// the first line pilot
One line. Thirty days. $1,500 flat.
The smallest real deployment of The Mad Botter platform: Capture on one production line, recording every event into a Core box on your network. Not a demo, not a slide deck — your line, deterministically recorded, verified by replay at day thirty. No call to book and nobody to get past: check the list, buy it, and the box goes out. The full $1,500 credits against your first platform invoice if you continue.
Full refund any time before the kit ships. No reason required.
// refundable until it ships · no cloud · nothing leaves your boundary
Rather talk it through first? Book a twenty-minute call — no pitch, and the pilot costs the same either way.
> replay --line packing-2 --window 30d
events 41,208 · ordered · gaps 0
+ counts reconcile against shipped units
+ labels reconcile against jobs
+ operator data entry: none
// illustrative — not customer data
// four steps, one of them yours
How it runs
Four fields and a card — the whole thing takes a minute. $1,500 flat, and it is refundable in full any time before the kit ships, no reason required. If procurement runs on POs, an invoice goes out instead.
A preconfigured Core appliance and up to three Capture gateways, built to the equipment on your line, plus mounting hardware, cabling, the install guide, and a prepaid return label. Ships within five business days of a confirmed line — we confirm it with you straight after checkout, and it takes one reply. The hardware is on loan for the thirty days and it always comes back.
Your maintenance tech or electrician mounts it from the included guide — no contractor, no site visit. Bring-up is a scheduled remote session, booked within fourteen days of delivery. The thirty-day clock starts at the first captured event, or fourteen days after delivery — whichever comes first.
At day thirty, you pick any window from the month. It replays, event by event, in order, and reconciles against physical reality — counts against shipped units, labels against jobs. Every event captured, ordered, and replayable, with zero operator data entry. It passes or it doesn’t, and you can check without trusting us. The write-up that lands with it estimates the rollout.
// what's in the box
A box, not a statement of work
The hardware is ours, on loan for the thirty days. You are paying for the deployment and the record it produces, not for a bill of materials.
- +1× Core appliance on loan — the sovereign data layer, preconfigured, plugs into your network and nothing else
- +Up to 3× Capture gateways, also on loan — gateways match equipment, not lines. One line with a scale, a label printer, a scanner, and a PLC can use all three; a simpler line uses one. What goes in the box is scoped to the equipment you describe at checkout.
- +Mounting hardware, cabling, and the install guide your tech actually follows
- +A prepaid return label — the kit is ours and it always comes back
// illustrative — contents scoped to the equipment you describe
// gateway count is set by your equipment, not by line count
// what you keep — including the price of the rollout
Either way, you keep the record
Every event from the month is yours, exported in open formats — and the full-rollout architecture: what the whole platform looks like on your floor, with the hardware specification, the deployment sequence, and an estimate of what the platform agreement costs. That estimate is built from the line you just recorded, and it lands at day thirty. Nothing is owed to see it.
The write-up specifies exactly what to buy — commodity gateways and a server, from your existing supplier. Our loaner goes back; production runs on kit you own outright. Platform licensing is $1,500 per line per month from there, and the $1,500 credits in full against your first invoice if you continue within twelve months.
On the prepaid label that came in the box. Nothing to return beyond that, nothing to cancel, and the record and the write-up are still yours.
// the qualification does the scoping, so nobody has to
Does your line qualify?
Five things. If your line matches all five, buy the pilot — this is the same list we check against, so there is nothing else to pass. If one of them is a no, say so before you pay and we will tell you straight whether it is workable.
- +US or Canadian facility
- +One production line or asset class with equipment that can be physically reached — sensors mounted, serial lines tapped, printers cabled
- +Power within reach of that equipment
- +A network the Core box can join (air-gapped is fine; that’s the point)
- +A named person who can mount the hardware and get bring-up on the calendar within fourteen days of the box landing
- +Up to fourteen signals on that line — a signal is one thing being recorded: a scale weight, a label print, a scanner read, a PLC tag. Most single lines sit well under it
Not sure about one of them? Buy it anyway and cancel if it turns out not to fit — the full $1,500 comes back any time before the kit ships, no reason required. If your facility can’t accept shipped hardware or requires escorted install, on-site installation is available as a separate $2,500 flat add-on — one visit, everything mounted and lit before we leave.
