Building the Prototype: Challenges and Breakthroughs

With our concept validated and initial designs sketched out, it was time to build our first prototype. We assembled a small team of three developers with expertise in mobile development, AR, and LiDAR technology.

Technical Challenges

Working with LiDAR presented several unexpected challenges. While the technology was powerful, we discovered that environmental factors could significantly impact measurement accuracy:

• Highly reflective surfaces sometimes caused measurement anomalies
• Direct sunlight could interfere with the sensors
• Complex architectural features required special handling in our algorithms

Our first breakthrough came when we developed a custom calibration algorithm that could account for these variables. By having users perform a quick calibration scan of a known measurement (like holding up a ruler), we could adjust for environmental conditions.

AR Integration

The real magic happened when we successfully integrated AR (Augmented Reality) with the LiDAR measurements. This allowed contractors to see measurement lines overlaid directly onto their camera view of the house, creating an intuitive visual representation of what they were measuring.

We hit a major milestone in March 2024 when our prototype could successfully measure a complex gutter system with 98.7% accuracy compared to manual measurements - but in less than half the time.

User Testing

We invited five contractors to test our prototype on actual job sites. The feedback was invaluable:

"I've been installing gutters for 15 years, and this is the first innovation I've seen that actually makes my job easier. Once I got used to the app, I was measuring houses in a third of the time." - James, Contractor

But the testing also revealed weaknesses. Our UI was still too complex, battery drain was significant, and contractors wanted more features for project management and client communication.

Pivot Points

Based on this feedback, we made several crucial pivots:

1. Simplified the interface to focus on the core scanning and measurement functions
2. Added a project management system to organize measurements by client
3. Developed a one-click report generation feature that contractors could share with clients
4. Optimized the scanning algorithm to reduce battery consumption

By early summer 2024, we had a prototype that contractors were genuinely excited about. But we still faced our biggest challenge: scaling the technology to work reliably across different devices and in varied environments. In our next post, we'll share how we rebuilt MEZR from the ground up to create a robust, scalable solution.