Noisebridge - User contributions [en]

User:Mrericboyd

2017-06-01T16:48:15Z

Mrericboyd:

I'm used to be a member at noisebridge. I'm super fascinated by machine learning, economics, China, new space, the maker movement, personal growth, synthetic biology, green investing, and many many more things. 

Stuff I do: 
[http://makerfestival.ca/ Maker Festival] Toronto's independent Maker event, in 2016 we had 14,000 attendees and over 100 makers 
[https://hacklab.to/ Hacklab.TO] A hackerspace in Toronto where I am president and serve on the board. I'm also kitchen steward and make awesome [https://knowledge.hacklab.to/wiki/Cooking Vegan Dinners] for all the starving hackers at every open house 
[http://venuslabs.org/ Venus Labs] a not-for-profit with a mission to research and evangelize for the cloud-city colonization of the planet Venus 
[https://www.meetup.com/quantifiedself-toronto/ Quantified Self Toronto], [https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Toronto/ Long Now Toronto] and [https://www.meetup.com/DIYbio-Toronto/ DIYbio Toronto], my meetup groups. 

Stuff I have done: 
[https://sensebridge.net/ Sensebridge] - hobby company that made open-source compass-anklets (North Paw) and electric jewelry
[http://jetalon.com/ Jetalon] - liquid chemical sensors for semi-conductor manufacturers 
[http://digitalcrusader.ca/ Digital Crusader] - personal blog, now defunct (again) 
[http://stumbleupon.com/ StumbleUpon] - I was the 4th founder, but I left after a year 
[http://javien.com/ Javien.com] - back in the dot com boom, when they community aspirations and open source code bases... 

(lapsed domains of old projects - these are dead)
[http://xprizecars.com/ X Prize Cars] - blogging about the $10,000,000 Automotive X Prize 
[http://www.metaciv.com/ Meta Civilization] - thinking about civilizations from a transhuman perspective

User:Mrericboyd

2017-06-01T16:47:59Z

Mrericboyd:

I'm used to be a member at noisebridge. I'm super fascinated by machine learning, economics, China, new space, the maker movement, personal growth, synthetic biology, green investing, and many many more things. 

Stuff I do: 
[http://makerfestival.ca/ Maker Festival] Toronto's independent Maker event, in 2016 we had 14,000 attendees and over 100 makers 
[https://hacklab.to/ Hacklab.TO] A hackerspace in Toronto where I am president and serve on the board. I'm also kitchen steward and make awesome [https://knowledge.hacklab.to/wiki/Cooking Vegan Dinners] for all the starving hackers at every open house 
[http://venuslabs.org/ Venus Labs] a non-for-profit with a mission to research and evangelize for the cloud-city colonization of the planet Venus 
[https://www.meetup.com/quantifiedself-toronto/ Quantified Self Toronto], [https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Toronto/ Long Now Toronto] and [https://www.meetup.com/DIYbio-Toronto/ DIYbio Toronto], my meetup groups. 

Stuff I have done: 
[https://sensebridge.net/ Sensebridge] - hobby company that made open-source compass-anklets (North Paw) and electric jewelry
[http://jetalon.com/ Jetalon] - liquid chemical sensors for semi-conductor manufacturers 
[http://digitalcrusader.ca/ Digital Crusader] - personal blog, now defunct (again) 
[http://stumbleupon.com/ StumbleUpon] - I was the 4th founder, but I left after a year 
[http://javien.com/ Javien.com] - back in the dot com boom, when they community aspirations and open source code bases... 

(lapsed domains of old projects - these are dead)
[http://xprizecars.com/ X Prize Cars] - blogging about the $10,000,000 Automotive X Prize 
[http://www.metaciv.com/ Meta Civilization] - thinking about civilizations from a transhuman perspective

User:Mrericboyd

2017-06-01T16:47:29Z

Mrericboyd:

I'm used to be a member at noisebridge. I'm super fascinated by machine learning, economics, China, new space, the maker movement, personal growth, synthetic biology, green investing, and many many more things. 

Stuff I do: 
[http://makerfestival.ca/ Maker Festival] Toronto's independent Maker event, in 2016 we had 14,000 attendees and over 100 makers 
[https://hacklab.to/ Hacklab.TO] A hackerspace in Toronto where I am president and serve on the board. I'm also kitchen steward and make awesome [https://knowledge.hacklab.to/wiki/Cooking Vegan Dinners] for all the starving hackers at every open house 
[http://venuslabs.org/ Venus Labs] a non-for-profit with a mission to research and evangelize for the cloud-city colonization of the planet Venus 
[https://www.meetup.com/quantifiedself-toronto/ Quantified Self Toronto], [https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Toronto/ Long Now Toronto] and [DIYbio Toronto], my meetup groups. 

Stuff I have done: 
[https://sensebridge.net/ Sensebridge] - hobby company that made open-source compass-anklets (North Paw) and electric jewelry
[http://jetalon.com/ Jetalon] - liquid chemical sensors for semi-conductor manufacturers 
[http://digitalcrusader.ca/ Digital Crusader] - personal blog, now defunct (again) 
[http://stumbleupon.com/ StumbleUpon] - I was the 4th founder, but I left after a year 
[http://javien.com/ Javien.com] - back in the dot com boom, when they community aspirations and open source code bases... 

(lapsed domains of old projects - these are dead)
[http://xprizecars.com/ X Prize Cars] - blogging about the $10,000,000 Automotive X Prize 
[http://www.metaciv.com/ Meta Civilization] - thinking about civilizations from a transhuman perspective

NoisebridgeChinaTrip7

2017-06-01T16:39:06Z

Mrericboyd: /* People interested in going on the Hacker Trip to China #7, 2017: */

= NOISEBRIDGE HACKER TRIP TO CHINA #7 -- Start Date: 8-October-2017, in Hong Kong -- End Date: 28-October-2017, in Shanghai=

[[File:HTTC2014WelcomeHackers.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #4 Welcome to China!, Beijing]]

[[File:KungFuHacking_Nov_2013.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #3 Kung Fu Hacking: Hackers In Residence Kickoff event at Tsinghua University, Beijing]]

[[File:petrochemical_university.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #2 Visit to Petrochemical Univeristy, Beijing]]

[[File:Beijing_Oct_2009.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #1 Jingshan Park, Beijing]]

[[File:Shenzhen_Oct_2016.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #5 Visit to Seeed Studio's factory, Shenzhen]]

[[File:Zhenzhou_Oct_2016.jpg|thumb|right|Trip #5 Presentations at Zhengzhou High School #2, Zhengzhou]]

== Previous Hacker Trips To China ==
::''This will be the 7th Noisebridge Hacker Trip To China.'' 
::'''''(The dates are set, the start and end cities are set, but the itinerary is an outline and open to change.)'''''
::''In previous years' Hacker Trip To China, we've visited cities that currently have a hackerspace, visited my manufacturer, Seeed Studio, and other manufacturers. We also visited Tsinghua University, considered the most prestigious university in China, and other schools -- all of which have now starting hackerspaces. China continues to explode with hackerspaces! We also went to the International Exhibition of Inventions Kunshan (IEIK 2014), near Shanghai. And everywhere we went, we were shown around by local geeks, to see what they thought was interesting where they live. Also, wherever we went, those of us interested gave talks, presentations, workshops, and demos. In 2016 we gave presentations at NY University - Shanghai, DFRobot (an open hardware company in Shanghai), Shanghai Maker Carnival, Zhengzhou High School Number 2, "Second Generation and Start-ups" conference in Hangzhou.'' 

::''You can see info on the [[ChinaTrip|Hacker Trip To China 2009]],'' 
::''[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip2|Hacker Trip To China 2011]]'' 
::''[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip3|Hacker Trip To China 2013]]'' 
::''[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip4|Hacker Trip To China 2014]]'' 
::''[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip5|Hacker Trip To China 2015]]'' 
::''[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip6|Hacker Trip To China 2016]],'' 

::-- [[User:Maltman23|Mitch]].

== This year's Hacker Trip To China ==
'''When:''' 8-October-2017 in Hong Kong through 28-October-2017 in Shanghai.

'''Flight, transportation, and hotel Info''': We were each be on our own to book our own air fare to meet in our starting city, Hong Kong, on 8-October, and fly home from out ending city, Shanghai, on 28-October. Of course, you can decide to come and go as you please. 

