Electronics, firmware, a production test jig and a 200-set production run for a battery-powered ski-touring product that has to work in snow, cold and constant vibration.
A Swiss sports-tech startup is building an electrically assisted ski-touring system: an electric drive that helps the skier on the way up the mountain. MicroBitDesign took the electronics from prototype to production: hardware and firmware development, a production test jig, and a 200-set production run.
What we delivered
- Electronics design across three interconnected PCBs per system, plus the wiring between them
- Embedded firmware: drive control, user input and system logic
- Prototypes and a pilot batch: 14 complete systems, built and tested in-house
- A production test jig to verify every board quickly and consistently
- Small-series production of 200 sets
Why this is hard
Few environments are as unfriendly to electronics as a ski tour:
- Cold. Battery capacity and internal resistance change significantly at low temperatures, exactly when the drive asks for the most current.
- Moisture. Snow, meltwater and condensation when the equipment comes back into a warm hut.
- Vibration and shock. Constant impacts, flex and handling, including on the way down.
- Space and weight. Every gram and millimetre counts on equipment the user carries uphill.
- Usability. Everything has to work with gloves on, and the assist has to behave predictably and stop reliably.
Engineering focus
Motor drive and power electronics
The drive has to deliver high current from a compact battery pack while keeping losses, heat and electrical noise under control, with firmware that controls the motor smoothly instead of jerking the skier forward.
Battery-powered behaviour in the cold
The electronics must cope with the voltage sag of a cold battery under load and manage power so that standby consumption doesn't drain the system between tours.
A multi-board system that survives the mountain
Splitting the electronics over several boards lets each one sit where it's needed, but every connection between them is a potential weak point. Interconnects and cable routing are designed with vibration, moisture and repeated handling in mind.
From 14 prototypes to 200 sets
The first pilot batch, 14 complete systems with 42 PCBs plus wiring, was built by hand in-house on a tight schedule. It made one thing very clear: at production volume, manual assembly and manual testing don't scale.
A production test jig
For production we designed a test jig that checks each board quickly and the same way every time. A test jig turns "it works on my bench" into a repeatable pass/fail process that:
- catches assembly defects before boards are built into a system,
- makes test results consistent regardless of who runs the test,
- keeps the time per board low, which matters when there are hundreds of them.
200 sets
With the design matured and testing automated, we delivered a small-series production of 200 sets. Small series is a stage many hardware startups struggle with: too large for hand assembly, often too small to get attention from big manufacturers. Having design, firmware, test and production in one team made it a straightforward step instead of a hand-over.
It's also part of why we invested in our own pick-and-place line. Read that story.
Technologies & disciplines
- Motor control firmware and power electronics
- Battery-powered system design and power management
- Multi-board hardware architecture and harness design
- Design for harsh environments: cold, moisture, vibration
- Production test jig design
- Prototype, pilot and small-series production