LeafLabs

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Software Technology of Chorus LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Chorus is pioneering a new approach to pathogen control to create healthier indoor spaces. Our innovative chlorine dioxide-based systems will deliver cleaner environments for indoor agriculture, food cold storage, and other vital applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire LeafLabs to accomplish?

• Embedded Development & Engineering

SOLUTION

How did you find LeafLabs?

Referral

Why did you select LeafLabs over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Proven record and referrals

How many teammates from LeafLabs were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Firmware architecture and development for a custom IoT medical device prototype that involved the STM microprocessor for the Controller and ESP for the Communications (BLE, Wi-Fi etc.) - both running on RTOS.
• Sensor integration including calibration, filtering, compensation and data acquisition from multiple sources integrated with a generator.
• Implementation of real-time communication protocols (e.g., UART, SPI, I2C, BLE, or similar)
• Bootloader and OTA update system design for secure firmware deployment
• Diagnostic and debugging tools development for internal use and field diagnostics
• Support for regulatory and quality documentation aligned with medical device standards
• Close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including hardware, electro-mechanical, cloud and mobile app developers, to ensure seamless end-to-end integration

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Several measurable outcomes demonstrated the success of our collaboration with Leaflabs:

1. Weekly sprint work always delivered in time and at times ahead of schedule — functional firmware running on custom hardware within weeks, accelerating our product roadmap.
2. Refactored a UART communication for IPC, calibration and gas generation & sensing algorithms.
3. Implemented a stable real-time communication layer between embedded device and cloud/mobile app with low latency, meeting our design requirements.
4. Ensured performance & reliability of the firmware
5. Support for OTA updates implemented, allowing us to remotely deploy firmware iterations without field recalls.
6. Implemented key functional features such as WiFi manager, Alert manager and closed loop on the controller as per requirement. Also implemented a robust build infrastructure.
7. Internal stakeholder satisfaction — positive feedback across product, engineering, and QA teams for code quality, documentation, and communication.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Leaflabs demonstrated strong project management capabilities throughout our embedded development collaboration. They maintained clear communication, structured development cycles, and effective milestone tracking. Deliverables were consistently submitted on or ahead of schedule, and any timeline risks were proactively flagged with proposed solutions.

Their responsiveness to our evolving technical and business needs was excellent. Whether it was a change in firmware requirements, support for OTA updates, or IPC using UART/COBS-based communication protocol, the Leaflabs team provided clear timelines for changes. Their ability to translate high-level requirements into actionable engineering tasks made collaboration smooth and productive.

Overall, Leaflabs has been a reliable partner, showing both technical depth and accountability in managing deliverables and they will remain our go-to partners for anything and everything on Embedded Engineering and related.

What was your primary form of communication with LeafLabs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What impressed us most about LeafLabs was their ability to quickly grasp complex embedded system requirements. They worked like our extended team and consistently delivered high-quality firmware on time with minimal oversight. They also didn’t hesitate to chime in with valuable recommendations, even when it meant suggesting system-level changes, which greatly improved our overall solution.

Are there any areas for improvement or something LeafLabs could have done differently?

Not a major drawback by any means, but it would have been nice to have the Leaflabs team working from our Marlborough office more frequently. That said, their remote collaboration was highly effective, and productivity never suffered as a result — the quality and consistency of their work spoke for itself.