I'll organized the itinerary and the hotels and other transport. I'll pay in advance for some of this, and you can pay me back when we're in China. 

'''Where:''' In each of the cities we will go to, we'll visit some of their local hackerspace(s), and will be shown around by local geeks to see what interested them where they live. We'll also have plenty of time to do "normal" (and spectacular) tourist things too! 

'''Here's some possible places we might visit, leaving plenty of room for the serendipity that makes our Hacker Trip To China truly unique and memorable:''' 
* We will start our trip by meeting in '''Hong Kong''' and visit [http://www.dimsumlabs.com/ Dim Sum Labs] hackerspace. Hong Kong is a fantastic city, so, we'll also see lots of other cool stuff in Hong Kong. 
* Then we'll go across the border to mainland China again, to '''Shenzhen''' to visit [http://www.chaihuo.org/ Chaihuo Makerspace], [http://www.szdiy.org/ SZDIY] hackerspace, [http://litchee.cn/en/ Litchee Lab], and a few other hackerspaces, some of which are real, and hundreds of which are brand new (this year) over-the-top bizarre government-started places where they want to create "the next Apple" (we won't visit them all!). We'll visit this year's [http://www.makerfaireshenzhen.com/english Maker Faire Shenzhen] while we are in town (13-15 October), where we will be way welcomed, and we'll be given a booth where we can all show off our projects and give workshops (if you like). We will also visit [http://www.seeedstudio.com Seeed Studio] - the open source hardware company - to meet the cool folks there and to see their manufacturing facilities. We may meet with the founders of [http://dangerousprototypes.com/ Dangerous Prototypes] - another open source hardware company. We'll also visit other manufacturers, to see where all the things we use in our daily lives come from (such as springs, cables, PCBs, packaging, etc., etc.). Of course, we'll also visit the famous (and totally awesome!) [http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/shenzhen/print Huaqiangbei electronics market] in Shenzhen (where, we may again be shown around by a professional buyer from Deal Extreme (dx.com). 
* We will then make our way to '''Beijing''' where we may visit [http://www.bjmakerspace.com/ Beijing Makerspace], and other hackerspaces. We'll also visit Tsinghua University, where they built the world's largest hackerspace last year (called the "iCenter"), and where I've been hacker in residence. Beijing has lots and lots of way amazing stuff to visit and be a part of!
* Our last city will be '''Shanghai'''. In Shanghai we will visit [http://www.etonnet.com/ my manufacturer (Etonnet)] that I have used for [http://www.tvbgone.com TV-B-Gone] remote controls and [http://www.neurodreamer.com NeuroDreamer] sleep masks, where we will all get to see how products are made, from start to finish, learning how manufacturing works. We will also visit [http://xinchejian.com/ XinCheJian] hackerspace in Shanghai. We can also visit companies started by hardware hacker geeks, such as [http://www.dfrobot.com/ DFRobot]. We can also visit the [http://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/4064240200/in/set-72157622640069902/ Shanghai electronics mall] (a smaller version of the famous electronics mall we will later visit in Shenzhen).

For most of us, our trip will end at the end of three weeks, as many people on our trip will fly home from our last city, Shanghai, on 28-October-2017.

''Of course, everyone is free to arrive and leave whenever you like for the Hacker Trip To China. 
I will tentatively be flying home from Shanghai 28-October. ''

'''Cost:''' For the Hacker Trip To China 2016, I paid $1,997 total (for 4 weeks), including air fare from SF, food, lodging, transportation, and everything -- including some electronics stuff and some clothing that I bought. 
''As in past years, part of this year's trip may be paid for by Tsinghua University and other places that invite us to give presentations.''

'''#hashtag:''' [https://twitter.com/hashtag/httc2017 #httc2017]      (Hacker Trip To China 2017)

 
 

== Possible itinerary outline for Hacker Trip to China 7 ==

'''The start and end dates are set, the start and end cities are set, but the rest of the itinerary is open to serendipity:'''
''7-October-2017 -- '''Leave home''' for '''Hong Kong''' (arrive in Hong Kong on 8-October)''
''8-October-2017 -- We all meet in '''Hong Kong''' -- hotel: to be determined
'''8-October to 12-October -- Hong Kong'''
'''12-October to 18-October -- Shenzhen'''
13-15 October: Shenzhen Maker Faire
16-October: Chaihuo Bring-A-Hack
'''18-October to 23-October -- Beijing'''
'''23-October to 28-October -- Shanghai''' ''
''28-November-2017 -- '''fly home''' (arrive NA or EU on same day)''

 
 
 
 
 

== Photos from Hacker Trip To China 2016==
<gallery>
File:HTTC2016Shanghai.jpg
File:HTTC2016Zhenzhou.jpg
File:HTTC2016Shenzhen.jpg
File:HTTC2016Beijing.jpg
File:HTTC2016Hangzhou.jpg
File:HTTC2016Beijing2.jpg
</gallery>

Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157672475058474/ Shanghai, Oct-2016] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157674645655612/ Zhengzhou, Oct-2016] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157676024748146/ Shenzhen, Oct-2016] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157676142107066/ Beijing, Oct-2016] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157676144570756/ Hangzhou, Oct-2016] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157672603805234/ Beijing Set 2, Oct-2016] 

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/collections/72157674928976010/ Mitch's photos all in one place]

 
 
 
 

== Photos from Hacker Trip to China 2015==
<gallery>
File:HTTC2015HongKongNeon.jpg
File:HTTC2015ShenzhenFactory.jpg
File:HTTC2015ShanghaiTempleMall.jpg
File:HTTC2015BeijingDoor.jpg
File:HTTC2015HangzhouTemple.jpg
File:HTTC2015BeijingShop.jpg
File:HTTC2015SuzhouUmbrellas.jpg
</gallery>

Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157659076735178 Hong Kong, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157660026965949 Shenzhen, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157660038275888 Shanghai, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157658114137264 Beijing, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/albums/72157660424228042 YiWu & Hangzhou, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/albums/72157660650175925 Beijing Set 2, Oct-2015] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/albums/72157658310336814 Shanghai & Suzhou, Oct-2015] 

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/collections/72157660374807166/ Mitch's photos all in one place]

 
[https://picasaweb.google.com/dtharn/ChinaInOctober2015?feat=directlink Dave's photos]

 
Blake's photos:
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwlcks/sets/72157662429341996 Hong Kong!]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwlcks/albums/72157660150285384 Shenzen!]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwlcks/albums/72157661790873029 Shanghai!]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwlcks/albums/72157660153522904 Beijing!]
 

Torrey's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/gp/torrey/Q840rT Hong Kong] 
Torrey's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/gp/torrey/yLo903 Shenzhen] 
Torrey's photos from [https://flic.kr/s/aHskqNiQeX Beijing] 
Torrey's photos from [https://flic.kr/s/aHskrE55NX Shanghai] 

 
 
 
 

== Photos from Hacker Trip to China 2014==
<gallery>
File:HTTC2014WelcomeHackers.jpg
File:HTTC20143Nod_b.jpg
File:HTTC2014AiWeiWei.jpg
File:HTTC2014BeijingLGBTcentre.jpg
File:HTTC2014Brooms.jpg
File:HTTC2014CableFactory.jpg
File:HTTC2014ChaiHuo.jpg
File:HTTC2014GiantSewing.jpg
File:HTTC2014Huaqianbei.jpg
File:HTTC2014IEIK2014.jpg
File:HTTC2014SeeedStudio.jpg
File:HTTC2014Shanghai.jpg
File:HTTC2014Tianjin.jpg
File:HTTC2014Tienanmen.jpg
File:HTTC2014TrainConvenienceStore.jpg
File:HTTC2014TsinghuaMakersDay.jpg
File:HTTC20143Nod.jpg
File:HTTC2014XinCheJian.jpg
</gallery>

Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157646894397704/ Beijing, Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157648975298719/ Shanghai, Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157648981933060/ Shenzhen, Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157649396351315/ Kunshan, Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157649148594118/ Shanghai (2), Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157649146775640/ Beijing (2), Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157649146987360/ Tianjin, Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157647372474753/ Beijing (3), Nov-2014] 
Mitch's photos from [https://www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/sets/72157649287546450/ Singapore, Dec-2014] 

== You will Need a Chinese Visa!! ==
To go to China, you needed to get a visa!

