From Idea to Purchase List in Minutes

The gap between having an idea for a hardware project and knowing exactly what to buy has traditionally been measured in days. Research, component selection, supplier comparison, and BOM assembly all demand time and expertise. AYA compresses this into a single session.

The Five-Step Flow

AYA’s workflow is designed so that each step builds confidence in the result before moving to the next.

Step 1: Describe Your Project

Start by telling AYA what you want to build. You do not need a schematic or a formal specification. Natural language works:

"I want to build a solar-powered weather station that measures temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure, and transmits data over LoRa to a base station 2km away."

The more detail you provide, the more precise the output. But even a brief description produces a useful starting point.

Step 2: Review Generated Requirements

AYA analyzes your description and produces a structured requirements document. For the weather station example, this would include:

• Power: Solar panel, charge controller, LiPo battery, voltage regulator
• Sensors: Temperature/humidity sensor (e.g., SHT40), barometric pressure sensor (e.g., BMP390)
• Microcontroller: Low-power MCU with SPI/I2C interfaces and sufficient flash for the application
• Communication: LoRa transceiver module rated for 2km+ range
• Enclosure considerations: Weatherproof rating, mounting options

You can edit, add, or remove requirements at this stage. The system is interactive – it is a conversation, not a one-shot output.

Step 3: Component Selection

Based on the approved requirements, AYA selects specific components. Each selection includes the part number, manufacturer, key specifications, and a rationale for why it was chosen. You can swap components if you have preferences or inventory constraints.

Step 4: Live Pricing

With the component list finalized, AYA queries global suppliers for current pricing. You see unit costs at various quantities, stock levels, and estimated shipping times. The pricing view is sorted by total cost to your region by default, but you can sort by availability, lead time, or individual supplier preference.

Step 5: Export and Purchase

The final BOM can be exported as a spreadsheet or shared as a link. Each component includes direct links to supplier product pages, so purchasing is one click away. For teams, the shared link keeps everyone aligned on the current component list and pricing.

Mock vs. Live Pricing

AYA supports two pricing modes. Mock pricing uses curated reference data to give instant results – useful for early-stage exploration when you want to estimate costs without waiting for API responses. Live pricing queries real supplier APIs and returns current market data, which is essential for actual purchasing decisions.

Building Confidence Through Iteration

The key design principle is that no step is irreversible. You can go back, adjust requirements, swap components, and re-price at any point. Each iteration takes seconds, not hours. By the time you reach the purchase step, you have validated every layer of the decision from requirements through cost.