First post - A somewhat saddening realization and a subsequent resolve.

edited February 2015 in Everything else
Hi,

I'm a 37 years old white male, that grew up poor in Europe. I've had a somewhat distorted childhood (but nothing I haven't taken care off long ago).

As a kid, I wasn't particularly intelligent. That came much later, all self-thought. While I started out in life rather painless (well, except for a few scars in the face), I managed to rack up a fair amount of damage over the years. Well, truth to be told, my knees are partly gone, the joints are wearing out exceedingly fast and sometimes other joints swell up occasionally. My left shoulder practically hurts all the time and my skin has some rather peculiar marks, that I'll sooner or later will have to let someone look at. I've had my genes researched and it turned out I have a 20% chance of psoriasis, so that might explain some of it, you know, with my luck... It also showed I have over 50% chance of getting Alzheimer's disease. I've got almost constant hemorrhoids. My teeth have been ground down quite badly. I've basically got the set of teeth of a 60 year old. Next week I'm getting my audiogram, because I've lost a bit of hearing and my wife complaints that I talk too loud. I'll reluctantly add some behavior characteristics, that I think are fairly accurate, as I know myself well:
  • I'm a risk seeker. I can't pass TSA without getting into trouble for some reason or another.
  • I'm also in the fingerprint DB with a red alert on it, so I always get interrogated when crossing into the US.
  • When I witness a fight, I will always interfere. I try to cope with that to be well trained in a martial art and knowing how to perform first aid.
  • About once every 7 or 8 years I get a pretty nasty depression that lasts for a few months and can get quite intense.
Now. That doesn't look too good now does it? Nope. I know. So how does one cope with that realization?

I'm now a rather successful professional, working at a mega corp somewhere in the bay area, California. My living room currently has 21 LCDs in it, ranging from 4" to 80". I run powerful PCs (2x 32GB 8 cores and about 22TB storage + same backup), through VPNs with a fast internet connection. It will probably please you to know that for some reason, we have had quite some overlap in our history (and it is possible we even worked together in the past under different aliases). I have my own sophisticated home made tDCS device and I setup an experiment, where I first did two IQ tests, then I did Dual-N-Back about 15 times, with my electrodes strapped on. Then I waited two years later, to compensate for the learning effect of IQ tests and did another IQ test. This time I scored 14 points higher (and more importantly, I feel decidedly more intelligent). I also have a daily pill set:
  • A multivitamin, something for the joints
  • Something for the shoulder
  • Something for the hemorrhoids
  • Something to calm me down
  • Something to help me concentrate
About 8 years ago, I implanted an RFID in my right arm that I use daily to log in to my computer, using a self designed and 3d printed, touchscreen enabled device. I recently visited Steve (who recommended me at least three times to contact you) and had my magnets implanted. Next up are two Bluetooth enabled hearing aids. But I couldn't stop there now could I? So I started a rough sketch of an implant, to be placed subdermally in the right upper chest area above the nipple featuring:
  • A phone wireless charge coil (including charge circuit from a phone)
  • A small round battery (which will dictate how often the micro controller can go out of sleep, probably 2 seconds per hour)
  • LEDs
  • A temperature sensor
  • A micro controller
  • 128GB micro SD card
  • A Bluetooth radio that can play mp3s from the SD card to the hearing aids
This is version one, version two will be a lot more advanced (I certainly will try to find a way to monitor my inflammation levels for example). Anyway the more I thought about building something like that, the more the realization set in that the task was just too daunting for me alone. And then I thought back about what Steve said. So I started digging through the posts on biohack.me, to see what is currently going on and saw some tantalizing glimpses of what Ian is working on, as it sounded quite an bit like what I want to build.

So, to sum it up:

I probably won't get very old. To deal with the issues along the way, I've tooled up, pumped lots of data through my head and increased my mental capacities (which I plan do again in a year or two). I know how to program in one or two higher languages and I've written some Arduino C but nothing to be really proud of and now I want to help you build the implant. I don't care too much about keeping it secret? As far as I'm concerned we open source it. Once we have the device plans open sourced, it wouldn't be too hard for us to set up some sort of sales channel for devices ready made by us that include a visit to Steve.

How does that sound? Is there any way I can help move the project forward? I could test, buy parts, help with coding, etc. I also have some design advice from Steve, but I'm sure he shares the same or more with you already.
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Comments

  • Welcome to biohack.me.
    All efforts to contribute knowledge, time and resources are appreciated.