Everyone should get a multiple-entry Tourist L visa (if you only get a single-entry visa, you'll be fine, but you won't have as many options, such as going in and out of Shenzhen to Hong Kong).

* And to get a visa, you need to have a passport that is valid ''at least'' 12 months after you planned to fly away from China (so, e.g., if you are leaving China on 28-October-2017, then your passport needs to be valid through 27-October-2017). Your passport must also have at least ''one entirely blank page''.

* You also need:
** a printout of a filled-out [http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/fd/W020130830801798289342.pdf Visa Application Form V. 2013 of the People's Republic of China] (after we have everything we need I'll email you my filled out form as an example to follow).
** a copy of the information pages of your passport.
** a copy of your most Chinese visa (if you have been to China before).
** one 2"x2" recent color photo (not a printout).
** a screenshot or printout of hotel reservation confirmation (I'll email this to you when I have this).
** a copy of your airline tickets (both to and from China).

* For US citizens, the visa cost $140 (much cheaper for other nationalities). Starting this year, US citizens can get a multiple-entry visa, good for 10 years. We should all apply for a Tourist L visa.

You can pay the fee by Visa, MasterCard, Money Order, Cashier's Check or Company Check. ''Cash or Personal checks are not acceptable.''

To get a visa, you can go to your local Chinese consulate. No appointment is required. You go in one day, and it will be ready for pick up 4 business days later. My experience is that it takes about an hour the first day, and takes only a few minutes to pick up the visa a few days later. (2 to 3 business-day and 1 business day/same-day express service is available for $20 or $30.) 
''NOTE: The Chinese consulates are all closed for holidays on: 27-30 January, 29-30 May, 30-May, 9-June, 4-July, 4-September, 2-October, 9-October and other dates: 
[http://www.chinaconsulatesf.org/eng/lszj/t1424287.htm 2017 Chinese Consulate Holiday Schedule]''
 
(Citizens of US and Europe ''do not'' need a separate visa for Hong Kong.)
 

= Previous Noisebridge China Trips =
''If you're curious about the previous Noisebridge China Trips, they have their own wiki pages:'' 
[[ChinaTrip|Hacker Trip To China 2009]] 
          That first Noisebridge China Trip was inspired by Bunny Huang's [http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/shenzhen/print "geek tour"].
 
[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip2|Hacker Trip To China 2011]]
 
[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip3|Hacker Trip to China 2013]]
 
[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip4|Hacker Trip to China 2014]]
 
[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip5|Hacker Trip to China 2015]]
 
[[NoisebridgeChinaTrip6|Hacker Trip to China 2016]]

--[[user: maltman23 | Mitch]].

= People interested in going on the Hacker Trip to China #7, 2017: =


'''Below is a list of people interested in going on this year's Hacker Trip To China.'''
 


'''You do not need to be a member of Noisebridge to go on this trip!'''
 

'''Please email me if you have any questions, or if you would like to meet up with us on the trip:''' 
''mitch *AT* CornfieldElectronics *DOT* com''

The trip is limited to 20 people total (including Mitch) 
-- the first 19 people (after Mitch) who are either there already, or who bought tickets to meet in our Trip's starting city (tentatively Shanghai) on or before 11-October-2017 are the people who are in this Trip        (which probably means flying away from home on or before 10-October) 


Note: Many people have gotten good deals on their plane fares (including me) with the help of my friend Vlad at:        [http://www.flystein.com/ Flystein] Feel free to email me, and I'll send your email to Vlad, who will be happy to help you with your flights.
 

{| style="color:green; background-color:#ffffcc;" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" border="1"
!
! Name
! Purchased flight?
! Flight info
|-
|1
|[[user: maltman23 | Mitch Altman]]
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Beijing on (date TBD)
|-
|2
|[[user: keymistress | Gloria Chiang]]
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: 'Beijing on (date TBD)
|-
|3
|[[user:juul|Marc Juul]]
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Beijing on (date TBD)
|-
|4
|Anthony Liekens (Open Garage, Belgium)
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''Wants to tag along in Shenzhen''
|-
|5
|Rafael Câmera Santos (Fazedores.com, Brazil)
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Shenzhen or Hong Kong on (date TBD)
|-
|6
|Jan Marloth (fablab munich, Germany)
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Shanghai? on (date TBD)
|-
|7
|[[user: feklee | Felix E. Klee]]
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Consider traveling by ground from Berlin
|-
|8
|Robert Fitzsimons (TOG, Ireland)
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: Hong Kong on (date TBD)
|-
|9
|[[user: mrericboyd | Eric Boyd]]
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: will arrive in Hong Kong and join for entire trip
|-
|10
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|11
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|12
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|13
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|14
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|15
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|16
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|17
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|18
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|19
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|20
|''your name here''
|align="center"|no
|Arrive: ''your arrival date and city here''
|-
|}

[[Category:Travel]]
[[Category:Projects]]

Resources/Electronics Lab

2010-06-14T04:57:33Z

Mrericboyd:

The Electronics Lab is located on the south wall of 2169, straight ahead as you enter the space. It has soldering irons, racks of components, oscilloscopes, multimeters and other electronics related stuff.

There is a [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Circuit_Hacking_Monday Circuit Hacking] event every Monday 7pm till late where you can come to learn how to solder or work on your project with expert help available. Or show up any other time to avoid the rush and work on your own!

Awesome equipment that noisebridge has:
* [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wmrs.htm Weller WMRS] surface mount soldering iron - [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/tips/rttips.htm super small tips]
* Hot air rework station - [http://www.electro-tech-online.com/general-electronics-chat/88645-aoyue-2702a-cheap-rework-station.html Aoyue Int 2702A+]
* Dozens of cheap soldering irons & holders (for circuit hacking)
* Multimeters - [http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/victor001/product-detailptYnLMEOJJCd/China-Digital-Multimeter-VC97-.html Vichy VC97] - auto ranging, but slow. There are two more older multimeters as well, but neither is auto ranging.
* Oscilloscopes - [http://www2.tek.com/cmswpt/madetails.lotr?ct=MA&cs=mur&ci=15530&lc=EN Tektronix 2235] 100MHz; [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ezdigital/os5020.htm EZ Oscilloscope OS-5020] 20MHz; [http://nebula.deanza.edu:16080/~norona/3500_oscilloscope.html JDR Instruments Model 3500] 35MHz. All two-channel.
* logic analyzer - Tektronix 1241
* frequency generator - Leader LFG 1300S
* more stuff like Textronix 5A18N Dual Trace Ampl (?), various other old things (at least two ancient o-scopes, an ancient vacuum tube volt meter)
* Good power supplies - BK Precision 1621A is 0-18V 5Amps; Thandor TS1542S is 0-15V 4Amps; both are two channel.
* Dozens of labeled bins of components - resistors, caps, diodes, LEDs, fuses, connectors, various chips (please inventory fixme).
* Extensive collection of small tools - tiny screw drivers, wire cutters, wire strippers, tweezers, solder suckers, solder wick, hot air guns, glue guns, etc.
* Shrink wrap, breadboards, solderless breadboards, pre-stripped jumper wires, headers, etc.
* Massive supply of wires - almost any gage in any color available, both stranded and solid core.
* Huge bins of AC power cords, wall warts, ethernet cables, hackable old electronic items like laptops, etc.
 

[[File:CircuitHackingMonday.JPG‎]] Circuit Hacking Monday
[[File:ComponentBins.JPG]] Component Bins
[[File:LeftWorkBench.JPG‎]] Left Work Bench

File:LeftWorkBench.JPG

2010-06-14T04:57:16Z

Mrericboyd:

Resources/Electronics Lab

2010-06-14T04:54:28Z

Mrericboyd:

The Electronics Lab is located on the south wall of 2169, straight ahead as you enter the space. It has soldering irons, racks of components, oscilloscopes, multimeters and other electronics related stuff.

There is a [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Circuit_Hacking_Monday Circuit Hacking] event every Monday 7pm till late where you can come to learn how to solder or work on your project with expert help available. Or show up any other time to avoid the rush and work on your own!

