1st prototype - The Box

Let’s get back to the beginning. And by "beginning" we mean the first prototype of Sonr.

Dmitri Voloshin (CEO) came to the Garage Lab with the idea of an underwater receiver and the engineers were a little puzzled about the way they were going to realize it.

Still, with the help of new engineers who joined the team, they started to release improved versions. First one being the Box.

The “box” consisted of a large board on which engineers assembled the receiving part, and a bunch of removable parts for components, such as an audio amplifier, radio, and audio filters.

All this was placed in a plastic case printed on a 3D printer. The frame for the speaker was moved into a separate round case which was connected to the receiver with wires.

At that stage the size of the device did not matter but the choice of components and their functionality was crucial.

Sure, it was not what Dmitri envisioned on a swimmer’s head, but the foundation was laid. With this in mind and the hope for the better Dmitri and his team rushed to the pool. It was time to test it.

The results were promising: 1 meter under the water and about 150 meters above. Although that’s more than enough for swimmers, there was nothing to be happy about. It was predictable.

We had a lot of work to do. Get rid of the black antenna and somehow fit all the components in a tiny little case. Not an easy task but we were up to the challenge.