    From what i can tell there are quite a number of things you can do:

    1. tDCS are a in high request but there is no really sophisticated or even safe circuit design around, so if you can release plans for the one you build, that'd be fantastic

    2. if you want to play MP3's you probably want to get something more powerful than an arduino (and the atmega). Something with a floating point unit, a DSP and a hardware sided sd-card interface. I'm pretty sure you'd end up with an ARM. Not as easy to code as an arduino, but at least you can get Demo-Kits for development so you don't have to worry about messing with the hardware during software development.

    3. buy parts: coating material. You already know pretty much everything you stuff in your body for whatever purpose needs to be bioproof. From what i know, there are a number of groups here on the forum who are interested in experimenting with coatings. One of the most promising things is Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR for short, sold by appliedsilicone.com in the required quality, including primers). The stuff goes for between 130 and 350USD (they changed prices recently, and some products are no longer listed on their website but can still be found via the search function)

    I think Ian could make use of it. I'm pretty sure the magnet folks would love to get hands on it to produce safe coated magnets without paying 100 bucks on a single one. And of course myself, for coating my circuit (for testing implantable electrode output circuitry)

    If you really have money to waste, put up a note. With more funding it'd be possible to use smaller chips which require an assembly line for production. The prototypes for such circuits are ridiculously expensive but allow very small form factor implants.

    There are also other things people may require or could make good use of, such as medical grade steel, implant grade HDPE, platinum-iridium, a variety of lab equipment, sputter coating machines etc.
  • Welcome (and I'm jealous) ... Any chance you'd show us photos or a schematic of the touchscreen device you 3d printed for logging into your PC?
  • edited January 2014
    ThomasEgi:
    1. Regular tDCS really isn't that complicated (neither to build nor to use). Just an LM334Z  and a couple of additional components. Here's a frequently referenced DIY howto from the tDCS subreddit (it's the highest rated all time top link there), it probably costs about $80 if you don't skimp on the sponge electrodes and the fuse. A step up from that is the commercially available foc.us device ($250).

    2. I think I indeed need an ARM processor. I was hoping/assuming there is already a collaborative project underway using more or less the same configuration (ARM/wireless charging/Zigbee or Bluetooth), that I can latch onto?

    3. While I do have a budget set aside for this, this isn't a philanthropic adventure for me, the budget is intended to fix problems we can't fix in any other way (like the SMD prototypes you mentioned).

    I'm curious about the silicon you mentioned: It's my understanding that we can just outsource that. Steve and probably others already have perfected the process of embedding things into silicon (and if you ask me they paid a fairly hefty price for that knowledge), why would you then decide to develop your own process with the risks that come with that? Just for cost reasons?

    kjwx:
    It really wasn't my intention to impress. I just wanted to give a clear picture about my background and abilities. There really isn't much to envy if you look at the whole package. Back to the RFID I didn't document that project and it wouldn't be too useful for anyone else, as I have a non standard RFID implant (I can't use EM4000 readers or even 125kHz coils).

    The other components are an Arduino Leonardo to emulate the keyboard, some addressable LEDs and the touch screen of an Nintendo DS (all of which can be bought for fairly little and have existing Arduino libraries and examples). If you have any questions about those parts, just let me know.
  • @Fufu1 about 1. the tDCS you linked is quite the opposite of sophisticated. While it works under regular conditions, it comes with virtually so safeguards other than the fuse (no protection against transient currents/voltages, no esd protection of the device, etc ). That's not something i'd recommend using.

    about 2. bluetooth/zigbee/ANT modules can be purchased in a lot of places. As for wireless charging there are different options depending on the power demand you have. You won't be able to get around a proper PCB in the end. I stared to design a rather modular system which allows easy replacing of certain components, but i put it on hold in favor of smaller circuits to test the individual modules of the system. If you need advice or recommendations for solving a certain circuit problem, don't hesitate to ask.

    About the silicone. There are many reasons to do this process in-house instead of outsourcing it. Some of those reasons include trust, knowledge about the process and the device to coat. Especially when multiple coatings are required or some parts need to be left uncoated. And of course you can make sure you use a suited silicone for the task and process it correctly. In the end, the coating is the most critical part of all and at least I need to be 110% sure that the coating ends up exactly the way it needs to be before i stick it into my body. And it's not so much developing your own process as sticking to the process recommended to be used with the silicone.
  • @ThomasEngi Have you ever looked into OpenStim? It's cheap and pretty much as safe as you can can get a tDCS barring a professional using it on you. If you're going the DIY route that is.
  • Also as a sidenote, have you looked into supplementing methylene blue with the rest of your supplements? It's currently undergoing studies as an anti alzheimers drug by the name of Rember. Might be worth looking into seeing as methylene blue is dirt cheap.
  • edited January 2014
    @ThomasEngi I was already looking at ARM micro controllers (while not 100% sure about making that step up from Arduino) and I found this chip: EM357.