Awesome equipment that noisebridge has:
* [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wmrs.htm Weller WMRS] surface mount soldering iron - [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/tips/rttips.htm super small tips]
* Hot air rework station - [http://www.electro-tech-online.com/general-electronics-chat/88645-aoyue-2702a-cheap-rework-station.html Aoyue Int 2702A+]
* Dozens of cheap soldering irons & holders (for circuit hacking)
* Multimeters - [http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/victor001/product-detailptYnLMEOJJCd/China-Digital-Multimeter-VC97-.html Vichy VC97] - auto ranging, but slow. There are two more older multimeters as well, but neither is auto ranging.
* Oscilloscopes - [http://www2.tek.com/cmswpt/madetails.lotr?ct=MA&cs=mur&ci=15530&lc=EN Tektronix 2235] 100MHz; [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ezdigital/os5020.htm EZ Oscilloscope OS-5020] 20MHz; [http://nebula.deanza.edu:16080/~norona/3500_oscilloscope.html JDR Instruments Model 3500] 35MHz. All two-channel.
* logic analyzer - Tektronix 1241
* frequency generator - Leader LFG 1300S
* more stuff like Textronix 5A18N Dual Trace Ampl (?), various other old things (at least two ancient o-scopes, an ancient vacuum tube volt meter)
* Good power supplies - BK Precision 1621A is 0-18V 5Amps; Thandor TS1542S is 0-15V 4Amps; both are two channel.
* Dozens of labeled bins of components - resistors, caps, diodes, LEDs, fuses, connectors, various chips (please inventory fixme).
* Extensive collection of small tools - tiny screw drivers, wire cutters, wire strippers, tweezers, solder suckers, solder wick, hot air guns, glue guns, etc.
* Shrink wrap, breadboards, solderless breadboards, pre-stripped jumper wires, headers, etc.
* Massive supply of wires - almost any gage in any color available, both stranded and solid core.
* Huge bins of AC power cords, wall warts, ethernet cables, hackable old electronic items like laptops, etc.

[[File:CircuitHackingMonday.JPG‎]] Circuit Hacking Monday
[[File:ComponentBins.JPG]]

Resources/Electronics Lab

2010-06-14T04:54:09Z

Mrericboyd:

The Electronics Lab is located on the south wall of 2169, straight ahead as you enter the space. It has soldering irons, racks of components, oscilloscopes, multimeters and other electronics related stuff.

There is a [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Circuit_Hacking_Monday Circuit Hacking] event every Monday 7pm till late where you can come to learn how to solder or work on your project with expert help available. Or show up any other time to avoid the rush and work on your own!

Awesome equipment that noisebridge has:
* [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wmrs.htm Weller WMRS] surface mount soldering iron - [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/tips/rttips.htm super small tips]
* Hot air rework station - [http://www.electro-tech-online.com/general-electronics-chat/88645-aoyue-2702a-cheap-rework-station.html Aoyue Int 2702A+]
* Dozens of cheap soldering irons & holders (for circuit hacking)
* Multimeters - [http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/victor001/product-detailptYnLMEOJJCd/China-Digital-Multimeter-VC97-.html Vichy VC97] - auto ranging, but slow. There are two more older multimeters as well, but neither is auto ranging.
* Oscilloscopes - [http://www2.tek.com/cmswpt/madetails.lotr?ct=MA&cs=mur&ci=15530&lc=EN Tektronix 2235] 100MHz; [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ezdigital/os5020.htm EZ Oscilloscope OS-5020] 20MHz; [http://nebula.deanza.edu:16080/~norona/3500_oscilloscope.html JDR Instruments Model 3500] 35MHz. All two-channel.
* logic analyzer - Tektronix 1241
* frequency generator - Leader LFG 1300S
* more stuff like Textronix 5A18N Dual Trace Ampl (?), various other old things (at least two ancient o-scopes, an ancient vacuum tube volt meter)
* Good power supplies - BK Precision 1621A is 0-18V 5Amps; Thandor TS1542S is 0-15V 4Amps; both are two channel.
* Dozens of labeled bins of components - resistors, caps, diodes, LEDs, fuses, connectors, various chips (please inventory fixme).
* Extensive collection of small tools - tiny screw drivers, wire cutters, wire strippers, tweezers, solder suckers, solder wick, hot air guns, glue guns, etc.
* Shrink wrap, breadboards, solderless breadboards, pre-stripped jumper wires, headers, etc.
* Massive supply of wires - almost any gage in any color available, both stranded and solid core.
* Huge bins of AC power cords, wall warts, ethernet cables, hackable old electronic items like laptops, etc.

[[File:CircuitHackingMonday.JPG‎ Circuit Hacking Monday]]
[[File:ComponentBins.JPG]]

File:CircuitHackingMonday.JPG

2010-06-14T04:53:46Z

Mrericboyd:

Resources/Electronics Lab

2010-06-14T04:52:20Z

Mrericboyd:

Resources/Electronics Lab

2010-06-14T04:52:06Z

Mrericboyd:

The Electronics Lab is located on the south wall of 2169, straight ahead as you enter the space. It has soldering irons, racks of components, oscilloscopes, multimeters and other electronics related stuff.

There is a [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Circuit_Hacking_Monday Circuit Hacking] event every Monday 7pm till late where you can come to learn how to solder or work on your project with expert help available. Or show up any other time to avoid the rush and work on your own!

Awesome equipment that noisebridge has:
* [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wmrs.htm Weller WMRS] surface mount soldering iron - [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/tips/rttips.htm super small tips]
* Hot air rework station - [http://www.electro-tech-online.com/general-electronics-chat/88645-aoyue-2702a-cheap-rework-station.html Aoyue Int 2702A+]
* Dozens of cheap soldering irons & holders (for circuit hacking)
* Multimeters - [http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/victor001/product-detailptYnLMEOJJCd/China-Digital-Multimeter-VC97-.html Vichy VC97] - auto ranging, but slow. There are two more older multimeters as well, but neither is auto ranging.
* Oscilloscopes - [http://www2.tek.com/cmswpt/madetails.lotr?ct=MA&cs=mur&ci=15530&lc=EN Tektronix 2235] 100MHz; [http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ezdigital/os5020.htm EZ Oscilloscope OS-5020] 20MHz; [http://nebula.deanza.edu:16080/~norona/3500_oscilloscope.html JDR Instruments Model 3500] 35MHz. All two-channel.
* logic analyzer - Tektronix 1241
* frequency generator - Leader LFG 1300S
* more stuff like Textronix 5A18N Dual Trace Ampl (?), various other old things (at least two ancient o-scopes, an ancient vacuum tube volt meter)
* Good power supplies - BK Precision 1621A is 0-18V 5Amps; Thandor TS1542S is 0-15V 4Amps; both are two channel.
* Dozens of labeled bins of components - resistors, caps, diodes, LEDs, fuses, connectors, various chips (please inventory fixme).
* Extensive collection of small tools - tiny screw drivers, wire cutters, wire strippers, tweezers, solder suckers, solder wick, hot air guns, glue guns, etc.
* Shrink wrap, breadboards, solderless breadboards, pre-stripped jumper wires, headers, etc.
* Massive supply of wires - almost any gage in any color available, both stranded and solid core.
* Huge bins of AC power cords, wall warts, ethernet cables, hackable old electronic items like laptops, etc.

[[File:https://www.noisebridge.net/images/7/7f/ComponentBins.JPG]]

File:ComponentBins.JPG

2010-06-14T04:51:25Z

Mrericboyd:

File:ShapeLock SingleBag.JPG

2010-05-19T20:04:38Z

Mrericboyd:

File:ShapeLock BillOfLading.JPG

2010-05-19T20:04:06Z

Mrericboyd:

File:ShapeLock 7Bags.JPG

2010-05-19T20:02:40Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 02Oct2009

2009-10-04T19:59:56Z

Mrericboyd: /* Party Time */

=Hack Notes for pulse choker, Oct 2nd, 2009=

==Just Eric This Time==

After Chung-Hay came in and hacked yesterday on her own, I came in today to work on my own, in order to make a "demo" out of the choker for the [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Year_1_Open_Hacker_House open house].

When Chung-Hay left, only 2/5 of the LEDs were working, so that was my highest priority in terms of fixing things.

First, I bought up some acetone, so that I could reconstitute the silver paint. I then painted over the solder points of the LEDs that were not working, trying to make them go. This did fix one LED immediately.

Then I spent a bunch of time on the middle red LED, trying to get it to go. I thought I determined that the LED itself was bad, so I replaced it. But that didn't help. Then I discovered that the power trace and the gnd trace were shorted together, even with no LED on them at all. I proceeded to clean up all the little paint "splashes", and to cut and trim all the conductive thread that might be connecting them. Eventually I found the one thread that was causing the problem, and snipped it. Then I soldered the LED back on and it worked, now I had 4/5, including the three red ones. I stopped there because I was happy enough.

