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Robo C2 and Robo R2 Smart 3D Printers

Discussion in 'ROBO 3D News and Announcements' started by ROBOLabs, Sep 21, 2016.

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  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Production sample for approval I would guess
    Once you commit it is difficult to retool a production line.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
     
    #181 mark tomlinson, Apr 16, 2017
  2. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    I know, but from what I've seen of the C2 there really isn't much left to tweak on the R2 (especially since the design differences appear to be extremely minimal other than the size of the frame).
     
    #182 daniel871, Apr 17, 2017
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Doesn't matter. Unless they were identical the process of starting an assembly line requires buy-in on the samples.
    Really you want that as a manufacturer since making changes after you start mass production is a royal pain and expensive.
     
    #183 mark tomlinson, Apr 17, 2017
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  4. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    That could mean we still have no way of knowing if they are close to actual production runs. Changes take time to implement. Also it doesn't guarantee a better product, we have all the little niggles left in the C2 as proof of that. It would be nice (although we know it won't happen) if Robo allowed someone who didn't depend on top management paycheck signatures to test the printers before a full manufacturing run. Even more Chinese companies that want a larger presence are doing this now as they see the benefit of looking at stuff with fresh eyes.
     
    #184 WheresWaldo, Apr 17, 2017
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  5. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    We all know that if Robo sent review copies to someone like Thomas Sanladerer they'd get ripped to shreds on it for the price point alone.
     
    #185 daniel871, Apr 18, 2017
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not really, but possibly. That is a judgement call and I certainly wouldn't presume to speak for Tom :)
    The down-side is we will likely never know.
     
    #186 mark tomlinson, Apr 18, 2017
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  7. Ed Ferguson

    Ed Ferguson Active Member

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    Braydon is at Foxconn and sent the latest production line photos to the R2 Kickstarter backers. Robo R2's filling up two long production lines. No production automation equipment or fixtures that I can see - all hand assembled. I counted 30 assembly line workers (white hats) and 4 others (supervisors, production engineers?) in their group photo. Kickstarter printers will be shipped via air rather than container ship. Expecting a tracking number soon.
     
    #187 Ed Ferguson, Apr 21, 2017
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  8. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Still wondering why they apparently plan to ship everything to the US first before shipping worldwide again from there. If they're on location they could do whatever extra QC or such they want there so they could ship directly to backers... the cost of going through the US must be significant.
     
    #188 Kilrah, Apr 22, 2017
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    My guess is that they already have everything set up that way.
    It is not a huge difference in cost to ship more printers when you are shipping freight rates (by the shipping container load).

    At some point it would be more efficient to ship them from the factory floor to your door, but you have to cover the cost of setting that up.
    <shrug> who knows, we aren't privy to their business :)
     
    #189 mark tomlinson, Apr 22, 2017
  10. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    A lot of foreign companies (foreign with respect to China) will have a full time employee located at their Chinese supplier to oversee QA, many smaller ones do not and rely on the supplier for all QA or a contracted agent. Sometimes it works, many times it doesn't. I can envision a scenario that would obligate Robo to ship all product from China to San Diego to double-check quality before shipping to customers.
     
    #190 WheresWaldo, Apr 22, 2017
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  11. supernovae

    supernovae Member

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    Still can't believe this hasn't shipped yet.. I So wanted R2 to be a success but the product launch was completely mishandled and at current price point one may as well invest in products shipping today and support companies that are honest with their customers..
     
    #191 supernovae, May 10, 2017
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  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea, kickstarter again.
    We went through this with the Beta.
     
    #192 mark tomlinson, May 10, 2017
  13. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    The problem here is that Robo is supposedly an established company. It isn't like they're taking the level of orders Prusa Printers is for the MK2.

    It is ridiculous, and this delayed product shipping is one of the biggest reasons I repeatedly told everyone that asked me about it to avoid backing it like it was a plague because their money will be gone with nothing to show for it until at least Fall this year.
     
    #193 daniel871, May 10, 2017
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Which is why kickstarter was a poor choice IMHO*.

    I imagine they will get it out before fall, but that is a SWAG since we have no insight into their development/production cycle


    *I get the lure of doing it that way, but unless you are able to set aside all preconceived notions about your supply chain you are not going to be close on a delivery date. Better to go long and then beat it. The C2 is a complete overhaul of the original design and scaling that up to the R2 would not be as simple as switching some parts :)
     
    #194 mark tomlinson, May 10, 2017
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  15. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    The problem is that while they're an established company they still made a Kickstarter they relied on.

    I have nothing about Kickstarters from established companies as that's a good marketing vector, but usually when companies do that they have product basically ready to ship within a month of the campaign ending, and that's what we expect.

    Reading the "hey we found a manufacturer!" update in January, when... January was the original delivery date was jsut like a bad joke, what poor planning. Really as an established company you have those things sorted and the final prototypes out before you start the campaign, during it you can plan the required capacity and set production up, and shortly after the end you've got the production lines ready and running.
     
    #195 Kilrah, May 10, 2017
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  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Again this is very much like how their original kickstarter campaign ran and since I remember it I wasn't keen on going down that road again. I will wait until they are cranking them out before lining up to get one :)

    They were not hideously late on starting shipments that first time, but still even once started they trickled out a bit slowly. To be clear they WERE late, but not many months late.
     
    #196 mark tomlinson, May 11, 2017
  17. Adam Laird

    Adam Laird Member

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    I just sent them an email asking about the status of the R2s. I pre-ordered directly from Robo back in November, and I think they have contacted us directly about the printers twice since then. They have been restricting a lot of the "big" updates on the Kickstarter page to backers only so it's almost impossible for us to get any real information about what's going on.

    Has anyone else noticed that they took the chat thing off their main site?
     
    #197 Adam Laird, May 11, 2017
  18. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Don't expect a response unless you're threatening to cancel the order if they fail to respond.
     
    #198 daniel871, May 11, 2017
  19. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Nothing since the update on Apr 22 (mentioned further up in this thread). Survey was filled on the 14th.
    They said "The next update will likely your Robo R2 tracking number! " which is cool, unless that takes 3 months with no news...
     
    #199 Kilrah, May 11, 2017
  20. Adam Laird

    Adam Laird Member

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    They responded pretty quickly to the email.

    "Hello,

    Everything is currently being processed and the Engineers are doing all the final testing on each unit before they ship out to make sure everything is flawless. There will be a update coming out soon on Kickstarter.

    Best Regards,
    Rob"

    I'm getting kind of tired of seeing the word "soon." "Later this week," "next week," or even "in a few days" would make me feel a lot better about this.
     
    #200 Adam Laird, May 11, 2017
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