Oh that's right, Surface mount.
All I have for reference is the V3, which is a simple board in comparison.

It's been mentioned before that EZ-b will never be a kit because it is not open-source.

I can't see under one of the chip covers but that one might even be a BGA . Solder ball connection that uses hot air jet to solder a chip on without leads stocking out the sides. Anyways , they are doing it right, a machine is best for ones this small. Personally it would still be awesome to sell the V3 as well all this time because I know there's hundreds of people who want it even knowing another version is coming.

I agree! Still sell the V3 at a lower price...since support is still offered anyway, why not coexist with the V4?

The v3 will eventually have an end of life. The v4 has so many amazing features that continuing to support the v3 will cause interface and performance issues as the software grows.

As for hand building v4's - that takes a day per board to do. It's simply not possible. However, our first batch of ezb's which are shipping next week are made in Calgary

I'm sure they will announce it when the ARC version stops supporting the V3, as they did when support for Windows XP/Vista stopped. Read the release notes before installation.

LOL, made in North America is good.

I hope they support V3 and V4.

ARC will continue to support the v3 for as long as we can We will give you notice before it is end of life. Although, we will most likely branch two ARCs for each EZ-B version.

Making in North America sounds good, but it costs literally 10 times as much. Put it this way, the quotes we received from north American manufacturers would cost over $100 per unit in quantities of 1,000's to manufacture the EZ-B - that's without markup for the business to operate (i.e. staff, website, software development, etc.). Also, the time frame quotes we received from North American manufacturers would have the product shipping in Fall 2014.

The few hundred that we are getting manufactured in Canada for the pre-orders are costing us more than we sold them for. We lose tens and tens thousands of dollars by manufacturing them in Canada. However, it's not all being done by a manufacturer to assemble the units. We are doing most of the work in-house to save money, which takes us away from doing our real job - which is adding new features and programming the software to make the product better

Trust me, it's not that we don't continue to try and try and try to have these manufactured in North America. We're constantly receiving quotes - but the time frame and costs do not co-operate with our vision. We cannot sell EZ-B v4's for $299 to you - that's just not fair - specifically since we can have the work done overseas for a fraction of the cost. And anyone who has experience with our v3's know our chose of oversea factories produce great quality.

China gets a lot of negativity from North America, and I respect that Americans feel the Chinese are taking away the work - but the fact remains that North American manufacturing costs are just not fair to the consumer. If at any point we could find a North American manufacturer to match our prices, we would switch in a heartbeat - You have my word on that!

I for one totally understand where DJ is coming from, it's just like shopping in your hometown for something, but then you look online and you can buy it so much cheaper even with the postage :-{ I rarely shop in my town anymore, I just order online, I might have to wait a few days, but it saves me money :-} The only things I shop for here in my town are cloths and groceries anymore :-{ Sad to say times have changed, well actually it's corporate greed has gotten worse :-{

You're right, it is sad. You wouldn't believe how many north American companies we contacted. On top of that, you wouldn't believe how many gave us attitude! Most were not confident that the product would sell and wanted nothing to do with robotics - others never got back to us.

I'm the most positive person I know - I have faith that someday EZ-Robot will be manufactured entirely in North America

DJ I totally understand your dilemma and the trade-offs that must happen in order to get a business on track. I applaud your many efforts to keep your customer base content as you keep the company headed towards your goals.

I'm in year three of my business plan and no profits yet. *stress*

Use ARC and the EZ-Bs to build robots that build robots

There would be a video of Johnny 5 making robots here but youtube doesn't have that scene lol.

You got me Rich.
Exactly my agenda. EZ-b just made industrial manufacturing robots accessible to the garage builder. Hence dropping labor costs and single handedly making everyone an entrepreneur. I already have designs on how to cheaply make MY products. Very cheap industrial robots made from parts I already have access to.

I'm quite sure the V4 can be programmed to build itself.

All I know is when I tell someone I am building a robot, they look at me like I am some brilliant scientist , it really stuns people. I sold some things on Ebay and I was at the post office today sending the packages out and when they ask me what I had in them, I told them a robot head in one and a pair of robot arms in the other, the entire post office went silent.
It seems I am one of the Lone Robot Builders in my town, that's fine by me :-} People started asking me questions and well I showed them some pictures I had taken with my cellphone, they couldn't believe what I have built so far.
I truly believe once the V4 comes and the robots start coming alive, it could spark a fire :-}
So screw those companies that didn't think the EZ-Robot product wouldn't sell, there is so much that can be done, heck we all might just be in the beginning of something very historical :-}

That reminds me of when I picked my first Omnibot 5402 up from the post office, they asked what it was so I told them "a robot", they were all stunned.

I have learned to keep my mouth shut when in comes to my robotic hobby... Most people think I am just being juvenile or playing with toys... And, am I the only one that picked up on the fact that DJ just admitted that the first EZb4s (made in Canada) will be shipping next week?

No I spotted that too but was waiting to see who would jump on it first

How big is a bunch? Made in ca...

*sleep*
J

Wow, I will be proud to own one of the first and few North American built V4 ezb's. Thanks DJ for going to the extra effort and expense to take care of those of us that pre ordered at the beginning. I will be a customer for life.

I will be more excited when I have to V4 inside of my robot and it finally comes alive and I can show people what I have created :-}