I then found a 9V battery and taped it to the rig, and soldered it into the power wires of the RBBB. Then I used some masking tape to mount the electronics to my chest, some Red Dot cyborg nipples, and I put the armature on my neck.

But, it just flickered like crazy, despite the fast that it had been working mere seconds earlier. Chung-Hay had complained that it was doing this for her too. Then I remembered something that we discovered like a month ago when David was wearing it - if the painted traces touch skin, that messes up the ECG measurement. So I just cut a piece of fabric to go under the main armature and prevent the traces from touching my skin. Presto, the thing worked again.

==Party Time==

Result: working pulse choker, around my neck, with 4/5 lights blinking in time with my heart!

[[Image:PulseChoker_Eric_small.JPG]]

I got lots of compliments about it during the open house. After about 2 hours though someone told me that only 1 light was blinking. I took it off and I think basically the silver paint/solder connections are broken again. I left it on the table for the rest of the night, with the one light blinking like crazy. It still inspired many conversations, and I demoed it many more times by just hooking up my cyborg nipples and leaving the armature on the desk.

==Bias Tape Solution==

I talked with a lady who had done quite a lot of work with conductive thread, and she gave me a tip that really worked well for her: she protects and guides the conductive thread using "bias tape", an iron on patch kind of fabric thing that is commonly used to hem clothing. She uses it in two different ways: (1) apparently it has two sticky strips, with an area in between them, so you can use it as a kind of "conduit" for conductive thread, you can pull more though, etc and (2) if you place stranded wire on top of the conductive thread, you can use the bias tape to form the mechanical/electrical connection (instead of using solder with crimp beads or similar horrible "solutions"). I am excited to try this solution - it might work as well for the paint as it does for the conductive thread, but either way it's a possible solution to our current connection woes.

File:PulseChoker Eric small.JPG

2009-10-04T19:58:00Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 16Aug2009

2009-08-16T23:26:30Z

Mrericboyd: /* Working Prototype */

=Hack Notes for Pulse Choker, Aug 16th, 2009=

==Fabric Electrode Test==

We tried using the high impedance op-amp LMC662CN with a sample of conductive fabric (Stretch Conductive Fabric, medical grade silver plated 92% nylon, 8% dorlastan, sold by lessemf.com Catalog # 251.), but we couldn't seem to get anything that looked like a heart-beat signal. We did however get something other than 60 Hz square wave, so we think we're on the right track, we probably just arn't doing things quite correctly. We have know-working fabric electrodes on the way, and we could also order the known-to-work OPA129 op-amp.

==Working Prototype==

We assembled:

<ul>
<li>2 red dot electrodes</li>
<li>ECG circuit</li>
<li>3 LED silver conductive paint prototype choker</li>
<li>Arduino RBBB</li>
<li>9V battery</li>
</ul>

into a fully functional "portable" pulse choker!! The electrodes work fine below your nipples (as shown in usal diagrams), but they also work fine "where the bra strap meets the cups", i.e. higher, above the nipples. We have photos and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpueKTr-wPM video] of the prototype in action.

[[Image:David_PulseChoker.jpg]]

Code:
<pre>
/* Chung-Hay & Eric
Aug 16th, 2009
*/

int LeftNeckLED = 6;
int RightNeckLED = 8;
int val = 0;

void setup() {
pinMode(LeftNeckLED, OUTPUT);
pinMode(RightNeckLED, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
Serial.begin(57600); // setup serial
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
/*digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 0);
delay(6000);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 0);
delay(30000);*/

val = analogRead(2); // read the input pin
if (val < 100)
{
Serial.println(val); // debug value
digitalWrite(2, 0);
digitalWrite(13, 0);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(2, 1);
digitalWrite(13, 1);
}
//Serial.println("test");

}
</pre>

Pulse Necklace 16Aug2009

2009-08-16T23:08:19Z

Mrericboyd:

=Hack Notes for Pulse Choker, Aug 16th, 2009=

==Fabric Electrode Test==

We tried using the high impedance op-amp LMC662CN with a sample of conductive fabric (Stretch Conductive Fabric, medical grade silver plated 92% nylon, 8% dorlastan, sold by lessemf.com Catalog # 251.), but we couldn't seem to get anything that looked like a heart-beat signal. We did however get something other than 60 Hz square wave, so we think we're on the right track, we probably just arn't doing things quite correctly. We have know-working fabric electrodes on the way, and we could also order the known-to-work OPA129 op-amp.

==Working Prototype==

We assembled:

<ul>
<li>2 red dot electrodes</li>
<li>ECG circuit</li>
<li>3 LED silver conductive paint prototype choker</li>
<li>Arduino RBBB</li>
<li>9V battery</li>
</ul>

into a fully functional "portable" pulse choker!! The electrodes work fine below your nipples (as shown in usal diagrams), but they also work fine "where the bra strap meets the cups", i.e. higher, above the nipples. We have photos and video of the prototype in action.

[[Image:David_PulseChoker.jpg]]

Code:
<pre>
/* Chung-Hay & Eric
Aug 16th, 2009
*/

int LeftNeckLED = 6;
int RightNeckLED = 8;
int val = 0;

void setup() {
pinMode(LeftNeckLED, OUTPUT);
pinMode(RightNeckLED, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
Serial.begin(57600); // setup serial
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
/*digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 0);
delay(6000);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 0);
delay(30000);*/

val = analogRead(2); // read the input pin
if (val < 100)
{
Serial.println(val); // debug value
digitalWrite(2, 0);
digitalWrite(13, 0);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(2, 1);
digitalWrite(13, 1);
}
//Serial.println("test");

}
</pre>

File:David PulseChoker.jpg

2009-08-16T23:07:07Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 02Aug2009

2009-08-02T23:00:34Z

Mrericboyd: /* Prototype Armature/Display */

=Sensebridge Meeting Notes about Pulse Choker=

==Research Links==

[http://www.freshpatents.com/12-lead-ecg-fabric-electrode-belt-system-dt20080313ptan20080064970.php 12 lead ECG fabric electrode belt system patent]

[http://www.springerlink.com/content/7n504t0101723486/ Wearable ECG Monitoring System Using Conductive Fabrics and Active Electrodes]

[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4489863%2F4496790%2F04496911.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4496911&authDecision=-203 Preliminary study of dry knitted fabric electrodes for physiological monitoring]

[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=10&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hitech-projects.com%2Feuprojects%2Fmyheart%2Fpublic%2Fpublic_results_documents%2Fdocuments%2F3rd%2520IEEE%2520EMBS%2520ISSS-MDBS%25202006%2520CDROM%252001-2142.pdf&ei=Ut51SpCXDYL0sgOT7N37CA&rct=j&q=fabric+electrode&usg=AFQjCNGoE7XFKopzaMUlV5hjZ3WhV8ALQg IEEE sensing fabric paper]

[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/97854.php FDA clearance on Textronic fabric ECG electrodes]

Eric has filled out the "purchase" form on Textronics fabric electrode kit, and will follow up with them in order to get the kit. Rachel, Chung-Hay and Eric will split the cost.

==Optical Pulse Circuit Experimentation==

We soldered leads unto the emitter/transmitter device, and held it against various body parts:

<ul><li>Neck: no flashing, despite many attempts on both of us</li>
<li>Wrist: Eric got it to work once on his wrist, but generally this fails</li>
<li>earlobe: Eric got it to work a few times, this was actually the most promising area after thumb</li>
<li>Thumb/finger: the original, still very flaky, works maybe 25% of the time</li>
</ul>

==Prototype Armature/Display==

We prototyped a choker today. We cut a "T" circuit silk screen mask out of a cool piece of flexible plastic, and then painted the silver conductive paint unto the mesh fabric. Then we soldered multi-color cycling LEDs unto the traces, and wires unto the dongle end (note: don't use unnecessary headers, they are hard to solder to with solid wire), and stuck them into an arduino, pins D6 & D8, with 500 ohm resistor on each line.

