Smart electronics for an affordable water filter
For an impact-driven company on a mission to cut packaged water, we designed the electronics behind ROBI, a smart under-sink filter with a wireless button, and guided it through EMC certification.
- Client
- Robi
- Year
- 2023
- Services
- Electronics design, Firmware, Industrialization
The challenge
ROBI, het water van de knop, puts filtered drinking water one button press away. The filter unit sits under the sink and the button sits wherever it is handy: on the counter or on the wall beside the tap.
The product was designed so anyone could afford one. Robi wanted a low barrier to entry for consumers, which made cost a hard constraint on the electronics. Our job was to keep the price low and still give the device plenty of smart functionality.
What we did
We designed the electronics around that budget. The system uses Bluetooth Low Energy and near-field communication (NFC) to deliver filtered water and to give users insight into how they use their filter.
We also wrote the firmware. It runs the wireless links between the button, the filter unit and the user, and keeps track of filter usage.
The button runs on a battery, so power consumption set the design of both the hardware and the firmware. The button spends most of its life asleep, and its sleep current is measured in nanoamperes.
Beyond the design
When the first prototype hardware was ready, it went to the lab for EMC testing. We guided Robi through the certification process.
The prototype passed the EMC immunity and emission tests on the first attempt.
The work continued into production. ROBI’s electronics are functionally tested on ATNET, our modular test system. Every board is checked against how it is meant to work before it goes into a product.
The result
ROBI is on the market today, delivering tasty filtered water in kitchens and cutting the need for bottled water. See robiwater.be for more.
