So, who's working on what?

edited February 2015 in Community
I'm a bit curious as to what projects are still active.  I know Grindhouse has put some good work out there with the Circadia, and then there was the ear lobe magnet implant, too.  Who else is working on what, and what is the project's status?  To me it looks like Biohack.me has gone into a bit of a hibernation mode, with the only real conversation being about theory and philosophy.
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  • Saal, Cassox, Zombiegristle and I are still engaged in the near infra red vision project, so there is that. We are waiting for the holidays to be over for diet reasons. Cassox is working hardware magic building equipment while we wait.
    I hear that Grindhouse is doing some C60 work, tho nothing on the website.
    Also, a bio buddy of mine is making bacteria that makes chitin and I am getting a hold of chitin resources for potential implantation.
    ThomasEgi is working on stuff I don't even know and would not presume to even describe.

    my two cents (which is fairly well known by now):
    tbh, most grinding is theory. as i have noticed, ideas get thrown out, then someone points out the terrible doom that would result in implementation, and then it's back to the drawing board for that one that will stick.  It's not the lack of desire, it's just that while putting a sliver of magnet in ones finger can work, some of the more grand ideas are a little... biologically incompatible. Philosophizing can get dull, I agree, but casually treating ones body like a handbag is less fun.

    any suggestions on new projects?

  • as for my part. I talked one of my professors into allowing me to work on implant electronics as university related project. The university internal presentation of the project (not the results) will be on Dec 19th. Deadline is around Feb/March.
    It's basically a Circadia in usefull. Read: smaller, safer, actual interfaces with the body using electrodes, lower power, etc.

    It consists of a number of sub-circuits which can be more or less easily reused.
    So far the Qi based wireless power supply is done(i plan on switching to a newer standard which got published a few month ago but no integrated parts are available yet). Battery management is also done (a battery is optional, connecting supercaps or running without storage is possible with only minimal modification). The main microcontroller is also on the board (not sure about it's placement yet, i may move it around. And only moments ago, i finished the freshly redesigned electrode driver. which can drive up to 8 separate outputs  with fully software programmable intensity. Right now, you could add a magnetometer breakout board and you'd have everything you'd need for building the southpaw.

    To give a sneak preview. that's what it looks like atm, things change fast and often:
    image
    GND and VCC planes are not drawn (it's a 4 Layer PCB, made in KiCad)

    Due to the rather minimal size, assembling that thing isn't quite as easy, but still possible in a DIY way if you have the time to build some helpful equipment.

    Still on my ToDo list are:
    Adding some sort of wireless module (not sure about bluetooth or a more cut down wireless chip)
    Adding one of texas instruments analog front-ends so we can read signals from neurons/muscles aswell (i plan on 2 input channels for now, chips are available for up to 8 channels)
    adding a few more failsafe mechanism.

    The entire design is is done using open source software. Once it's finished and testing went ok, i'll release the design and all related documents under an open source license. This will take a bit of time tho, i'll hope to finish it before my finals, so with some luck it may be spring 2014.
  • What happened with the tetrachromacy mod?
  • Are you talking about the NIR project?
  • @glims nope. there once was a discussion about a gene modification to add another primary color to the eye. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy
    iirc it never made it past the idea stage, probably due to the risk of cancer and stuff.
  • @thomasengi damn I thought that was actually happening. ah well pipe dream.
  • I'm still looking into subdermal data storage devices.  I recently got a SanDisk Connect WiFi drive to see if it's feasible using it or something similar.  Unfortunately, the device is larger than I expected and would pose quite a challenge to bioproof and implant.  It has its own battery, but would need a hefty charging circuit.  I've been looking at a Qi charging circuit, but there is promising new technology that uses magnetic resonance and has much less stringent coil alignment requirements than Qi.  I welcome any ideas that will help me achieve my goal.  I'm not afraid to be a human guinea pig, but whatever I implant does need to have a reasonable chance of success.

    I have also been working with Amal to test various RFID devices.  The goal has been to achieve greater reliability and increased storage capacity, so it coincides quite well with my own storage implant goals.
  • edited January 2014
    @mkabala afaik the specs for the resonating got out only a few weeks ago and I am not aware of any available circuits for it. They renamed/branded it into www.rezence.com . From what I can tell it relies on the magnetic resonance for the power transmit, but also needs a bluetooth link for the protocol handling.

    As for coating I am thinking about getting some liquid silicone rubber from applied silicones to dip-coat some minimalistic implants with electrode drivers on it (not the big thing pictured above). It's a bit above my budget but a single charge should be plenty and I may be able to coat other people's stuff with it as well.

    Talking about active projects. I froze the big implant circuitry above until I have access to machines to actually produce them. Instead I started working on very slimmed down versions which are easy to produce. They serve as testing platforms to test functionality for each subsystem and of course, the production and surgery process.
  • I'm working on this: http://emg-parkinsons.tumblr.com/

    It started as an EMG logger, but I'm ditching EMG for accelerometer data at the moment.  I hope to have my dad wear it for an extended period of time and then analyze his on/off periods in his Parkinson's disease.

    I made a site where you can donate bitcoin/litecoin, if you're so inclined: http://emg.mindsforge.com/

    (or dogecoin: D99uh7dutGgHJREfm9UWreKGjDVRuVsH8F )

    I see wearables as the precursor to implantables.  While doing EMG research, I contemplated "sewing" electrodes into my skin... might still do that at some point!
  • In addition to my work with Grindhouse Wetware (which currently involves making a very low-power implant), I've taken on two more projects at the moment, one of which is what I'd call biohacking.  The essence of it is to extend something like Neil Harbisson's eyeborg device into something that can translate not just colours, but full colour images into sound files that can be heard through a bone conduction device.  In addition to potentially being able to "see" (hear?) colours beyond the visible spectrum, and possibly being able to improve vision in other ways, I plan to put one on the back of my head, for a literal eye in the back of the head.

    I've already written some of the software, and I have most of the hardware figured out but not ordered.
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