LOCAL STAR / ALPHA 0 / EL SEGUNDO
ONE LITTLE SIGNAL IS ENOUGH.
A local pet for people who want to feel present without starting another conversation.
Five finite meanings. Visible route state. No microphone, camera, GPS, required cloud, open-ended chat, or subscription ransom.
Industrial-design direction only. This image is not a photograph of manufactured hardware.
G0 · FREEZE + FUND NO PREORDER NO APPLICATION SUBMITTED NO VENDOR ENGAGED ESP32 TARGET LINKED / NO BOARD FLASHED BUILD EVIDENCE BEFORE RANGE CLAIMS
BROWSER REHEARSAL · NOTHING TRANSMITTED
Five ways to be present.
This is the V1 vocabulary, not a chatbot. Select a signal and a route posture to rehearse the visible state a physical pair must earn.
- HOME composed
- waiting for physical evidence
- no network write
A real PING may show DELIVERED only after an authenticated acknowledgement. This browser never shows one.
THE GLASS FACTORY / 30 JULY 2026
Working software is not working hardware.
PROVED IN SOFTWARE
Normal and sanitizer host tests pass across compose, route, retry, expiry, acknowledgement, replay, relay, and recovery behavior.
Two clean ESP-IDF 6.0.1 builds produced matching app, bootloader, and partition hashes. No board was flashed.
The transport-facing wire envelope carries opaque ciphertext rather than a plaintext signal code.
A versioned checkpoint journal falls back when the newest simulated write is truncated or corrupt.
Catalog evidence covers eleven Alpha BOM lines. It is research, not a delivered quote or purchase.
NOT PROVED YET
- 01
The PSA AES-256-GCM/HMAC adapter compiles, but origin identity, per-hop integrity, secure-element storage, and independent review remain open.
- 02
No ESP32-S3 has been flashed; no RAK3172 command response, packet exchange, pin map, or switch state has been verified on hardware.
- 03
Secure Boot, flash encryption, encrypted NVS, and group keys have not been provisioned on a device.
- 04
No real radio range, battery, drop, power-cut, thermal, ESD, or compliance evidence.
- 05
No working physical unit, supplier commitment, signed partner, customer order, or preorder.
ALPHA 0 / 10 WORKING + 2 SPARES
The basket has a price.
It does not have permission.
The exact compute board now has visible distributor stock, but the display fell to seven units and radio availability remains unwritten. Nothing has been ordered and no listed price is a delivered quote.
Direct Alpha components plus 25% contingency.
Requires Michael Hoydich’s purchase approval.
Two complete pets plus high-risk spares before the remaining order.
Parts, specialists, fabrication, test, admin, contingency.
WHY THE BASKET CANNOT SHIP AS WRITTEN
- 01
The exact ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N8R8 later showed 600 public DigiKey units, but no stock is reserved and no delivered quote exists.
- 02
The selected 2.13-inch e-paper display fell to seven visible units—five short of the twelve-unit Alpha requirement.
- 03
The RAK3172 US915 page exposes a purchase path but no public stock count or delivered-date commitment.
- 04
Five BOM groups still need current written delivered quotes and substitution review.
CAPITAL / FIRST RELEASE ROUTE
$50,000 can start the build.
The immediate target is the live Boost VC Fellowship path. Its current form describes an equity investment at a $1,500,000 cap. The release packet is prepared; it has not been submitted.
A late Fall 2026 YC application is the optional full-bridge route. Its published standard deal is $500,000; the application, interview path, in-person batch, and economics still require a founder decision.
Complete application field map and founder-video script.
No form data or founder representation has been transmitted.
No cash, SAFE, grant, purchase order, or bank receipt exists.
Founder email, actual location, LinkedIn URL, confirmed first-person history, required two-minute-or-less video, and explicit submission approval.
The live form calls this an equity investment. SAFE mechanics, discount, MFN, pro rata, information rights, fees, and other complete terms remain unknown until documents are supplied.