Code:
<pre>
int LeftNeckLED = 6;
int RightNeckLED = 8;

void setup() {
pinMode(LeftNeckLED, OUTPUT);
pinMode(RightNeckLED, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
}

void loop() {
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 0);
delay(6000);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 0);
delay(30000);
}
</pre>

Photos:

[[Image:Choker_Proto.jpg]]

[[Image:Chung-Hay_Proto.jpg]]

[[Image:Eric_Proto.jpg]]

Pulse Necklace 02Aug2009

2009-08-02T22:56:45Z

Mrericboyd: /* Prototype Armature/Display */

=Sensebridge Meeting Notes about Pulse Choker=

==Research Links==

[http://www.freshpatents.com/12-lead-ecg-fabric-electrode-belt-system-dt20080313ptan20080064970.php 12 lead ECG fabric electrode belt system patent]

[http://www.springerlink.com/content/7n504t0101723486/ Wearable ECG Monitoring System Using Conductive Fabrics and Active Electrodes]

[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4489863%2F4496790%2F04496911.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4496911&authDecision=-203 Preliminary study of dry knitted fabric electrodes for physiological monitoring]

[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=10&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hitech-projects.com%2Feuprojects%2Fmyheart%2Fpublic%2Fpublic_results_documents%2Fdocuments%2F3rd%2520IEEE%2520EMBS%2520ISSS-MDBS%25202006%2520CDROM%252001-2142.pdf&ei=Ut51SpCXDYL0sgOT7N37CA&rct=j&q=fabric+electrode&usg=AFQjCNGoE7XFKopzaMUlV5hjZ3WhV8ALQg IEEE sensing fabric paper]

[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/97854.php FDA clearance on Textronic fabric ECG electrodes]

Eric has filled out the "purchase" form on Textronics fabric electrode kit, and will follow up with them in order to get the kit. Rachel, Chung-Hay and Eric will split the cost.

==Optical Pulse Circuit Experimentation==

We soldered leads unto the emitter/transmitter device, and held it against various body parts:

<ul><li>Neck: no flashing, despite many attempts on both of us</li>
<li>Wrist: Eric got it to work once on his wrist, but generally this fails</li>
<li>earlobe: Eric got it to work a few times, this was actually the most promising area after thumb</li>
<li>Thumb/finger: the original, still very flaky, works maybe 25% of the time</li>
</ul>

==Prototype Armature/Display==

We prototyped a choker today. We cut a "T" circuit silk screen mask out of a cool piece of flexible plastic, and then painted the silver conductive paint unto the mesh fabric. Then we soldered multi-color cycling LEDs unto the traces, and wires unto the dongle end, and stuck them into an arduino.

Code:
<pre>
int LeftNeckLED = 6;
int RightNeckLED = 8;

void setup() {
pinMode(LeftNeckLED, OUTPUT);
pinMode(RightNeckLED, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
}

void loop() {
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 1);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 1);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(LeftNeckLED, 0);
delay(6000);
digitalWrite(RightNeckLED, 0);
delay(30000);
}
</pre>

Photos:

[[Image:Choker_Proto.jpg]]

[[Image:Chung-Hay_Proto.jpg]]

[[Image:Eric_Proto.jpg]]

File:Eric Proto.jpg

2009-08-02T22:56:08Z

Mrericboyd:

File:Chung-Hay Proto.jpg

2009-08-02T22:55:44Z

Mrericboyd:

File:Choker Proto.jpg

2009-08-02T22:52:08Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 29July2009

2009-07-30T04:24:01Z

Mrericboyd: /* Pulse Circuit */

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes July 29th, 2009=

==Pulse Circuit==

Using the [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Felectronicdesign.com%2FGlobals%2FPlanetEE%2FContent%2F887.pdf&ei=YjlmSsO-GIGsswO_-PXdDg&rct=j&q=optical+heart+beat+circuit&usg=AFQjCNH9Z1TNjAXLQgcEffPhpZKDL2vTUA circuit] that I found, I wired up a heart beat sensor. It WORKS! But, like the watch, it's difficult to get the optical sensor and your finger "aligned" correctly, so it often doesn't give a signal. I had the best luck when I pressed my thumb into the sensor, with my index finger holding the other side of the sensor with low to moderate pressure. When it does give a signal, the LED seems to blink at *half* the speed of your heart, i.e. each beat causes a state change (from on to off or off to on). This is really puzzling, since it should blink at the same speed. It also seems to miss a fair number of beats. Is it really working? Picture:

[[Image:OpticalHeartBeatCircuit.jpg]]

You can see the sensor, it's the little black box on the left of the group of three. The IC is a dual op-amp, the other black boxes are the transistors. The RBBB arduino clone is being used only for the 5V regulator.

Given this experience, and having had the same experience with the pulse watch, I think that the idea of just pressing the sensor into our necks and hoping it's going to work is totally out. However, it's still possible that a solution involving clipping the sensor to your ear-lobe might work, since that can (hopefully?) be made secure and non-variable. We need to experiment with this.

==ECG Idea==

At the same time, I think we should move forward with a different mechanism for sensing heartbeat, such as the industry standard electrocardiogram units. The downside here is that we will probably have to have some kind of chest band or similar. I found the [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Small+2-Lead+ECG Open ECG Project's "Small 2-lead ECG], which actually has complete schematics and BOM, along with nice graphs showing how great the heartbeat signal is.

The problem with ECG from our perspective is that it requires electrodes on your body, and that's not cool. The Open ECG project has a page on [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Reusable+electrode+development reusable electrode development] which actually links to [http://www.textronicsinc.com/ Textronics], a company that is developing a *fabric electrode* (awesome! - they are doing great work!). They sell a dev kit for $100. Before we purchase that though we should prototype an ECG circuit and use the Red Dot electrodes, to prove that this stuff works for us. Also, I think we could build our own fabric electrodes once we've seen theirs - I mean, some conductive fabric and a strap of some sort to hold it against your skin, right?

==Plans==

I will protect the heart-beat sensor circuit breadboard and we can continue to play with it over the coming weeks. For instance, we have many more sensor heads, maybe some of them will be more forgiving than the Honeywell HLC1395 that the circuit calls for? We also need to feed the signal into the Arduino and see if we can output heart rate info, plus control any display we eventually build. Lots of good stuff to look forward to!

Pulse Necklace 29July2009

2009-07-30T04:23:30Z

Mrericboyd:

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes July 29th, 2009=

==Pulse Circuit==

Using the [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Felectronicdesign.com%2FGlobals%2FPlanetEE%2FContent%2F887.pdf&ei=YjlmSsO-GIGsswO_-PXdDg&rct=j&q=optical+heart+beat+circuit&usg=AFQjCNH9Z1TNjAXLQgcEffPhpZKDL2vTUA circuit] that I found, I wired up a heart beat sensor. It WORKS! But, like the watch, it's difficult to get the optical sensor and your finger "aligned" correctly, so it often doesn't give a signal. I had the best luck when I pressed my thumb into the sensor, with my index finger holding the other side of the sensor with low to moderate pressure. When it does give a signal, the LED seems to blink at *half* the speed of your heart, i.e. each beat causes a state change (from on to off). This is really puzzling, since it should blink at the same speed. It also seems to miss a fair number of beats. Is it really working? Picture:

[[Image:OpticalHeartBeatCircuit.jpg]]

You can see the sensor, it's the little black box on the left of the group of three. The IC is a dual op-amp, the other black boxes are the transistors. The RBBB arduino clone is being used only for the 5V regulator.

Given this experience, and having had the same experience with the pulse watch, I think that the idea of just pressing the sensor into our necks and hoping it's going to work is totally out. However, it's still possible that a solution involving clipping the sensor to your ear-lobe might work, since that can (hopefully?) be made secure and non-variable. We need to experiment with this.

==ECG Idea==

At the same time, I think we should move forward with a different mechanism for sensing heartbeat, such as the industry standard electrocardiogram units. The downside here is that we will probably have to have some kind of chest band or similar. I found the [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Small+2-Lead+ECG Open ECG Project's "Small 2-lead ECG], which actually has complete schematics and BOM, along with nice graphs showing how great the heartbeat signal is.

The problem with ECG from our perspective is that it requires electrodes on your body, and that's not cool. The Open ECG project has a page on [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Reusable+electrode+development reusable electrode development] which actually links to [http://www.textronicsinc.com/ Textronics], a company that is developing a *fabric electrode* (awesome! - they are doing great work!). They sell a dev kit for $100. Before we purchase that though we should prototype an ECG circuit and use the Red Dot electrodes, to prove that this stuff works for us. Also, I think we could build our own fabric electrodes once we've seen theirs - I mean, some conductive fabric and a strap of some sort to hold it against your skin, right?

