Money?
• Ad-sponsored revenue
– Interstitial ads
• “Push” widgets targeted to users’ interests
• Non-offensive: does not play or make sounds, and ideally,
entertaining / engaging or exciting in some way
• Can skip over them
– Embedded ads
• Brands embedded in functional widgets
• E.g., “this game brought to you by Coca-Cola”
• Subscription content
• Service fees
– Referral
• Media, product, storefront or other referrals
– Payment
• % of purchases made through device
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12. Making the Chumby
• Design concept
• Picking a factory
• Plastics (tooling & pressing)
• Sewing
• PCB assembly
• Final assembly
• Testing
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13. Design Concept
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14. TM
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27. TM
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28. Finding a Factory
• First tried a toy factory, then a shoe factory
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29. TM
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30. Soft mold tooling
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31. TM
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32. Shoe Making
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33. Shoe Making
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34. TM
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35. Final Vendor
• Bag, safety harness, and medical splint
manufacturer
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36. Fast Sewing
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37. Pattern Making
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38. Leather Inspection
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39. Cut, Glue and Sew
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40. Cut
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41. Glue
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42. Sew
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43. Plastics
• Exterior CAD design
• Interior fastening design (bosses, braces,
etc.)
• Tool design
– Gates, ejectors, sliders
• Tool cutting
• Tool refinement
• Production
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44. CAD work
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45. Steel Cutting
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46. Steel Tooling
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47. Steel cutting
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48. Steel Cutting
Note: rough cut is refined via Electron Discharge Machining
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49. Raw Plastic
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50. Molding
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51. Molding
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52. Molding
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53. Molding
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54. Fine Tuning
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55. PCB Manufacture
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56. Chip Shooter
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57. Chip Shooter
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58. Pick and Place
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59. Manual Placement
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60. Bake
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61. End of the Line
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62. Inspect
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63. Inspect
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64. Untested Boards
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65. Lots of Boards
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66. Phase I Testing
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67. Example Testing
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68. When Things Don’t Work…
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69. Final Assembly
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70. Jigs Everywhere
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71. Training Assembly
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72. Final Assembly
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73. Finished Chumbys
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11/2008

74. Celebration!
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11/2008

75. Q&A
• Thanks for your attention!
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11/2008