Sat Sep 18 '21 Announcement
over 4 years ago
– Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 05:27:44 AM
Dear supporters:
During our campaign we spoke about providing an SOS APP to help with rescue during an emergency in the outdoors.
Fortunately, all of the most popular mobile phones (and even some smart watches) now come equipped with a means to signal rescuers. See, for example How to Use Emergency SOS Features on your iPhone or Android Phone to learn more.
But there are more powerful options, particularly well-suited for emergencies when hiking or otherwise distant and harder to locate.
We’re pleased to announce a budding partnership with a like-minded company. The goal of AirFlare is to revolutionize outdoors safety by turning every smart phone into a rescue device.
With your permission, it can return the location your phone to a search team: immediately when you have internet service. Rescuers equipped with special gear can even find you from up to half a mile away everywhere else using just WIFI and Bluetooth.
Free out of the box, the app makes it easy to send your coordinates to a friend or rescuer, provides location-specific information like whether your local dispatcher supports Text-to-911, as well as turns your camera flash into an SOS strobe to attract attention or direct rescuers. More advanced features cost $4.99/year (though we are negotiating for a special discount for our LifeSaber backers).
Since one of the primary uses of LifeSaber is to charge your phone for its existing rescue capabilities (911, maps, weather), it makes perfect sense to add AirFlare to the value of the phone that’s always in your pocket.
Meanwhile, as we wrestle down all of the final technical details for the LifeSaber, I need your input an in important decision. We're trying to decide whether the output connector (to power your phone and other devices) should be the (traditional) USB -A design, or rather the newer (and easier to use, but not yet common) USB-C. Please let me know if you have a preference.
And finally, my annual charity ride to fight MS is just a week away - and I'm 94% of the way to my $7,000 goal! Please consider a tax-deductible donation Please click here to make a donation.
Sun Aug 1 '21 Announcement
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 03:13:32 PM
Dear friends:
It's really happening. After multiple false starts (with other prospective suppliers), our chosen Contract Manufacturer (CM) is drilling down to the formal design for manufacturing. They have sourced most of the key components and hope within two weeks to know the 'bill of materials' (per-unit cost) to produce the LifeSaber.
If we continue at this pace, I expect to see a serious (though still custom-built) prototype within no more than six weeks. With this preliminary pre-production prototype in hand, we will begin serious testing leading to the final design for manufacturing and a detailed plan for production.
We are managing this process on a day-to-day basis, facilitated by one of our designers, who - having graduated with his Masters from UPenn - has now returned to China, living close-by the CM.
It's been a long journey, and further bumps along the road are to be expected. But we are all guardedly optimistic that the LifeSaber will go into production before year's end. I'm hoping you'll all be very pleased with the final product.
Marvin
P.S.: The date for the 2021 City-to-Shore Ride to Fight MS is September 25th and I'm just $750 away from my fundraising goal of $6,000. I’m a member of Team Road Dawgs, which has been a mainstay of the MS Ride for more than 22 years. Our sponsor is (Philly favorite) Suzy Jo Donuts. I’ve been in training for months in order to complete the (challenging, for me) 75-mile course.
Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation.
Sun Jun 20 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago
– Sun, Jun 20, 2021 at 01:48:19 PM
Dear friends and supporters:
I had been planning a positive, if boring update. And the news is still mostly positive (if still boring); here goes.
My team here in Philly successfully completed a working prototype of the swing arm coupled with the optimized gearset and custom motor/generator (housed within a rough casing).
We sent the prototype off to our contract manufacturer in Shenzen to integrate with the excellent work they've been doing on the rest of the LifeSaber (next gen case, electronics and plug-ins).
Unfortunately, two weeks on, our one-of-a-kind prototype is stuck in Chinese customs. No reason given, but we surmise that this august agency is backed up handling the backlog resulting from COVID (and the precipitous increase in American consumer spending).'m sure you've been reading about the bottlenecks in/out of China.
We are hoping that the delay will be resolved shortly. Worst case (if the prototype is lost), we'll have to order a new custom motor, which the manufacturer estimates will take 6 weeks (since they are also slammed).
But we are getting much closer to the real-deal working LifeSaber, redesigned and optimized for manufacturing. With the bill of materials (costs) still to be determined (though expected to be at least double and perhaps triple what we had originally factored into our product pricing).
Regardless, I am committed to fulfilling all of the your orders as soon as humanly possible, so that I can then turn my energies towards developing a broader market for the LifeSaber.
As always, your ideas and suggestions are warmly welcome.
Marvin
P.S.: I’m in training for the 75-mile (Philly) City-to-Shore-Ride to fight MS and would value your support. Please click here to make a donation.
(The new date is September 25th and I've already raised more than $3,000 towards a goal of $5,000. I’m a member of Team Road Dawgs, which has been a mainstay of the local MS Ride for more than 22 years. Our sponsor is Suzy Jo Donuts, a Philly tradition since 1955.(Boy, are their pastries delicious!) Meanwhile, I’ve started training in order to complete the (challenging, for me) 75-mile course.)
Fri May 7 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago
– Fri, May 07, 2021 at 06:46:00 AM
We have come a long way over the last year, despite being slowed by the pandemic. We've identified a terrific motor and gearset to optimize human power-generation potential. Simultaneously, we have greatly refined the user interface, form factor of the case and circuit board specifications. This is in addition to the hard work of refining the essential snap-in modules. We've even figured out how to make the LifeSaber completely self-contained, with a waterproof cap to seal-in both the accessories and the USB ports. More about this cap further below.
Meanwhile, we've formally engaged a reputable contract manufacturer in Shenzen to begin the design for manufacturing in all of the particulars while sourcing every component. Towards that end, we'll be shipping out to them our 3D-printed prototype, complete with the preferred motor/gearbox as well as a fairly-well-optimized ergonomic swing arm. The timing is particularly apt since my three (terrific) UPenn interns are graduating in the next few weeks with their Masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in product design/engineering.
Before concluding, I have a question to ask - seeking your informal guidance. As many of you know, my first campaign (successfully completed) was for the Lil Trucker (now called the Off Grid Survival Axe). Among its many features is a glass breaker tip. Well, since we are now enclosing the bottom of the LifeSaber with a strong, protective cap, we could - in principal - incorporate a glass breaker. What do you think? On the plus side, this would make our compact device handy for carrying in the vehicle glove compartment. But, it means that their would be a protruding, slightly exposed tip on the base of the tool.
Please let me know what you think.
Mon Mar 22 '21 Announcement
about 5 years ago
– Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 12:55:10 PM
Dear friends and colleagues:
From the start of this journey, a defining characteristic of the LIFESABER has been to function as the hub for energizing essential accessories. By eliminating redundant parts (battery, controls, circuitry and handles) these snap-in tools could be made compact, lightweight and inherently more reliable.
Well now, taking this to its logical conclusion, we have decided to combine the Plasma Firestarter and UVC Water Purifier into a single, reversible (yet extremely compact) combination snap-in module.
The new design (as shown below) is so minimalist that we’ll be able to store the Fire/Water combo within the handle of the LIFESABER. All protected behind a waterproof end cap, when not in use. The now fully-self-contained LifeSaber will hang from a (provided) simple belt holster.
In other news, we have a ‘winner’! Namely a finalist motor generator. This custom dynamo (adapted from a drone motor) is lighter and smaller than in our original design, yet produces even more power. So we like it - even though it’s more expensive than budgeted.
Stay tuned for a video illustrating the power generation potential of this motor combined with our ergonomic swing-arm technology.
