Great news Ken
This is a huge number compared to what I had expected (I thought 50 to 100K) !!! Did anyone else get a big surprise??
You should certainly make a lot of noise about this Ken because I think the market has substantially underestimated this volume. This makes for some real credibility
Now there is the thing. I'm also surprised at the figure approaching a million units.
It's just a gut feeling on my part but I can't imagine there are almost one million hobbyist projects out there. Therefore there must be a fair quantity going into commercial use.
I guess it's hard for Parallax to know where the Props end up but if my guess is anything like correct it refutes the statements I have heard around here a lot to the effect that "real professional commercial engineers won't look at the Prop because bla bla ..." Ad nauseam.
Don't underestimate the hobbyists, I think most of us have more than one. In my case 4 (1 demo board plus 3 props for breadboard projects). Also there are the multi prop solutions, if one is sold 2 or 3 props are sold at the same time.
But I asked for the number because I had simply no clue (the prop is not so widely used in germany). I expected something around 100,000 (just my imagination), was surprised that it is nearly 10 times that.
Now that he seems to have abandoned his Brain project there is probably much wailing and gnashing of teeth going on at Parallax, as well as amongst the makers of solderless breadboards.
I can account for 100 and probably another 300 this year. I know a couple of other Ozzies using a few 100.
Even when I sat back and thought about it, I still would have only said 100-200K so I am inpressed. Yes, there must be quite a bit of commercial use here, and that is great news. Guess they are the quiet ones that don't have time to visit the forum often, if at all
Anyway, those numbers have to give a much more secure perspective for commercial users. Thanks again for the info Ken.
A million would be 913 a day over a 3-year period. If Ken's graph represents close to a million Props sold, then the most recent monthly volume would be about 2,700 per day.
The people who post in this forum probably account for only a few thousand chips at most. There must be some big commercial customers that are using the Prop in high volume products.
for the 1.000.000 th prop I would prefer a ceramic housing with a saphir-glas-window for free sight onto the die including internal status LEDs for each io-pin :-) :-)
I think the reason this did not get picked up by HAD is that its called a Story Teller.
I would assume that as soon as the editors heard the audio they figured out that it was not the Prop actually telling the story.
Or, if it is, thats the most authentic sounding sound synthesis I've ever heard.
You might want to reconsider in the future giving a bit more 'geek' insight into the uC, board, and descriptive paragraph of text detailing what it does.
And perhaps naming it something which more accurately reflects its function, such as uC'ed Emotive robot?
Or give the robot a weapon and have a more demographically targeted scenario.
Maybe 2 of them recreating a Jedi light saber fight?
I think the reason this did not get picked up by HAD is that its called a Story Teller...
The sound from the original live recording (played from the prop-powered controller) was horrible (used a very low-end recording equipment then) & the target audience was having a hard time trying to hear the story, so I had to do editing to please them
You might want to reconsider in the future giving a bit more 'geek' insight into the uC, board, and descriptive paragraph of text detailing what it does.
Yeah, you're right. It was already in our plan .... at the right time.
And perhaps naming it something which more accurately reflects its function, such as uC'ed Emotive robot?
Yeap, I'm pretty bad with naming, as you can see from mine (MTL). Yes, we're all very hard at work getting this to market very soon. Hopefully this will be an additional few more propeller-power equipment to the market ...
Or give the robot a weapon and have a more demographically targeted scenario.
Maybe 2 of them recreating a Jedi light saber fight?
Erm ... I feel there's enough violence by other similar robots especially in the competitive arena so I don't think we really wanna go there but a networked MTY, yes!
Comments
Martin, I'll let you know when we hit a million units. Will be soon!
Ken Gracey
Maybe you could make a count down clock using a Propeller chip! Is there a prize for the person who buys the 1 millionth Propeller chip? :-)
This is a huge number compared to what I had expected (I thought 50 to 100K) !!! Did anyone else get a big surprise??
You should certainly make a lot of noise about this Ken because I think the market has substantially underestimated this volume. This makes for some real credibility
Now there is the thing. I'm also surprised at the figure approaching a million units.
It's just a gut feeling on my part but I can't imagine there are almost one million hobbyist projects out there. Therefore there must be a fair quantity going into commercial use.
I guess it's hard for Parallax to know where the Props end up but if my guess is anything like correct it refutes the statements I have heard around here a lot to the effect that "real professional commercial engineers won't look at the Prop because bla bla ..." Ad nauseam.
Well done. Parallax.
But I asked for the number because I had simply no clue (the prop is not so widely used in germany). I expected something around 100,000 (just my imagination), was surprised that it is nearly 10 times that.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Humanoido
Even when I sat back and thought about it, I still would have only said 100-200K so I am inpressed. Yes, there must be quite a bit of commercial use here, and that is great news. Guess they are the quiet ones that don't have time to visit the forum often, if at all
Anyway, those numbers have to give a much more secure perspective for commercial users. Thanks again for the info Ken.
A million is equal to roughly, 1000 a day for 3 years, Thats alot of propeller's...
You guys better hurry, or today's quota will not be met...
The people who post in this forum probably account for only a few thousand chips at most. There must be some big commercial customers that are using the Prop in high volume products.
If projections are correct and trends continue then it will happen before the year is over.
Ken Gracey
It would make an interesting charity auction..
OBC
PS I only have 5 Props, sorry.
for the 1.000.000 th prop I would prefer a ceramic housing with a saphir-glas-window for free sight onto the die including internal status LEDs for each io-pin :-) :-)
I like the idea of the charity auction.
best regards
Stefan
I would assume that as soon as the editors heard the audio they figured out that it was not the Prop actually telling the story.
Or, if it is, thats the most authentic sounding sound synthesis I've ever heard.
You might want to reconsider in the future giving a bit more 'geek' insight into the uC, board, and descriptive paragraph of text detailing what it does.
And perhaps naming it something which more accurately reflects its function, such as uC'ed Emotive robot?
Or give the robot a weapon and have a more demographically targeted scenario.
Maybe 2 of them recreating a Jedi light saber fight?
Yeah, you're right. It was already in our plan .... at the right time.
You are absolutely right! Soon..