Spark Program - Blackbox Completion Report

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结项评价 / Final Evaluation

  • 完成日期 / Completion Date: 2026-01-14

  • 评价摘要 / Evaluation Summary:

    • 在星火计划的支持下，Blackbox 项目以极高的完成度交付了所有承诺的核心成果。尽管因海关清关、供应商缺货等问题导致两次延误，但项目最终仍在截止日期到达前成功收集全部6名测试者的反馈，并提交了完整交付物。委员会对项目组在评审阶段的积极响应高度认可：针对委员会提出的“为结论标明论据来源”、“对建议说明前因后果”、“优化图表的可视范围”等多条建议，项目组迅速采纳并迭代，最终交付了远超预期的优质报告与反馈编译文档。该项目不仅为 Blackbox 硬件原型提供了宝贵的一手可用性数据，也为 CKB 生态硬件类项目的测试方法论提供了可参考的范例。

    • Under the Spark Program, the Blackbox project delivered all committed core outcomes with an extremely high degree of completion. Despite two delays caused by customs clearance and supplier stock shortages, the project ultimately successfully collected feedback from all 6 testers and submitted complete deliverables before the deadline. The committee highly commends the team’s proactive response during the review phase: upon receiving suggestions such as “indicate sources for conclusions,” “explain causes and effects for recommendations,” and “optimize chart visibility,” the team quickly adopted them and iterated, ultimately delivering significantly higher-quality reports and compiled feedback than anticipated. This project not only provided valuable first-hand usability data for the Blackbox hardware prototype but also offered a reference methodology for hardware-related testing in the CKB ecosystem.

  • 主要成果 / Key Achievements:

    • 成功招募并协调6名具备区块链开发、测试、UI/UX及内容教育背景的专业测试者，完成 Blackbox V0 原型的全流程实机测试。

    • 收集并编译了详尽的定量与定性反馈，包括35+评分项、开放式问题以及针对设置流程、扫码交互、系统性能等方面的具体改进建议。

    • 交付了硬件驱动代码和多份高质量报告，为后续 V1 版本迭代提供了清晰、可执行的优化路径。

    • Collected and compiled detailed quantitative and qualitative feedback, including 35+ rating items, open-ended questions, and specific improvement suggestions for setup flows, scanning interactions, and system performance.

    • Successfully recruited and coordinated 6 professional testers with backgrounds in blockchain development, testing, UI/UX, and educational content, completing full-process real-device testing of the Blackbox V0 prototype.

    • Delivered hardware driver code and multiple high-quality reports, providing a clear and executable optimization path for subsequent V1 iterations.

      1. Blackbox-Binaries

      2. Blackbox v0 final report

      3. Appendix 1: Blackbox prototype testing pack

      4. Appendix 2: Testing Operations Experience and Reflections

      5. Appendix 3: Compilation of all quantitative and qualitative feedback received from testers

  • 创新点与价值 / Innovation & Value:

    • 硬件生态先行探索： 作为 CKB 生态内首个针对加密支付硬件终端开展的系统化可用性研究，项目首次将传统 POS 终端的成熟 HCI 评估方法引入 Web3 硬件场景，为未来更多硬件类项目提供了测试框架与反馈模板。

    • 社区协作标杆： 项目组在延期压力下仍保持高效沟通，积极响应委员会优化建议，展现了高度的专业精神与协作态度，为星火计划后续项目树立了优秀的执行范例。

    • Pioneering Hardware Ecosystem Exploration: As the first systematic usability study of a crypto payment hardware terminal in the CKB ecosystem, the project introduced mature HCI evaluation methods from traditional POS terminals into the Web3 hardware domain for the first time, providing a testing framework and feedback template for future hardware projects.

    • Benchmark for Community Collaboration: Despite extension pressures, the team maintained efficient communication and actively addressed committee optimization suggestions, demonstrating high professionalism and collaborative spirit—setting an excellent execution example for future Spark projects.

  • 后续支持 / Follow-up Support:

    • 该项目表现优异，Spark commitee将尽力支持项目后续发展，如准备后续更大规模提案（注1：根据项目团队意愿，注2：不代表背书），协助硬件生态资源对接与提供技术、咨询支持，各渠道推广项目成果等。同时，Committee 将通过官方渠道推广项目成果，并邀请项目负责人 Neon 参与社区分享活动。

    • As an outstanding project, the Spark committee will do its best to support the project’s future development, such as preparing larger-scale proposals (Note 1: subject to the project team’s preference; Note 2: not an endorsement), assisting with hardware ecosystem resource alignment and providing technical and advisory support, and promoting the project’s outcomes across various channels. Additionally, the Committee will promote the project outcomes through official channels and invite project lead Neon to participate in community sharing events.

结项报告详情 / Detailed Final Report

1. 项目背景 / Project Background

Blackbox 项目旨在开发下一代支持 fiat 与加密货币双轨支付的 POS 终端，重点集成支付通道网络以实现即时、低费用、高隐私的加密结算。为确保 V1 版本具备商用级可用性与可靠性，项目负责人 Neon 于星火计划框架下申请小额资助，专注于对 V0 硬件原型开展专业化可用性与性能测试，招募行业专家测试者，收集系统性反馈并形成优化建议报告。

项目因其清晰的目标、对硬件生态的潜在贡献以及负责人深厚的社区背景而获得批准，并在资助审批后迅速启动。

The Blackbox project aims to develop a next-generation POS terminal supporting both fiat and cryptocurrency payments, with a focus on integrating payment channel networks for instant, low-fee, high-privacy crypto settlements. To ensure V1 achieves commercial-grade usability and reliability, project lead Neon (Nervos Community Catalyst and Blackbox co-founder) applied for a Spark Program mini-grant to conduct professional usability and performance testing on the V0 hardware prototype, recruit expert testers, collect systematic feedback, and produce optimization recommendation reports. The project was approved due to its clear objectives, potential contribution to the hardware ecosystem, and the lead’s strong community background. It commenced promptly following approval.

