Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

Our hardware is simple and Open so it is easier to verify. There is no "hard CPU" (it is all FPGA based) so you don't have to trust anyone about what's executing your code. The entire system runs on a pure-Rust OS (Xous) which is an async message-passing microkernel, details at https://betrusted.io/xous-book/.

Out of the box it comes with U2F/FIDO2, a TOTP authenticator, and a password vault. It's one of the few U2F/FIDO2 tokens that you can make a backup of. As the system is fully open source, you can extend it with your own favorite apps.

Force > To use the base, yes some force is required. In our opinion, you want force to prevent false-positives on latching. False positives are a big problem with bases, as people perceive latching to have occurred when it actually has not. Visual latching indictors are not sufficient, in my opinion. Our experience and design encourages audio, visual, and tactile feedback to minimize misunderstandings and false positives.

Please note that while a base is convenient (people like the quick click-in, click-out of bases) it is not needed. You can just use the seat belt. Roll with whatever you prefer. Personally, I just use the seat belt.

Fire-aft> I have no idea what you mean by "fire-aft distance". But it sounds like you are worried about angles. We designed the seat to encourage good angles at rest, whether with the lap belt alone or with the companion base. Most automotive seats have a 5-10 degree upward angle. A rear-facing infant car seat should be resting in place at no lower than a 30 degree angle, and no higher than a 45 degree angle. If you go too high it increases choking risk but conversely improves the crash test scores. If you go lower it is better for a baby at rest and has less choking risk, but worsens the crash test score as more force is distributed into a smaller area and less rotation of the seat is possible. All this to say, there is a lot of variability across vehicles and seats in a vehicle, and to the best of my knowledge no car seat base accounts for all the permutations well. Regardless, angles are important because babies (especially younger ones) are still developing the muscles that hold up their head and have less head control than it might appear. For the parents out there, the final back angle should be approximately between 30 and 45 degrees as measured from a level plane, but please refer to your seat's user manual for its instructions. In most scenarios and vehicles the Kioma car seat should rest at an approximate 40 degree angle.

Competitor Comparison > We try to avoid direct comparisons with other companies, because it makes the lawyers wince. However, while I'm biased, from my personal experience I can say I'd take the Kioma any day over the competitors. There are many reasons we built this product, and none of them included "existing [insert company name] does a great job at this!"

Personally in charge of hardware, firmware, and too many of the things behind the scenes. About to crowdfund our V2 with hugely improved hardware and LEDs.

Covid was fun with MCU shortages and years lead time, so now that we've survived that things are looking brighter.

Some people like it just for the light shows, but we get lots of great feedback across the board.

Been rewarding to build a tool that I actually get to use and benefit from on more-or-less a daily basis.