SERVER DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
Voodoo Robotics offers a server solution for Cloud Display devices on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or on your own server or cloud.
Server Choices
Voodoo Robotics provides two server deployment solutions to communicate with the Cloud Display Devices. Neither solution requires that you purchase dedicated hardware, but both require use of Turbos, WIFI-enabled devices that reside within the warehouse locations that route data between the Cloud Display Devices and the Voodoo Robotics server.
- VoodooDevices.com is a subscription-based, multi-tenant version of our Big Block Server that provides real-time access to the status of your devices and manages communications with up to 50 Cloud Display Devices and their associated Turbos. Deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), this is the default solution if you have a starter kit, and do not have your own server installation. VoodooDevices.com enables you to configure and track the Devices and Turbos for your warehouse and provides limited Sequencer functionality. Please contact us for further details about this option.
- Big Block Server. If you want more functionality and a higher capacity than VoodooDevices.com and want your own installation within your own firewall or cloud. If you install it on your own server, it runs within your firewall, has no dependency on Amazon Web Services, and can continue to function when Internet connectivity fails. Because it resides within your network, it can also speed up communications with Cloud Display Devices.
BIG BLOCK SERVER
a server solution for Voodoo Robotics devices that resides within your firewall
Install Big Block Server
If you will be using more than 50 devices or are unable to use Amazon Web Services, Big Block Server provides a server solution that runs within your firewall and has no dependency on Amazon.
Big Block Server provides complete data privacy and does not have an internet dependency. If your server and internal network have power, but you have no access to the internet, Big Block Server will continue to function.
Faster!
Running Big Block Server locally makes communicating with devices faster.
- Typically customers see a latency reduction of about 0.4 seconds, —from about 1.3 seconds down to about 0.9 seconds.
- The actual latency decrease will depend upon specific factors relating to your Local Area Network (LAN) setup such as the number and frequency of calls, and overlap of commands.
- As they say, “If you want to optimize a metric, start by measuring it.” In our obsession to minimize latency on our devices, we have developed some very useful tools for measuring these latencies. Check out the latency graphs for devices that show delay times broken down by Turbo, and check out the latency graphs for Turbos broken down by device. It is very useful information in evaluating your setup.
Track Devices
At its most basic level, Big Block keeps track of your Devices and helps you communicate with them.
- Monitor voltages
- Check or set Area and Location information
- Check uptime
- Set static display information
- Adjust brightness
- Monitor temperature alarms
- Adjust temperature thresholds
View Your Data
All data in the system is available in easy to use formats.
- Zoomable graphs
- Export to CSV
- Follow Voltage or Temperature over time
- Check on communication signals between any Device and any Turbo
Identify and Track your Turbos
Assign a location name to each Turbo. It is important that you take the time to do this because it facilitates the easy identification of Turbos in the system. Nobody wants to refer to a Turbo by its serial number.
Use Big Block Server to track of all your Turbos (or Turbo POEs).
- Monitor uptime
- Check on Temperature
- Find IP addresses
- Diagnose problems in-situ
You can request immediate data from any Turbo without having to dismount it. For example, you can check on dynamic signal strength to any device, or get the real-time reported voltage.
Full Temperature Support
Each device has a built-in thermometer. The temperature that devices report can be graphed and analyzed over time. Further, devices can be set up individually to sound an alarm if a temperature exceeds a high threshold or goes below a low threshold. You can even send out e-mail alerts to a set of addresses if a device goes into an alarm condition. Check with us if you’d like to enable this feature in your system.
For customers interested in monitoring inventory temperature:
- Adjust high or low alarms
- Recalibrate Devices
- Change Update Interval
- Graph temperature history
- Setup e-mail alerts for Devices out of bounds
Customization
Setup your system to keep the data you need:
- Reduce historic data to make backups easier
- Set up nightly voltage warning e-mails
- Set up temperature e-mail alerts
- Use your own SMTP server
- Adjust feedback protocol
Let Big Block Server handle Sequencing
Big Block Server responds very quickly to button presses on the Cloud Display Devices. By pre-building sequences with the Big Block sequencing engine, you can control the real-time response to events and save development/integration time. Big Block Sequencer is designed for companies that do not have IT bandwidth/resources.
- A Sequence is a series of customized Steps
- Steps describe which devices (or which locations) should activate and with what messages (text, icons, barcodes, QR codes)
- Steps can activate concurrently or sequentially
- Acknowledgement of a Step automatically advances the Sequence to the next Step.
- Pickers have their own interface and can launch Picklists with a cellphone or barcode scanner
- Directly upload your Picklists with your own nomenclature (e.g., CSV, XLS)
- The REST API is also available, but simpler to use and the code does not need to run in real-time
- Keep inventory in sync at every Step with custom feedback (webhooks).
API Support
- Simple REST API
- QueryString API
- Customize your own feedback webhook
Multi-user support and management
Big Block Server allows you to create and manage the Big Block server accounts for your enterprise.
Use a Public IP Address to Improve Security
Some customers have asked us to install our Big Block server behind their firewall on a private, internal IP address. This can be done but has significant security implications. For example, without a public IP address for the server, we cannot obtain an SSL certificate. And without that certificate, all communications in and out of the server and between the server and Turbos must be passed in the clear using HTTP, not HTTPS. That’s definitely not the way to deploy a reliably secure system.
Big Block Feature Walkthrough
Trevor Blumenau demonstrates the features of Big Block Server.