// tell us the line
Start the pilot
Four fields, then checkout. The next screen is Stripe — card details and the address the box ships to. Everything about the line is optional here; bring-up pins it down either way.
// details received
Taking you to checkout…
Your details are in. The next screen is Stripe — card details and the address the box ships to. If nothing happens in a few seconds, use the button.
// faq
Straight answers
Is this a demo?
No. Demos run on our data in our environment and prove nothing about your floor. The pilot runs on your line, on your network, against your equipment. That’s the only test that means anything.
We have three lines. Should we pilot all of them?
No. Pick your worst one — the ancient scale, the serial printer nobody wants to touch, the spot where the counts never reconcile. Capture either works on your equipment or it doesn’t, and the ugliest line answers that fastest. If it captures there, the rest of your floor is straightforward, and the write-up prices out all three.
What if my line turns out not to qualify?
Then you get your money back. Cancel any time before the kit ships and the full $1,500 is refunded — no reason required, no restocking deduction. After it ships, one trigger remains: if bring-up can’t produce events from the equipment you described at intake, that’s a full refund too and the kit goes back on the prepaid label. The qualification list above is the same list we check against, so you can rule yourself out before paying anything.
What if it fails on the floor?
You found that out for $1,500 on one line, instead of mid-rollout across a floor you had already committed to. The record and the write-up are still yours either way, and the loaner kit goes back on the label that came with it.
When does the card get taken?
At checkout, right after the form — card, Link, or Cash App. It is the first and only money that changes hands before the box ships, and it is refundable in full until it does. If a card is the wrong instrument, request an invoice instead and it goes out against a PO on net terms — ACH or wire.
Can we pay by PO instead of a card?
Yes. There’s a separate invoice request — it asks for the PO number and your billing contact, and the invoice goes out for review before anything is owed. The box is built and ships once it’s paid. Same pilot, same thirty days, same replay at the end; it just moves at the speed of your AP department instead of a card.
How fast does the box arrive?
It ships within five business days of a confirmed line. Right after checkout you get an email asking what's actually on that line — makes, models, counts — because that is what the box is built to. One reply and the clock starts. If you already filled that in on the form, it is a nod and we build it.
Who installs it?
Your maintenance tech or electrician, from the guide in the box, with a remote bring-up session booked within fourteen days of delivery. If your facility requires an escorted on-site install, that’s the $2,500 flat add-on.
Does any data leave our network?
No. Capture writes to the Core box on your network. Offline-first, air-gap capable. Nothing phones home.
What happens after day thirty?
You’ve seen the replay, and the write-up estimates the rollout — the commodity units to buy, the sequence to deploy them in, and what the platform agreement would cost. Either way the loaner kit ships back on the label that came with it — we never sell you our hardware. Continue within twelve months, and the $1,500 credits against your first platform invoice. Stop, and the data and the write-up are still yours.
Do we have to talk to anyone first?
No — nothing requires it, and nobody qualifies you on the phone. The list above is the qualification: if your line matches it, buy the pilot and the box goes out. But if you’d rather talk it through before paying, book the twenty-minute call linked above. No pitch, same pilot, same price — the box still ships on payment.
Why is it this cheap?
Because the pilot sells the platform, not our time. The box is preconfigured, your tech mounts it, and the bring-up is remote. You’re not buying hours; you’re buying a recorded month and a pass/fail you can verify.
What does the rollout cost after the pilot?
The platform is priced per line: $1,500 per line per month. Three lines, do the math. Hardware is separate and you buy it outright from your own supplier — we don’t resell equipment, so that number isn’t ours to quote. The $1,500 credits in full against the first invoice if you continue within twelve months, which on a single line covers the first month outright. The architecture write-up you get at day thirty sets out the units and the timeline, so the number you’re multiplying is one you can check before you commit to it.
// the finish line is machine-verifiable