    Would that micro controller work for our purpose? I liked the ability of the Zigbee to change the firmware wirelessly and its small size. But I'm not sure how well it would work and it doesn't have Bluetooth I think.

    I found a 3cm 100mah battery, which I was thinking to use. But that probably conflicts with the Bluetooth mp3 functionality. I'd figure that at most I'd want to charge daily, preferably once a week or something. Are there perhaps higher capacity button style batteries?

    mitravelusI'm not going to worry too much yet about the Alzheimers. The men in my family do tend to get it at fairly early age, but that is still early sixties. Either I'll be gone by then or I will have to hope that there is a vaccine or gene therapy for it. All the men that did end up with Alzheimers also didn't use their brains much during their life. Just the mental activity that goes on in my head might already improve my odds significantly.
  • edited January 2014
    What program/compiler do I need? I'm running Windows 8.1 x64. I normally write in Notepad++, regardless of language, is that still possible?

    Usually I try to find serial components, because that's easy to write software for, or simple analog inputs. But I suppose that I'll want to go shop for SPI components and then I somehow load a library for that in the compiler? Is that how it works?

    What would be the most appropriate development board(s) for me, if we assume cost is not an issue, but space is limited?

    Thanks.
  • @Fufu1 Unfortunately working with SoC's is nothing like just wiring up a serial port and loading code onto it.
    The first thing you want to do is to pick a suited chip. Besides the features you want from the chip, you also want good documentation (without having to sign an NDA), an available development kit, a good toolchain provided by the vendor (so you don't have to buy a highly expensive IDE). There's a good amount of documentation for each chip on what you need to get it running and programmed. Coding in notepad, although theoretically possible for at least some hardware (supported by the gcc toolchain)... don't bet on it. Chances are you need to use a vendor specific tool to make use of all the goodies.

    While the EM357 looks somewhat qualified in terms of hardware, you may want to use a separate radio chip instead of an integrated solution. Separating them allows you to pick from a very wide range of hardware, including some with DSP on board. And depending on the radio module you go for (for example the ones from nordic semi) you can swap most of their chips without major hardware changes. So if you decide to go for Wifi instead of Bluetooth, or ANT, just replace the chip and reroute 4 or 5 wires, but the rest of the layout usually is the same.

    You may also want to keep in mind that QFN parts are difficult to place and solder, and impossible to inspect without xray equipment. And while many microcontrollers are available in the more soldering friendly TQFP, wireless modules usually are not.

    The battery is like one of the easiest parts to pick. Prismatic cells are available in all sizes and capacities. While it may sound a bit big, there are AAA and half/2third AAA lithium cells. with a diameter of 10mm and 22 to 44mm in length they may appear big, but they hold quite some charge and with a good design, they'll integrate quite well.

    To sum it up: there is no system you can piggyback onto. And developing it from scratch is probably more effort than you want to invest time and resources at this point in time. Bluetooth and mp3 playback increase the complexity if the system quite a bit. I'd recommend to look into projects with less complex hardware and software first, and use those as stepping stones to move towards more complex goals. Or you try to develop your ideas on a non-implantable platform with less stringent requirements in terms of space and power.
  • edited January 2014
    @ThomasEngi Alright then, I think I have it figured out:

    I will get an Atmel AVR development board that has an ARM Cortex M4 and then get some radios and stuff. I found the software that I'll need to develop for it.

    At the same time, I will put out contracts for the wireless charging circuit, for the wifi/bluetooth stuff and the sd card as well as for the overall board design (using flex circuit board), can you give me some specifications that they will ask for?

    I will find a company that can make the design in flex circuit board and get one or two prototypes made and shipped, which will then be shipped out to be x-rayed and inspected.

    Meanwhile I will hit the Atmel discussion boards, I doubt this will be very hard for me to learn how to program C. If it is, I'll boost my working memory some more first with a set of tDCS + Dual N Back sessions (but I'd rather wait with that another two years in case it causes mental stability issues). I  could also try to stimulate my memory area, while learning how to code C.

