How we take a vague machine problem and pin it to one unit that has to work — hardware, firmware, and the hand-off between them.
Most briefs arrive as a goal, not a drawing. Prove the motion. Survive outdoors. Talk to the fleet. The first job is to turn that into a single unit definition: what must be true on the bench before anyone talks about a second unit.
We freeze interfaces early — power, sensors, actuators, and the software boundary — then build the thinnest machine that can fail honestly. Parts on the table, bring-up on the scope, logs from day one.
The photo is the standard we use internally: one assembled first unit, instrumented, ugly if it has to be, but answering the brief in the physical world.