The hardware team your AI company does not have yet
We design and build custom connected devices for software and AI companies. Our engineers sit in Shenzhen. Your contract, your gate reviews and your recourse sit with a US company.
Concept renderWhy Duobay exists
A lot of AI products now need a device. A scribe app needs a badge that records a full clinic shift. A logistics platform needs a tracker that reports to its own cloud. A companion product needs a speaker and a screen on a kitchen table.
Most of the teams building these products are strong in models, software and customers. Few have an electrical engineer, a firmware lead, a mechanical engineer and someone who has run a production line. Hiring that team takes many months, and it is hard to justify before the first 500 units have sold.
The usual options each leave a gap:
- A Shenzhen ODM, direct. Fast and cheap per unit. The ODM often keeps the platform and the source files, routes data through its own cloud, quotes FOB and expects volumes in the thousands.
- A US design firm. Easy to work with and strong on design. It usually hands the build to a factory you then manage yourself, and small batches get expensive.
- A freelancer or a dev-kit demo. Fine for a proof of concept. It rarely survives FCC testing, a drop test or a 200-unit build.
Duobay closes that gap. We pair the speed of the Shenzhen supply chain with a US contract that assigns you the IP and every source file at each paid gate, prices in landed DDP terms, and plans certification from the first week.
Two halves, one contract
Duobay is a service of Aximora Labs Inc., a US company. Here is who does what.
Aximora Labs Inc.
- Signs the master agreement and each gate's statement of work under US law.
- Invoices in USD. You never wire money to a supplier in China.
- Holds the chain of title to the work and assigns it to you when each gate is paid.
- Runs gate reviews, in person in the Bay Area or by video.
- Acts as your single point of accountability for schedule, quality and handover.
Engineering team
- Electrical: schematics, layout, RF and antenna tuning, power budgets.
- Firmware: bring-up, drivers, OTA, provisioning, device-side protocol and SDK.
- Mechanical: enclosures, tooling, drop and ingress design.
- Test: fixtures, pre-scans, reliability runs, production test procedures.
- Work product passes to Aximora Labs Inc. under a written agreement, so it can be assigned to you. [Confirm the intercompany IP agreement is signed — to confirm]
Shenzhen operating entity: [Legal name of the Shenzhen company and its relationship to Aximora Labs Inc. — to fill]. The full ownership terms are on IP and source-file ownership and in the engagement terms.
What we will do, and what we turn down
A clear "no" early saves you a feasibility fee. If your project is on the "do not take on" list, we will tell you on the first call.
We take on
- AI recording wearables: Rings, pendants, pins, clip-on recorders and recording cards that feed your speech and summary pipeline.
- Health wearables: Smart rings, bands and watches with PPG, motion and temperature sensing, built for general-wellness claims.
- Trackers: LTE-M and Cat-1bis trackers for assets, fleets and pets, plus Bluetooth tags for Apple Find My, with firmware you own.
- Elder care & companions: 4G watches with SOS and fall alerts, check-in speakers and desk companions for adults and older adults. No children’s products.
- Audio & voice hardware: Wireless mic systems, mic arrays, Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast modules, and on-device voice assistants.
- Builds from 10 units, with small batches of 10–1,000 units as routine work.
- Certification management: FCC, PTCRB and carrier approvals, run in your company's name. Lab and certification fees are paid by you; we manage the process.
- Landed DDP delivery to your US warehouse or 3PL.
- The device-side protocol and SDK, tested against your backend.
We do not take on
- Products for children. Our companion devices are for adults, teens 13 and older, and older adults.
- Government, defense or FirstNet projects.
- Our own branded products. We will never compete with a client's device.
- Designs that send device data through a China-hosted cloud.
- Mobile apps and cloud backends by default. Your team or partner builds those; we deliver and test the device side.
- Projects that need a published price before a scoping call. Every quote starts from your requirements.
5 gates, each with its own price and its own exit
The initial call is free. Gate 0, Feasibility, is a paid fixed-fee study (1–2 weeks) that is credited against later work if you continue. Every later gate has a fixed scope, a fixed quote and a handover of files.
| Gate | Typical duration | Units | Yours at this gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 · Feasibility | 1–2 weeks | — | The architecture, BOM estimate and certification plan, yours to take anywhere. |
| 1 · Works-like prototype | 3–6 weeks | 3–5 | Schematics, layout source and firmware source for the prototype. |
| 2 · EVT · first custom PCB | 6–10 weeks | 10–30 | Every electrical, mechanical and firmware file for the EVT design. |
| 3 · DVT / PVT · small batch | 8–16 weeks | 10–1,000 | Molds and fixtures you paid for, labeled with your name. Certification grants in your name. |
| 4 · Mass production | Ongoing | 1,000+ | Everything above, plus lot-level quality records. |
You talk to the people who build it
There is no account-manager layer. The founder runs the commercial side and gate reviews from the Bay Area. Your project lead and the engineering leads in Shenzhen are on every review call.
Founder
Runs contracts, scoping, pricing and gate reviews. Your escalation point for anything late, over budget or unclear.
Head of engineering
Owns architecture, chip and module choices and technical risk, and signs off each gate before it reaches you.
The engineering team
Electrical, firmware, mechanical and test, working on your project from the first prototype to production.
Start with a scoping call
Tell us what the device has to do, who will use it and how many you need in the first year. A Duobay engineer replies within 2 business days.