    There is one area where I disagree with you. It's the silicon issue. Yes, there are trust issues. However, there are people out there, that have been making and implanting silicon for years. I don't understand that you can trust yourself so much that you think you can get better at it than they are. So for me, there is no need to do any investigating for the silicon. I already know the specs to which Steve is willing and able to go, that's all there is to it for me. Once I get a prototype, I will ship it to Steve, he will encase it to my specs and ship it back to me, then I will stress test the implant and test it with pigskin. If it passes all that, we get the final design printed and shipped to us and then encased by Steve, we stress test again and do water tests and then we fly to Steve and have it implanted.

    Can you give me a rough idea of the overall cost? That way I know if it will be possible with my budget.

    Thanks.
  • Flexible boards tends to have certain issues, so you should only use them if you know that it won't ruin your day. And be warned, producing pcb's isn't cheap already, having prototypes xray inspected even more so. You may need 4 or more layers which would be unusual for flexprints (read as more expensive). Electrical engineers tend to have quite some paycheck so be prepared to fork over more money for the design.
    About the costs.. getting a PCB (at least a rigid one) can range anywhere from 20 bucks to 500. Soldering and xray inspection, not sure but maybe count around 300 for soldering and maybe another few hundret for xray. So maybe around 1k for the production if you are lucky. The design will be by far more expensive. Hard to tell but my guess would be somewhere between 5k and 50k, maybe even more. If you manage to get any quotes for such a project i'd be quite interested to get numbers on it.

    Using a rigid PCB, and parts that can be all hand-soldered (without reflow equipment and xray inspection) can and will bring down the production costs to maybe 50 bucks in total. But i am not aware of any Bluetooth chips that come in solder-friendly packages.

    Writing the software would be indeed the easiest, and cheapest part in case you pay someone to do it.

    The trust issue is more something personal for me. It's not that i trust myself to do a better job than others. It's that i don't trust people in general.
  • edited January 2014
    Alright, let's do it. We might be able to extract some discounts here or there by letting the designers know we will open source the design.
  • good luck with the discounts.

    Meanwhile the PCB's for my electrode driver arrived. So while you'll have fun negotiating prices, i'll go ahead and prepare some tests so we can get actual feedback from the implant, to the neural system. And finally getting rid of those power eating led's which do basically nothing a gadget couldn't do as well.
  • edited January 2014
    Auch, no LEDs that's got me right in the feels. Alright then, get rid of them. Maybe 1 low power rgb led as a concession? Is there such a thing as a low power rgb led? I would encapsulate it in silicon shaped like a heart. And then when I touch it with my magnet implant, I'll make it slowly blink red (even though Steve said colors work differently through the skin, I'll figure it out how to make it look red - maybe a white led will do that?), to signal it's my last life. If I bump into anything, it's over for me. Maybe I can even get a pixeled effect.

    Do you have any suggestions on where to post the design requests and how much to ask per design? Do you have some design work that you are willing to outsource (that can be picked up by someone else and doesn't involve silicon) on your project? If so, what is it?
  • As most materials, the skin adsorbs a certain frequency spectrum. While some colors like red make it through with only a reasonably small loss, other colors get attenuated quite a lot. And the less light makes it through, the more you need to begin with. So goodbye to low-power rgb, chances are you'll only see the red part.

    The reason why i want to get rid of all LED's except for maybe charge indicators when power is present is simple. Even low power LEDs eat like 5 to 20mA when active. The rest of the implant eats about 0.2 to 0.5mA in active mode (and electrode-drivers are already included here).

    I can't really recommend a place. For simple non-implanted stuff i'd refer you to some eagle cad or kicad forum, maybe geda. But since implants are a bit more delicate you'd want someone who has a completed EE education, and preferably a couple of years experience in designing circuits. And those people will most likely ask for good money. Unless you can get someone interested in building it out of personal interest.

    I have nothing to outsource, i do everything myself from start to end. The only designs i have which do not involve silicone are FEP encapsulated rfid like circuits with very limited functionality. (please differ between silicon, the semiconductor, and silicone, the rubbery material). Those are simple, and don't really require any circuit board, but they aren't very interesting. Best thing you can do with those is storing a bit of data, and measuring the body temperature.
  • edited January 2014
    I ordered three of these Atmel development boards. The first two people that want to work on this with me (but I'm not going to tell you what code to write), will get a free development board + sensors + connectors shipped to them, just reply in the thread.

    :)
  • Well @Fufu1 if you still have any of those development boards left I would love to work on this project.  I've been wanting to get a board for a while now.  Send me a PM!
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