25-MILE PRODUCTION RING
Build close enough to carry the failure across town.
Aerospace discipline is useful here: configuration control, antenna rigor, traceable test, and acceptance evidence. PING remains a civilian social object—not a defense or surveillance product.
0 MI EL
SEGUNDO BUILD TABLE
SEGUNDO BUILD TABLE
El Segundo / Bench integration South Bay Electronics
Same-city wiring, rework, fixtures, and rapid enclosure experiments.
Research only ↗ Hawthorne / Prototype PCBA Calpak USAPublicly describes 1–100 assemblies, AOI, X-ray, and functional test.
Primary capability RFQ ↗ Carson / PCBA alternate ACME PCB AssemblyPrototype through 20,000-unit assembly, harness, inspection, and box build.
Comparable RFQ ↗ Westchester / Enclosure West LA 3D PrintingCAD, industrial design, FDM, SLA, PolyJet, CNC, and molding support.
Capability RFQ ↗ Torrance / Antenna MatterwavesPublished 250 MHz–60 GHz antenna measurement and chamber capability.
Characterization RFQ ↗ Torrance / Fixtures FPC / funTestFunctional, HIL, environmental, RF/EMC, and end-of-line test systems.
Test engineering RFQ ↗THE ONLY ROADMAP THAT COUNTS
Each claim waits behind its proof.
- G0 NOW
Freeze + fund
Approve the $4,500 parts ceiling, name the purchasing/fundraising entity, close founder facts, and release RFQs.
- G1 LOCKED
Make 10 + 2
Run the compiled port on two radios, assemble Alpha pets, and publish defects as well as demos.
- G2 LOCKED
Break the path
Measure radio, battery, recovery, privacy, thermal, ESD, update, and teardown behavior.
- G3 LOCKED
Loan 100 locally
Run an adult, no-payment El Segundo evaluation and publish aggregate evidence.
- G4 LOCKED
Certify + tool
Close production crypto, security review, compliance, DFM, quotes, and factory gates.
- G5 LOCKED
Sell V1
Release 1,500 units at a $349 target only with funded fulfillment and support.
GTM V1 / BUILD, THEN BEHAVIOR
No interview theater.
No interviews are required before Alpha. Build and bench evidence lead. The later loaned field evaluation measures actual setup, weekly use, delivery, support, privacy, and repair behavior.
- Adult design and technology households
- Two people living apart who want a low-pressure ritual
- Creative studios and small teams
- Nearby friends and neighbors
- Adult non-medical care pairs
- Alpha 0: 10 working + 2 engineering spares; not sold.
- El Segundo evaluation: 100 loaned units; no payment.
- Founding release: up to 300 compliant units at a $299 target.
- V1: 1,500 units at a $349 target; pair pack only after support is stable.
- 01
Why five signals are enough.
- 02
The first two pets say hello.
- 03
We unplugged the internet.
- 04
What LoRa can and cannot do.
- 05
The battery did not last—what changed.
- 06
Opening the pet without breaking it.
- 07
One hundred PINGs around El Segundo.
- 08
The factory ledger: what every unit costs.
TRANSPARENCY IS A CONTROL SYSTEM
Who can make what real?
Maintains requirements, schedule, sourcing research, firmware evidence, risks, capital and GTM drafts, and public truth.
Approves spending, company and securities actions, application submission, external first-person claims, contracts, industrial design, and public sale.
READ BEFORE REPEATING
Boundaries are part of the product.
- 01
PING is not a satellite terminal. Any future satellite path belongs to a separately certified gateway with provider, price, and session state exposed.
- 02
PING V1 is adult-first and makes no emergency, medical, caregiving, security-alarm, or guaranteed-delivery claim.
- 03
The page instrument is a browser-only rehearsal. It does not transmit a message, contact a device, collect a lead, take payment, or open a preorder.
- 04
All prices, schedules, range, battery, margin, and release quantities remain targets until measured or supported by written commitments.