18 RGB LEDs under the skin, rechargeable, and bluetooth controlled

BenbeezyBenbeezy
edited December 2015 in Coatings, transdermals, other implants
After seeing the northstar I had a bit of inspiration. I think the idea of the northstar is super cool! But not a very smooth execution. So I took some adafruit parts and made a bluetooth controlled LED ring with 12 LEDs on it. this was cool. It had a battery and qi charger and LEDs But it was not an implant by any means. So I took to eagle (learned eagle while making this) and I designed my own atmel32u4-mu powered bluetooth implant with 18 leds (the more the better right).

The way it works is your phone connects over BLE and sends a LED number along with the brightness of Red Green and Blue. So you can choose what LED is what color and brightness. The implant its self is super simple, all it does is listen for a color and change that LED thats it! All of the magic happens on your device with the data that is sent. You can do things like assign an LED to a contact in your phone and the color will change depending on what the notification is. Green for text, red for email, or whatever you decide. This make it so your implant never goes obsolete, at least as long as BLE is still in devices. like I said I have one working now that is just bread boarded, but I am doing a initial test pcb run in a few days. Oh and I put in a vibration motor so you can do that bottle nose stuff, and the BLE chit has a temp readout so you can get a rough body temp.

What does everyone think? Would you like a rechargeable RGB bluetooth version of the northstar with 18 LEDs? What would you use it for?

P.S. Friends at grindhouse, please dont be mad at me for putting all of your projects into one. You guys inspired it, so thank you.
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Comments

  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    imageimageimage
  • ChilliEyeChilliEye
    How thick is it, + coating, can you estimate? 
    Does only the ring get implanted, or, battery, charger, that board thing?

    Looks and sounds pretty good, more useful than the Northstar sounded. 
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    I think with the coating and everything I am shooting for around 6mm thick. I have a coating that I am testing right now that looks very promising that can be thin and very strong (testing as in its implanted in 2 places in me and waiting to see if it reacts over time) The entire thing will go under to skin. all of the electronics fit in the middle of the ring, the size is the same as that 12 LED one on my hand in the picture above, but I am using smaller LEDs so I fit 18. The entire thing will be implanted and you will charge it with a magnetic clip on thing that I initially designed for my bluetooth audio implant.
  • ElectricFeelElectricFeel
    edited December 2015
    That PCB layout isn't great, so many sharp corners and large vias, what did you design that in? You've also violated the keep-out of that bluetooth module, that's  going to tank your signal.
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    edited December 2015
    @ElectricFeel, he designed it in eagle. 

     That doesn't look too bad for your first time! I love the idea of placing all the electronics inside of the ring.

    I had an idea like this awhile ago. Personally I think that it would be really cool to add a magnetometer, so that you could use it as a compass if you sent it a command. You could use the haptic to feel north, or see the lights point north. You get the idea.

    I know you can already feel poles with your magnets but it would still be cool.


    The only thing that I am a bit apprehensive about is reprogramming the chip. In my experience (and according the Adafruit forums) you can't use the built in bluetooth to reprogram the chip. There is probably a way to do it, but it's beyond me. This probably wouldn't be an issue once you get the program to where you want it. I still like to keep my options open  


    I was looking into flashing their firmware onto just a stock nRF51 for the exact same purpose as this
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    So now the entire thing is re-done with ground planes and everything laid out a bit better. As for programming it I don really see a need to program it after the initial flash. all the chip does is listen over bluetooth and does what you said. change individual LED color and vibrate. Thats it, but with that your phone can do all kinds of cool thinks. like use your phone as the compass and change the LED values accordingly.

    Thats the plan at least. Dont over complicate the implant, do all of the cool things on an external device.
  • gbitgbit
    I think it's supercool :D, but I may be a little bit biased since I've been playing around with a very similar concept (build wise).


    How much current does the bluetooth module need ?
    Wondering if using a small Atmega microprocessor to keep it ticking requires less energy and then just use a "sleeping" bluetooth module to send data to the atmega
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    @gbit I believe that one in particular uses a max of 20mAh when receiving and transmitting, but has some crazy low power consumption when in hibernation. Check out the Bluefruit UART/SPI Friend on Adafruit. Here is the link to the SPI version info page.

    https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing-the-adafruit-bluefruit-spi-breakout

    (sorry no hyperlink, this forum is kinda weird on mobile)
  • Arkcon10Arkcon10
    still looks kind of big for a hand/arm implant... ever thought about implanting that somewhere larger? (and possibly more comfortable) like say your chest or even back? and how do you think such an implant would fare in such places?

  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    @Arkcon10, this would make a pretty cool arc reactor, just saying
  • Arkcon10Arkcon10
    @ChrisBot It really would actually, all you'd need then is an iron man costume lol
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    I do think an arc reactor would be cool. But I built it so you can get notifications on it. It would suck if you had to look at your chest for that. And the same issue with the back. If you cant see it then its kind of pointless. It could still vibrate, but thats a very limited use of what it could do. Maybe more on like a forarm. Its still a hell of a lot smaller than Tims implant, and his kind of worked in the arm. Maybe if I had a bigger wrist I could use it as a smart watch kind of thing.
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    edited January 2016
    Have you done any sort of power consumption tests? Any thoughts on what sized battery you will need? 

    Sorry if I'm beating the dead horse here, but I do really think that you should reconsider being able to program it over the air. This sort of device has so many potential uses, and it seems like it would be a great "general purpose" sort of implant. I think you may regret not being to give it any new functionality. 

    Plus looking ahead, (hypothetically) what if there is some sort of update that suddenly renders the device unable to communicate with your phone? It would make sense cover all the bases and be able to keep up on software. With this sort of thing it is better to be safe than sorry.

