A brand-new way to communicate is about to be launched in Australia, out are walkie talkies and mobiles, in is Milo, an award-winning communication device that allows skiers bikers and surfers to talk to one another with a waterproof device that attaches easily to clothing; it’s also described as ideal for the construction industry and emergency services personnel who need their hands free when carrying out a rescue.
The launch of Milo in Australia has been plagued with problems, with Foxconn being blamed for supply problems worldwide, this upset a whole bunch of investors who kicked money in via a major Kickstarter fundraiser.
Stock was due in Australia earlier this month with delivery now pushed out to next month according to Melbourne based local distributor Aquia.
Developed by Loose Canon Systems Milo has an Australian flavor with inventor Peter Celinski a former North Sydney resident now working in the USA with a development team which includes several Australians. Milo is a phone-free networking system that lets up to 16 people communicate with each other — with a range of 600 meters between any two participants.
It uses a proprietary MiloNet mesh network to establish connections so people can have high-quality voice conversations whether they’re working in a warehouse or skiing down a mountain.
Each Milo device has six microphones, a speaker, and multiple radios to ensure good communication.
Recently several Kickstarter investors vented their anger at not getting their units due to Foxconn delaying shipments due to component shortages.
In an exclusive interview with ChannelNews Celinski addressed the issue of complaints claiming, “Milo is in mass production and some early Milo backers have already received their units, we’ve already written to our Kickstarter backers as to the supply of units going forward”.
“Sure, there is a small number of disgruntled folks, and that is not no surprise due to the delays” he said.
“Milos will continue to be shipped out to all 5,700 backers in waves as we ramp up production and everyone will receive their Kickstarter pre-orders over the coming weeks” he said.
Chris Scott at Aqipa said “we see a big growth market for Milo in both the consumer market and in the construction and emergency services market”
“What we have built with Milo is the action communicator,” Celinski said. “The whole premise of Milo is to make shared communication a better experience without the need for walkie talkies or mobile phones”.
The push-to-talk market is worth about $12 billion. And the outdoor sports category is already having a boom year as people buy things like mountain bikes, camping gear, and navigation equipment. People are camping in remote areas and need communication.
Unlike open-source alternatives (BT mesh, Zigbee, Thread), MiloNet is tolerant of packet loss, it provides proactive routing and latency control, and is air-efficient, the company said.
Milo also combines advanced audio processing (wind and other noise), it has a complex radio-frequency design, acoustics, and a simple user interface packed into a small form factor. The company has four patents, with others in the pipeline.
Celinski said Milo is to walkie-talkies as Nest was to thermostats or GoPro was to handycams.
The Milo device is set to retail for $375
The device recently won two major awards: Red Dot Click to see) and IDSA Gold Award