2. 交付成果与完成度评估 / Deliverables & Completion Assessment

项目原计划在规定周期内完成测试、反馈收集与报告交付。因海关清关导致部分设备延迟抵达测试者，项目组先后申请两次短期延期，最终仍在最后期限前完成全部工作。

  • 测试执行： 成功向6名专业测试者发放设备并回收完整反馈，覆盖设置流程、交互体验、系统性能、硬件人体工学等关键维度。

  • 报告交付： 提交《Blackbox Prototype Usability & Performance Study》完整研究报告以及三份附录文档，内容详实、结构清晰。

  • 额外优化： 根据委员会评审反馈，项目组主动迭代报告结构、增加数据可视化并优化建议优先级排序，使最终交付物质量显著提升。

  • 完成度评估： 委员会一致认为项目100%完成承诺内容，并在交付物品质量上超出预期，可视为星火计划优秀案例。

最终交付物链接和列表：

  • https://github.com/Neonckb/blackbox_prototype_report

    • Blackbox v0 final report

    • Appendix 1: Blackbox prototype testing pack

    • Appendix 2: Testing Operations Experience and Reflections

    • Appendix 3: Compilation of all quantitative and qualitative feedback received from testers

  • https://github.com/toastmanAu/Blackbox-Binaries

    • Blackbox-Binaries

  • Testing Execution: Successfully distributed devices to 6 professional testers and collected complete feedback covering setup flows, interaction experience, system performance, and hardware ergonomics.

  • Report Delivery: Submitted the full research report “Blackbox Prototype Usability & Performance Study” along with three appendix documents; the content is comprehensive and well-structured.

  • Additional Optimization: Based on committee review feedback, the team proactively iterated report structure, added data visualizations, and refined recommendation prioritization, significantly enhancing final deliverable quality.

  • Completion Assessment: The committee unanimously agrees the project completed 100% of committed deliverables and exceeded expectations in quality, qualifying as an excellent Spark Program case.

  • Final Deliverable Links:

3. 评审过程与反馈整合 / Review Process & Feedback Integration

项目初次提交后，委员会进行了深入评审，重点建议包括：增加关键结论的来源呈现、明确建议的优先级与可执行性等。项目负责人 Neon 和 Phill 在短时间内积极响应，多次迭代并最终交付了大幅提升的版本。此阶段充分体现了星火计划的协作精神与项目组的专业素养。

Following initial submission, the committee conducted an in-depth review, primarily suggesting improvements such as adding source presentations for key conclusions and clarifying prioritization and actionability of recommendations. Project lead Neon and Phill responded promptly, iterating multiple times and ultimately delivering a substantially improved version. This phase fully embodied the collaborative spirit of the Spark Program and the team’s professionalism.

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4. 资金发放详情 / Funding Details

项目此前仅发放20%启动资金，用于设备采购与初步协调。鉴于项目高质量结项，现发放剩余80%结项资金。

The project previously received only the 20% initial funding for device procurement and coordination. Given the high-quality completion, the remaining 80% final funding is now disbursed.

5. 总结与展望 / Conclusion & Outlook

Blackbox 项目是星火计划在硬件与可用性测试领域的一次成功实践。它不仅为 Blackbox 自身迭代提供了坚实数据基础，更通过公开透明的测试方法与高质量报告，为 CKB 生态硬件项目的发展贡献了宝贵经验。我们高度赞扬 Neon 和 Phill 在面对物流挑战时的韧性与专业态度，相信本次成果将成为更多硬件创新项目的起点，也将激励社区开发者在 CKB 上探索更多真实场景的应用。

The Blackbox project represents a successful Spark Program initiative in hardware and usability testing. It not only provided a solid data foundation for Blackbox’s own iteration but, through transparent testing methods and high-quality reports, contributed valuable experience to hardware projects in the CKB ecosystem. We highly commend Neon and Phill for their resilience and professionalism in overcoming logistical challenges, and we believe these outcomes will serve as a starting point for more hardware innovations, inspiring community developers to explore more real-world applications on CKB.

9 Likes
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Big milestone for $CKB.
Rosen Bridge is now approved, and in parallel we’re seeing concrete progress on the hardware side with Blackbox, audited reports, on-chain funding, and real POS usability work.

Infrastructure, governance, and real-world use cases are finally starting to connect for CKB and Nervos !

5 Likes
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非常感谢 Blackbox 团队和 6 位社区测试人员，他们共同将这份报告打造成了可供未来硬件测试项目复用的参考资料。

如果您正在构建硬件或面向商户的生态系统产品，那么这份报告值得一读，尤其是其中关于测试操作的反思，这些内容极具启发性，可以帮助您避免大量的试错。

Many thanks to the Blackbox team and the six community testers who together turned this report into a reference resource that can be reused for future hardware testing projects.

If you are building hardware or a merchant-facing ecosystem product, this report is worth reading—especially the reflections on testing operations, which are highly insightful and can help you avoid a great deal of trial and error.

7 Likes
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big thanks to the spark program and everyone else involved who helped get the black box to where it is now. Developing physical products that need to be sourced, assembled and shipped back out to testers adds additional costs and challenges to traditional crypto building and the spark program helped bridge that gap allowing us to get units in people’s hands without outlaying large sums of money personally, I am truly grateful. Steps are already underway to bring it to the next level.

9 Likes