    Also, I don't know if you added this on your new board design, or if it's too late. I would recommend adding some sort of micro tact switch to reset the the micro controller. In case something is being wonky and you need to power cycle it. 


    EDIT: I misunderstood, my bad. You are just using the phone to talk tell what leds to light up. Nothing much else is going on with the implant

    I was thinking that you would send the implant a command to start certain modes or some such, but that is not the case.
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    So on power tests I am getting around 7ish hours with a 150mha battery (planning on using something more in the 300 range for final implant) The ble module can do updates for its self ota but not for the micro controller. The controller is getting info sent to it that looks kinda like "1(10,20,30) 2(55,38,12)" led number with the RGB value with it. This makes it so it doesn't need updates. You just update your phone app and it will update how to implant works. So yeah your edit is correct.

    I have all of the surface mount parts ordered and the blank boards sent out to be made, might take a while since I didnt pay for quick turn around.
  • AlternateAlternate
    edited January 2016
    How many are you planning on making @benbeezy?

    And have you got some way to cancel notifications when you receive them? Depending on how long the implant vibrates and lights up for, I'd think that tapping it or shaking your wrist could be a way. Obviously you want the LEDs to light up and it to vibrate for long enough to be noticed but not be annoying.

    Edit - think trying to go to sleep and having 3 people text you in quick succession. That gets annoying real quick.
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    edited January 2016
    @Alternate, you could always send it command to sleep from the phone, or detect when the phone is put on do not disturb.

    I like the idea of shaking or tapping your wrist though. Maybe some sort of gesture control? Come to think of it, with some more development this could be used as some sort of gesture control implant.

    This kind of can lead back to the whole iron man thing... When at the beginning of the third movie he injects those things into his arms in order to control the suit.... would be cool. just saying. Sounds like something that @garethnelsonuk could be interested in.

    If you dont want to add a gyro or what no perhaps you should consider a few mini tact switches like I suggested before.
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    Gesture control is what northstar is planning for v2 and this one is very capable of doing that as well. You would just have to add the component onto the board. For my first run I am going to make one without gesture (just to simplify and not make sure things work) The issue with a tact switch is its in your body, and you would have to push kinda hard to trigger it thought a silicone. and I plan on using a rigid (not leaky like silicone) material. Maybe multiple hall effects sensors so your finger magnet does the button press. like in different locations and carefully calibrated to your own finger magnet? like a simple key to dismiss things.

    As of right now I have a single hall effects sensor to work as a reset button. This would clear all notifications as well as reading it on your device would. It sets the color and doesnt look at it again this is why a reset works. and once one is read it simple tells the LED to go dark so you would basically be telling a black led to go black again, but it would give the desired effect of dismissing the lights.

    And yeah reading the do not disturb setting is simple enough to do that I will use that for the vibration on/off or again if you hit reset while its vibrating (say for a call that might vibrate for longer than wanted) it would just set the vibration to stop.

    I have new board designed that are build out a lot nicer. I have been wiring up some of the parts that I was questioning on a breadboard and it seams to all work. So now I just have to wait for the PCBs to come in and make it all small.
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    edited January 2016
    Hall effect sensors are a really good idea actually. In addition to the notification rest, perhaps you should also consider attaching one to the RESET pin on the micro controller. That way you can essentially power cycle your implant if something goes wrong.

    After all, we all know turning it on and then off is the best way to fix all of your technological problems....


    Also, how are you handling Bluetooth pairing on the device?

    Sorry about all the questions, I've been wanting to make an implant like this since I got my first nfc chip. I think it is awesome that you are actually doing it!
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy
    Its doing UART over bluetooth, so I have to have a compatible app that does all of the translations to color codes and send it over. So its not a constant data stream its like push notification over BLE the battery should be able to do that all day and still have a bit left after.

    I do already have a hall effects sensor on the reset pin. I am not kinda thinking of maybe having like 4 so you can use your hand like a D pad.... maybe.... dance dance revolution on your hand? 
  • mmuyskensmmuyskens
    edited January 2016
    I'll just leave this here....

    image
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    edited January 2016
    @mmuyskens dude....

    @Benbeezy, are you basing the app off of the Adafruit one, or writing it from scratch?
  • AlternateAlternate
    RE charging, how are you having the charging mechanism assembled? Like an loose elastic armband that sits in place over the implant, or something different altogether? Sorry, I'm not hugely familiar with Qi chargers.
  • ChilliEyeChilliEye
    Sure he said magnets keep it in place.
  • AlternateAlternate
    Must have missed that O.o
  • DodiTysonDodiTyson
    edited January 2016
    As per my experience for programming it I don really see a need to program it after the
    initial flash. all the chip does is listen over bluetooth and does what
    you said. change individual LED color and vibrate. Thats it, but with
    that your phone can do all kinds of cool thinks. like use your phone as
    the compass and change the LED values accordingly.

  • AlternateAlternate
    edited March 2016
    Edit due to over excitement.
  • AlternateAlternate
    How'd this end up going @Benbeezy?
  • BenbeezyBenbeezy

    here is a link to a video I made yesterday. I have the board design done and software is basically all done too. I just need to send them out to be made @Alternate
  • ZerbulaZerbula
    That is cool. :D

    Honestly, no desire to stick one of these in myself, but very impressed with its output. Watching eagerly, i wish to see where this goes. ^^

    Good luck :3
  • ChrisBotChrisBot
    @Benbeezy, I can't wait to see this in action! Are you making your own app, or basing it on the Adafruit one?
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