Questions we hear on every scoping call

Five categories: AI recording wearables, health wearables, trackers, elder care and companion devices for adults, teens 13 and older and older adults, and audio and voice hardware. All are custom builds for your company. We do not sell products of our own.

The first call is free. You talk to the founder and an engineering lead about what the device must do, who uses it, your volume plan and your backend. By the end you know whether we are a fit and what Gate 0 would cover. A Duobay engineer replies within 2 business days. Book a scoping call.

Development cost depends on the radio, the enclosure, the certification path and the volume, so a published number would be wrong for most projects. Gate 0, Feasibility, is a paid fixed-fee study that ends with a fixed quote for the next gate, and the fee is credited against later work if you continue. For a rough range before you talk to us, try the cost and certification estimator.

Yes. That is the most common starting point for AI and software teams. You bring the product requirements, your model or pipeline and your backend. We bring electrical, firmware, mechanical and test engineering, and we explain every trade-off in plain terms at each gate review.

Products for children, government, defense and FirstNet projects, and designs that send device data through a China-hosted cloud. Mobile apps and cloud backends are not included by default. What we will and will not do.

Aximora Labs Inc., a US company. Duobay is a service of Aximora Labs Inc., a US company. Contracts are under US law and you pay a US entity in USD. Engagement terms.

You do. Work made for your project is assigned to you when each gate is paid, and the source files are handed over at every gate: schematics, layout source, Gerbers, BOM, firmware source and build instructions. Molds and fixtures you paid for are yours. How ownership works.

Yes, at any gate. Each gate has a fixed scope and price. If you stop, you keep every file and unit you paid for and can take the design to any factory. The 5 gates.

Yes. Mutual NDA countersigned within 2 business days. Our mutual NDA template is being finalized and is sent on request. About the mutual NDA.

Each gate is quoted at a fixed fee and invoiced in USD by Aximora Labs Inc.. Certification and lab fees are paid by you, and we manage the process. Production orders are quoted as a landed DDP unit price. The payment schedule is set out in each gate's statement of work. Engagement terms.

Gate 0 takes 1–2 weeks. Gate 1, a works-like prototype on a custom carrier board, takes 3–6 weeks and ships 3–5 units to you. A fully custom EVT board follows. Typical durations for every gate are on How it works.

Often, in part. We pick the SoC at Gate 0 based on what must run on the device (wake word, voice activity detection, compression, a small model) and what can run in your cloud. Gate 1 puts your pipeline on the target silicon so you see real latency and power numbers before committing to a custom board.

As of October 2026, all three national US carriers have shut down 2G, so we design on LTE Cat-1bis or LTE-M, covering the main US bands (B2, B4, B5, B12, B13, B66, B71) as the carrier requires. Module choice also depends on the FCC Covered List rules. LTE and GNSS trackers.

Not by default. We deliver the device-side protocol and SDK, document it, and test the device against your backend or a staging endpoint. If a separate partner builds your app or backend, we agree the device interface with them at Gate 0.

The full firmware source in your repository from the first build, with build instructions, OTA update tooling and provisioning scripts, plus a software bill of materials (SBOM). What a good handover includes.

We plan the certification path at Gate 0 and run it through accredited labs in DVT/PVT. Grants and reports are issued in your company's name. You pay the lab and certification fees. FCC and certification.

No. A modular grant covers the radio module. The finished device still needs its own FCC authorization work, and US carriers expect PTCRB or their own approval on the end device. Pre-certified modules explained.

As of October 2026, the FCC does not authorize a device that contains a modular transmitter that is itself covered equipment on its Covered List (FCC 25-71). We run formal certification testing at FCC-recognized labs outside mainland China, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong or the US. Under the proposal, existing authorizations stay valid. This rule is not in force yet. We choose modules and labs at Gate 0 with both rules in mind. How we plan around them.

No. Our companion devices are for adults, teens 13 and older, and older adults. Companion devices still carry obligations, such as California's SB 243 for companion chatbots. Compliance for companion devices.

Builds start at around 10 units. Small batches of 10–1,000 units are routine at Gate 3. Small-batch builds.

The unit price, freight, US import duties and tariffs, customs brokerage and delivery to your US warehouse or 3PL. Tariffs on electronics from China have changed several times in 2026 (as of October 2026), so we quote the rates in force at the time of the quote and state what happens if they change. How we quote.

Prototypes are built in our Shenzhen lab. Pilot and production builds run at partner factories in the Shenzhen area, with our engineers on the line. The Shenzhen lab.

Yes. From Gate 3 you own the molds, fixtures and production test procedures you paid for. At Gate 4 a transfer comes with a documented handover. Mass production and transfer.

No. Devices talk to your cloud or a US cloud region you choose. We do not run a cloud platform of our own. Data sovereignty.

You do. Provisioning is designed so that production keys and certificates are generated or injected under your control, and you can rotate them without us.

Voice-capture devices default to push-to-record with a visible recording indicator, because California's Invasion of Privacy Act requires consent to record confidential conversations. Your product and legal teams decide the final behavior. Voice wearables without a China cloud.