We are now selecting beta testers for DronesBench

DronesBench

A long time ago one person said to me that the most difficult part of this venture would have not been solving technical problems, managing suppliers or dealing with demanding customers.

He said to me that the most difficult moment would have come facing the market, that is bringing the products from my laboratories out to real people.

And he was right indeed!

Today that moment has come. Our DronesBench needs to be tested by a number of customers and this frightens us but it also makes us excited and proud of the work we have been doing in the recent years. We went through difficult times but we came out stronger with patience, perseverance and some pain. We made mistakes that allowed us to grow and we met a lot of people who believed in our idea.

And since we made our announcement in our latest newsletter, many wrote back asking something like this:

How can I try DronesBench in advance?
What does it mean becoming a tester?
I can’t now, but I would like a try in a not too distant future. Will it be possible?
Why should I pay to become a tester?

I made a decision, then, to be more open with this short note about the state of our work and what we expect in the near future.

In early January we started with our Field Test. The first batch of DronesBenches was shipped to a few testers who accepted to try our technology for the first time: schools, fab labs, firms. We asked all of them their opinion and to state what went well and, more important, what didn’t, because a novel product is far from being perfect. Their advice for improvement is becoming essential to make us choose the best way to develop DronesBench further in the coming weeks.

In order for the test to be useful and fruitful, it is necessary that the ones who use DronesBench are engaged directly and pursue a bigger interest than basic, albeit understandable, curiosity.

We gave our testers a much more mature DronesBench than a prototipe, with a quality level higher than expected at this development stage. All of us from DPM Elettronica, moreover, are involved first hand every day to support the testers constantly and consistently, in order to give precise answers to the legit doubts arising from the use of a product that, let’s not forget, is novel in this market.

For these reasons, and many more, we made clear early to our potential testers that this enrolment needs a subscription fee and cannot be intended as a free trial.

I want to finish by thanking wholeheartedly all the testers who made a submission, the ones who got a DronesBench and are sending feedback and notes day by day, but also the ones who unfortunately were not able to get a DronesBench. The submissions were numerous, more than expected, and we have not been able to satisfy all the requests.

In the coming months, once the Field Test is complete and we have an even better technology, we will open a Beta Test to the public and the ones not considered the first time will have a prelation.

I wish these notes have made clear where we do stand with our DronesBench and the next steps needed to be ready and efficient for the official launch. It will not be an easy ride, but overcoming the obstacles one by one will help us grow and have a lot of fun!

Keep following us on our DronesBench website and if you have any question, tip, criticism or if you want to become a beta tester, just don’t hesitate, drop us a message at info@dronesbench.com.