Happy holidays, everyone! It’s been a while, so this is going to be a long update.

Schedule Updates

We will start with the sour: the chip shortages haven’t been generous to us, much like everyone else. A few days ago we received an update from our IMU supplier and manufacturer. Due to their suppliers imposing price increases and not allocating enough for Q1 and Q2 of 2022, they had to move the bulk of SlimeVR’s chips order back to the end of September 2022, as well as increase the price of the chips. Thankfully, the price increase won’t affect the project, because it was budgeted with this possibility in mind, but the chips shipment date change will.

If the supplier’s schedule is to be believed:

• There will be a small batch of chips in February. They will be used for testing and promotions. If any left over they may go to some of the first backers.
• There will be bigger batch of chips (8,000) in June. It will go directly to the first backers.
• Rest (over 20,000 chips) will arrive by the end of September and will go to the rest of the backers and people who placed orders after the campaign.

This timeline may change because of further changes from the supplier and chip manufacturer, but they are reassuring us that this is unlikely. We are sincerely sorry we couldn’t do more.

As a result, the shipment date of most SlimeVR sets will have to be moved to November 2022. This includes all sets ordered now, all sets ordered after campaign end, and most of the sets ordered during the campaign. We updated all past and future orders to show shipment on November 2022. If earlier shipments happen, we will issue an update about it.

All other chips (not IMUs) have much shorter lead times, and we are currently ordering them too, to prevent possible shortages or price increases. They are better off sitting in the warehouse, than increase in price to the point where the project becomes unsustainable.

Future orders

It’s still possible to preorder SlimeVR on the campaign page, if you haven’t done so yet. Thanks to the help of Crowd Supply, we have ordered components for sales after the campaign, and you can order while this batch lasts. All orders made after the campaign are also expected to ship in November 2022.

If the new schedule doesn’t work for you, please contact Crowd Supply to change or cancel your order. We understand that it can be a long wait.

If you want something faster, you can try DIY-ing your trackers! There has been a lot of progress in this regard lately. Our docs site has been improved significantly with friendly guides and schematics to get you started. The firmware and software is actively being made friendly to work with, and set up for all skill levels, for both DIY and production Slimes. Sadly, prices of BNO085 breakout boards (an IMU production Slimes use) also increased an absurd amount in the last couple months, so the cost of ideal DIY tracker have increased many-fold. We are working on adding support for a lot of other IMUs, and right now MPU-6050 is a viable option for a cheap start, even though it drifts quite a bit more. If you’re interested in new hardware support we are working on, you can join the development channels in our Discord server.

Progress so far

Samples of different plastics; SlimeVR DEV PCB’s versions 5 and 6 (with some components not soldered).

Because of the long shipping time for the chips, we decided this time after the campaign is the best opportunity for us to solve some of the personal problems that have been piling up, which have kept us busy (moving to another country close to the end of the year is "fun", if you were wondering.) Yet, development didn’t halt completely, here’s what has been done after the last update:

• We went through 3 PCB revisions: Two of which you can see on the picture above. They have been tested to satisfactory results, and the Dev versions of those PCBs were shared with our community on Discord to evaluate, comment, and improve. (Dev versions differ from production versions in that they don't come with a soldered IMU chip, instead an IMU breakout board can be soldered to them by hand. This helps a lot in development and DIY. Production Slimes will have chips soldered directly to PCB.)
• We did a significant refactoring of SlimeVR's firmware and software. A lot of it was done by the contributors from our community. This will help streamline further development.
• Ordered and received battery samples from the manufacturer. Haven't gotten to testing them yet. We will be evaluating work time and comfort (size and weight) of using 1000 and 1200 mAh batteries. The latest updates to firmware improved playtime significantly due to reduced Wi-Fi usage, without affecting performance at all (stopped sending data that wasn't necessary :D).
• Lots of work on firmware and software features: Additional hip tracking, better device discovery and connection, supporting additional hardware for DIY, battery level measurement for production and DIY, streamlining devices setup, and more.

Since the personal stuff is over finally, next year will for sure be more fun :D

Plans for 2022

Our plans haven’t changed since we posted them earlier, but they had to be adjusted based on what we managed to finish this year, and the chip delay. It’s also more refined for the next few months.

• As always, work on firmware, software, and documentation will continue throughout the life of the project, even after shipment.

Before the first batch of chips arrive (~March 2022)

• Order bulk of other chips (microcontrollers, USB UART ICs, battery management ICs - everything that could go out of stock or increase in price significantly)
• Finalize and test Dev PCB design, share with the community for evaluation and commentary
• Based on the feedback from Dev design, finalize production PCB design, order samples from our main manufacturer
• Test batteries: At least play time, ideally - full test of longevity
• Design enclosures and order molds
• Find suppliers for accessories like extension cables, straps, USB cables and order samples
• Order test batch of packaging, safety manuals and other accessories

Before the second batch of chips arrive (~June 2022)

• Send more review units from the first batch of chips to reviewers, media, and the community (still not final units!)
• Design testing jig for SlimeVR PCB, including testing software, work out testing details with our manufacturer
• Finalize packaging and accessories design
• Order bulk of packaging, enclosures, accessories, batteries
• Do a small test run of full SlimeVR sets from chips left over from the first batch
• If everything is good, this run will go to the first backers

After the second batch of chips and sequential batches

• Manufacture and test SlimeVR PCBs
• Assemble SlimeVR trackers and test them as a unit
• Package everything with accessories
• Send everything to the warehouse of Crowd Supply's fulfillment partner, Mouser Electronics
• Mouser does its thing...
• Backers get their Slimes!
• Repeat the above for each shipment of chips we receive until everyone gets their Slimes!

That’s the magic, hopefully! Of course, the main one is correct the plan according to the situation. We will send biggest updates and changes though Crowd Supply, but if you like lots of updates, join our Discord server where we post weekly development updates, as well as smaller in-between updates as they happen.

See you next year! Stay safe ^^