Scopic Software

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided C++ image programming for automation applications. We have one machine with five lasers. We have 300,000-400,000 point per second lasers and two longer-range 20,000 point-per-second lasers. In order to handle this, we use stockyard machine control with a stacker reclaimer.

It’s generally recognized as the largest semi-autonomous machine in the world because it’s on rails, but totally unmanned. It’s about 10 stories high and sits on a rail track 11 meters wide with a couple of vehicle roadways to pass under it. It’s an extremely large machine with a 60-meter boom and 10-meter diameter buckle wheel. We control that and position a chain within about 100 millimeters.

The software they helped create is an essential part of the application. It actually processes the 3D point clouds from multiple laser systems and updates a data set for stockyard which is 1.2 kilometers wide. We’re currently doing another system that is 20 meters wide. Essentially, we have our new memory data set that has a 40-millimeter horizontal resolution at the stockyard.

We’re currently sitting at around a 500-megabyte internal data set and it will roll up to 1 gig to achieve the functional requirements of the application. We do very high-speed processing with more processing power on our machine than anywhere in the world. We essentially put up a server and they were choosy on processing systems and video co-processes as well.

It’s been a learning exercise for ourselves and Scopic Software. We’re using Nvidia GPU processing that didn’t exist four years ago nor did some of the libraries we’re using. We’ve had to discover the appropriate external libraries to use to provide the performance system. The stockyard, which is the main dataset, is accessed by 9 or 10 processes. It’s quite a unique C++ application in that it’s got a large number of processes accessing a very large data set in real time.

We do our processing and surface reconstruction at the line-hour prime rate of 10Hz.  When the application is running, it will use 100-130 concurrent threads. There are very few developers in the world who can do multi-process C++ including Nvidia GPU. Most of our standard routines have SSE intel vector instruction optimizations and we also have equivalent processes that we bring in a GPU environment for those as well.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with two developers. In the early stages, the maximum number was four developers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Scopic Software?

We advertised for developers and within 24 hours, we had heard from eight very high-level C++ developers from various countries around the world. We worked with one of them for proof of concept, but that didn’t meet our performance requirements. Even though they were a very large organization, it was the first application that was truly real-time. We went looking for a low-cost option in India. We came across Scopic Software in a web search and we spoke with the owner. We eventually started using developers and most of the developers have been from Northern Europe throughout the whole time.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $250,000-$300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2014 and the work is ongoing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Starting with our wireframes and business requirements, Scopic Software turned our idea into code. They were picking up where a past service provider left off, developing our iOS and Android app from the front- and backend. 

Their team also created a launch plan for the app and website supporting the app. They also handled the marketing material surrounding SEO, ensuring we were promoting the app in the best ways possible. The final app contains ads, so they spent some of their time on ad optimization too.

The final app will function as a repository for medical data, including prescriptions, photos, and X-rays. It will allow users to manage their individual data and the data belonging to parents, children, and carriers. Users can access the life cycle of their data in realtime.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was an account manager. We also worked directly with representatives from the marketing team. In total, there were probably 10–20 people assigned to my project at any given time. 

How did you come to work with Scopic Software?

I heard of Scopic Software through reputation and contacts in my network. After reaching out, I spoke with them and about five other vendors. They each came to me with a scope and timeframes for the project, and Scopic Software’s stood out.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in July 2018, and I’m still working with them.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scopic Software took over our e-commerce website developed in Ruby. They maintain the site and expand on its functionality using PHP, Ruby on Rails, and Python.

What is the team composition?

We work with 6–7 people, including two project managers, 4–5 Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers, 1–2 PHP developers, and 1–2 Python developers.

How did you come to work with Scopic Software?

I had worked with Scopic Software at past companies. I had such a good experience that I decided to approach them again. We had previously engaged two different development teams for this project, and when the time came to move on from them, I reached out to Scopic Software.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in August 2015 and is ongoing.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Scopic Softaware developed my app from scratch. Their team presented all of the wireframes, suggested graphics, and helped work through the user flows. They then proceeded to development, using Google Vision for the optical character recognition (OCR) software and Firebase for the backend.

It’s an Android/iOS app that allows users to take a photo of a print recipe and learn about the dish’s nutritional value. Through OCR technology, the app will analyze the ingredients and quantities and compare them to a database to calculate the calories, sugar, salt, minerals, and more. Users can also input a URL of a recipe into the app’s built-in browser to extract nutritional information.

What is the team composition?  

They assigned a team of 4–6, including a project manager, UI designers, backend developers, database engineers, and QA specialists.

How did you come to work with Scopic Software?

I found them online and considered them along with two other candidates. After talking to their president, I felt like we really hit it off. He understood what I needed and had done similar projects before, so I was happy to work with him.

How much have you invested with them? 

We spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted about 18 months, from February 2017–July 2018.