==Plans==

I will protect the heart-beat sensor circuit breadboard and we can continue to play with it over the coming weeks. For instance, we have many more sensor heads, maybe some of them will be more forgiving than the Honeywell HLC1395 that the circuit calls for? We also need to feed the signal into the Arduino and see if we can output heart rate info, plus control any display we eventually build. Lots of good stuff to look forward to!

Pulse Necklace 29July2009

2009-07-30T04:21:20Z

Mrericboyd: /* Pulse Circuit */

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes July 29th, 2009=

==Pulse Circuit==

Using the [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Felectronicdesign.com%2FGlobals%2FPlanetEE%2FContent%2F887.pdf&ei=YjlmSsO-GIGsswO_-PXdDg&rct=j&q=optical+heart+beat+circuit&usg=AFQjCNH9Z1TNjAXLQgcEffPhpZKDL2vTUA circuit] that I found, I wired up a heart beat sensor. It WORKS! But, like the watch, it's difficult to get the optical sensor and your finger "aligned" correctly, so it often doesn't give a signal. I had the best luck when I pressed my thumb into the sensor, with my index finger holding the other side of the sensor with low to moderate pressure. When it does give a signal, the LED seems to blink at *half* the speed of your heart, i.e. each beat causes a state change (from on to off). This is really puzzling, since it should blink at the same speed. It also seems to miss a fair number of beats. Is it really working? Picture:

[[Image:OpticalHeartBeatCircuit.jpg]]

You can see the sensor, it's the little black box on the left of the group of three. The IC is a dual op-amp, the other black boxes are the transistors. The RBBB arduino clone is being used only for the 5V regulator.

Given this experience, and having had the same experience with the pulse watch, I think that the idea of just pressing the sensor into our necks and hoping it's going to work is totally out. However, it's still possible that a solution involving clipping the sensor to your ear-lobe might work, since that can (hopefully?) be made secure and non-variable. We need to experiment with this.

At the same time, I think we should move forward with a different mechanism for sensing heartbeat, such as the industry standard electrocardiogram units. The downside here is that we will probably have to have some kind of chest band or similar. I found the [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Small+2-Lead+ECG Open ECG Project's "Small 2-lead ECG], which actually has complete schematics and BOM, along with nice graphs showing how great the heartbeat signal is.

The problem with ECG from our perspective is that it requires electrodes on your body, and that's not cool. The Open ECG project has a page on [http://www.open-ecg-project.org/tiki-index.php?page=Reusable+electrode+development reusable electrode development] which actually links to [http://www.textronicsinc.com/ Textronics], a company that is developing a *fabric electrode* (awesome! - they are doing great work!). They sell a dev kit for $100. Before we purchase that though we should prototype an ECG circuit and use the Red Dot electrodes, to prove that this stuff works for us. Also, I think we could build our own fabric electrodes once we've seen theirs - I mean, some conductive fabric and a strap of some sort to hold it against your skin, right?

I will protect the heart-beat sensor circuit breadboard and we can continue to play with it over the coming weeks. For instance, we have many more sensor heads, maybe some of them will be more forgiving than the Honeywell HLC1395 that the circuit calls for?

File:OpticalHeartBeatCircuit.jpg

2009-07-30T04:18:53Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 22July2009

2009-07-23T05:18:17Z

Mrericboyd: /* Stencil Idea */

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes for July 22th, 2009=

==Silk Screening Conductive Paint Part 2==

Last week we tried silk screening silver conductive paint (MGchemicals 842-20G) onto two different types of fabric, but had no luck. Neither fabric showed low resistance, despite our shaking the paint. How could conductive paint possibly not conduct?!

Well, it turns out that the key was to ''''''stir'''''' the paint vigorously. The metal particles had settled at the bottom and formed its own "layer" with a consistency of a swamp-like mud. After stirring, we silk screened on the two fabrics and got successful electrical connection. We were able to thread conductive thread through with a needle and light up an LED through a circuit that went from the power supply through conductive thread and conductive paint to the LED, then to ground.

We tested out different paint techniques (silk screen vs paint on by brush) on our two different fabrics (water-resistant polyester vs leather-like fabric) for durability:

* Silk screening on the "leather"-like fabric didn't survive our wear and tear testing. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Silk screening on the polyester survived wear and tear, though the silver particles started dusting off when I (Chung-Hay) scratched it with my nails. We'd say this is not cat-proof.

* Painting on the "leather"-like fabric definitely didn't survive wear and tear. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Painting on the polyester survived wear and tear with no noticeable differences compared to silk screening.

We then turned to testing the fabric we used for the actual screen in silk screening. That porous fabric turned out to be better than either fabrics. The conductive paint soaked into the holes between the weaves. We successfully threaded conductive thread to the painted wires and were able to light up and LED.

Addition note: silk screening required more paint than just painting with a brush over a stencil.

From our experimentation, we have concluded that the best way to draw our circuit will be to paint by brush over a stencil on porous fabric.

==Soldering on Conductive Paint==

Soldering on conductive paint was remarkably easy. The solder tins onto the paint nicely! Surface mount LEDs were easy to solder directly onto the painted fabric. The conduction was very solid, better than the soldering connection on regular PCB. The fabric literally becomes integrated with the paint and solder.

We term our circuit-making creation a painted circuit.

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_GreenLED.jpg]]

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_SMLED.jpg]]

==Stencil Idea==

Looking at the circuit in the choker that we have, you can just layout traces and have nice contact pads. We envision a "fake tie" armature, like this:

[[Image:PulseChoker_StencilIdea.jpg]]

The traces at the bottom could be soldered to a header if they were spaced right. Hopefully making holes through the fabric will be easy.

==Heart Rate Sensor Parts==

We're exploring methods of filtering and amplifying the signal. There is a interesting part which does some filtering right inside the device: digikey EE-SY310.

Eric's homework: options for stencils
Chung-Hay's homework: options for thinning the silver conductive paint to keep costs down

Pulse Necklace 22July2009

2009-07-23T05:16:54Z

Mrericboyd:

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes for July 22th, 2009=

==Silk Screening Conductive Paint Part 2==

Last week we tried silk screening silver conductive paint (MGchemicals 842-20G) onto two different types of fabric, but had no luck. Neither fabric showed low resistance, despite our shaking the paint. How could conductive paint possibly not conduct?!

Well, it turns out that the key was to ''''''stir'''''' the paint vigorously. The metal particles had settled at the bottom and formed its own "layer" with a consistency of a swamp-like mud. After stirring, we silk screened on the two fabrics and got successful electrical connection. We were able to thread conductive thread through with a needle and light up an LED through a circuit that went from the power supply through conductive thread and conductive paint to the LED, then to ground.

We tested out different paint techniques (silk screen vs paint on by brush) on our two different fabrics (water-resistant polyester vs leather-like fabric) for durability:

* Silk screening on the "leather"-like fabric didn't survive our wear and tear testing. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Silk screening on the polyester survived wear and tear, though the silver particles started dusting off when I (Chung-Hay) scratched it with my nails. We'd say this is not cat-proof.

* Painting on the "leather"-like fabric definitely didn't survive wear and tear. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Painting on the polyester survived wear and tear with no noticeable differences compared to silk screening.

We then turned to testing the fabric we used for the actual screen in silk screening. That porous fabric turned out to be better than either fabrics. The conductive paint soaked into the holes between the weaves. We successfully threaded conductive thread to the painted wires and were able to light up and LED.

Addition note: silk screening required more paint than just painting with a brush over a stencil.

From our experimentation, we have concluded that the best way to draw our circuit will be to paint by brush over a stencil on porous fabric.

==Soldering on Conductive Paint==

Soldering on conductive paint was remarkably easy. The solder tins onto the paint nicely! Surface mount LEDs were easy to solder directly onto the painted fabric. The conduction was very solid, better than the soldering connection on regular PCB. The fabric literally becomes integrated with the paint and solder.

We term our circuit-making creation a painted circuit.

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_GreenLED.jpg]]

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_SMLED.jpg]]

==Stencil Idea==

Looking at the circuit in the choker that we have, you can just layout traces and have nice contact pads. We envision a "fake tie" armature, like this:

[[Image:PulseChoker_StencilIdea.jpg]]

==Heart Rate Sensor Parts==

We're exploring methods of filtering and amplifying the signal. There is a interesting part which does some filtering right inside the device: digikey EE-SY310.

Eric's homework: options for stencils
Chung-Hay's homework: options for thinning the silver conductive paint to keep costs down

File:PulseChoker StencilIdea.jpg

2009-07-23T05:15:21Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace 22July2009

2009-07-23T05:12:15Z

Mrericboyd:

=Pulse Choker Hack Notes for July 22th, 2009=

==Silk Screening Conductive Paint Part 2==

Last week we tried silk screening silver conductive paint (MGchemicals 842-20G) onto two different types of fabric, but had no luck. Neither fabric showed low resistance, despite our shaking the paint. How could conductive paint possibly not conduct?!

Well, it turns out that the key was to ''''''stir'''''' the paint vigorously. The metal particles had settled at the bottom and formed its own "layer" with a consistency of a swamp-like mud. After stirring, we silk screened on the two fabrics and got successful electrical connection. We were able to thread conductive thread through with a needle and light up an LED through a circuit that went from the power supply through conductive thread and conductive paint to the LED, then to ground.

We tested out different paint techniques (silk screen vs paint on by brush) on our two different fabrics (water-resistant polyester vs leather-like fabric) for durability:

* Silk screening on the "leather"-like fabric didn't survive our wear and tear testing. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Silk screening on the polyester survived wear and tear, though the silver particles started dusting off when I (Chung-Hay) scratched it with my nails. We'd say this is not cat-proof.

* Painting on the "leather"-like fabric definitely didn't survive wear and tear. The paint cracked when we wrinkled the fabric.

* Painting on the polyester survived wear and tear with no noticeable differences compared to silk screening.

We then turned to testing the fabric we used for the actual screen in silk screening. That porous fabric turned out to be better than either fabrics. The conductive paint soaked into the holes between the weaves. We successfully threaded conductive thread to the painted wires and were able to light up and LED.

Addition note: silk screening required more paint than just painting with a brush over a stencil.

From our experimentation, we have concluded that the best way to draw our circuit will be to paint by brush over a stencil on porous fabric.

==Soldering on Conductive Paint==

Soldering on conductive paint was remarkably easy. The solder tins onto the paint nicely! Surface mount LEDs were easy to solder directly onto the painted fabric. The conduction was very solid, better than the soldering connection on regular PCB. The fabric literally becomes integrated with the paint and solder.

We term our circuit-making creation a painted circuit.

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_GreenLED.jpg]]

[[Image:PaintedCircuit_SMLED.jpg]]

==Heart Rate Sensor Parts==

We're exploring methods of filtering and amplifying the signal. There is a interesting part which does some filtering right inside the device: digikey EE-SY310.

Eric's homework: options for stencils
Chung-Hay's homework: options for thinning the silver conductive paint to keep costs down

File:PaintedCircuit SMLED.jpg

2009-07-23T05:10:16Z

Mrericboyd:

File:PaintedCircuit GreenLED.jpg

2009-07-23T05:09:54Z

Mrericboyd:

NBC 2009July12

2009-07-12T23:43:17Z

Mrericboyd: /* Shocking Ourselves for Science */

=Cyborg Meeting Minutes, July 12, 2009=

==Introductions==

David Allen - vertical northpaw, website for northpaw

Mikolaj - compass belt, soon a new project

Mike - with Rachel on the eyes in the back of the back, hasn't done much recently though

Eric - northpaw,

Jorgen - new here, saw article on compass belt

Jsk - programming on the go, code too text based

Chung-Hay - pulse choker

Rachel - eyes in the back of the back

==Demos==

Working MyVu Personal Media Viewer, with input from David's iPod

Some people tried on the North Paw

People played with the pulse watch

Discussion on Echo Location Kit

Long discussion about North Paw kits.

===Shocking Ourselves for Science===

[[Image:ShockingOurselves.jpg]]

Mikolaj brought some electrodes - 3M [http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/IP/infectionprevention/solutions/patient-assessment/red-dot-electrodes/red-dot-repositionable-electrodes/ Red Dot]monitoring electrode with foam tape and sticky gel. They are pretty cheap - you can get [http://cgi.ebay.com/2-NEW-BAGS-100-EKG-ECG-3M-RED-DOT-ELECTRODES_W0QQitemZ380137824977QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5881fae2d1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|293%3A1|294%3A50 100 on eBay for $19]. We hooked them up to freqency generator (max 10V), but that wasn't feelable. Then we used DC power supply (up to 50V), and it's shocking at about 30V, totally feelable at 20V once you've created the circuit through your skin once. Current flow was between 1mA and 10mA. We hacked up a transformer which steps up the voltage to peak 30V (therefore about a 3x step up). It's feel-able with less voltage (down to maybe 12V for sensitive people, other people needed 20V or more), and the current flow is under a mA, therefore the power usage is <15mW, which is pretty awesome.

===The Extended Nose Experiment===

From page 59-60 of the "Natural Born Cyborgs" book by Andy Clark, there is an experiment involving nose tapping, which is supposed to result in the blindfolded subject feeling like their nose is 2 feet long. After trying 3 different experimental methods (instructions are not only confusing, but actually improper, specifying the wrong person doing the actions), we did succeed in feeling like we were tapping our own nose, but our noses did not feel longer.

Final procedure: two chairs, facing the same direction. Blindfolded subject sits behind a volunteer. A friend (the scientist) takes the subjects hand, and uses that control to make their finger tap the nose of the person in front of them. At the same time, the scientist taps his own finger against the subjects nose. The scientist should synchronize and randomize the taps he is generating. Repeating myself in a slightly different way, the subject should feel (a) their nose being tapped by the scientists finger and (b) their own finger being made to tap the nose of the person seated in front of them. Subjectively, the subject hopefully experiences a sensation that they are tapping their own nose. And their nose is supposed to therefore feel about 2 feet long, but in practice none of the four of us experienced that.

==Some Links==

[http://www.quinnnorton.com/said/?s=north+paw North Paw Notes from Quinn]

[http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1220198157 Audio Compass output]

[http://www.medicalproductsonline.org/tensunits1.html Cheap TENS unit drivers]

File:ShockingOurselves.jpg

2009-07-12T23:42:41Z

Mrericboyd:

Pulse Necklace

2009-07-09T04:15:51Z

Mrericboyd: /* Hack Notes */

A choker (tight necklace) which measures your heartbeat (pulse) and shows it to others via a set of LEDs. It may also optionally communicate the same info to the wearer via a vibrator. Although theoretically heart rate should be known via senses intrinsic to humans, in practice it is actually quite difficult to know, and I think there are many interesting social interactions that pulse-display could trigger.

Currently Eric Boyd and Chung-Hay are working on this device.

==Design Thoughts==

Sensor:

Generally all commercial ones a just little electrocardiogram units.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography :

<blockquote>"An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using a biomedical instrumentation amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body."
</blockquote>

However, for this project I think the best solution may be optical. There is apparently a small change in the optical properties of your skin with your blood pressure, meaning that pulse can be observed by an optical sensor pressed against your skin. I have a working "pulse watch" which uses this principle.

Display: Initially, only to people other than the wearer, via a string of LEDs inside the choker. I imagine the pulsing centered on the LED in the center, and going out to all, then coming back in, similar to how some star trek (?) lights worked when the computer talked. There may also be a lone vibrator, which could be used to signal to the wearer a variety of things (like pulse, but also time or low battery etc). Although this is really stretching the definition of "display", the device might also log data for later retrieval via USB.

Armature: Choker, plus it is likely that it will have to have a pendant hanging from it, which would contain the circuit and battery. The vibrator might also be in the pendant. The hard part of the armature will be how to wire the LEDs in a "soft" way (no ribbon cables around our necks!). Also, the optical sensor will have to be held against the neck even while the neck moves, you breathe, etc - that might be tricky. We have experimented with conductive thread with crimp beads, but they are very difficult to use, and end up being more fragile than is really acceptable. We are presently investigating silk-screening conductive paint, and flexible PCBs are possible armature ideas.

Electronics: For prototype, arduino and probably a small op-amp circuit modeled on the circuit inside the watch. To make it wearable, we'll probably have to use an attiny or other similarly super small device.

==Prior Art==

I already have a set of chokers with surface mount LEDs inside (I've shown this at prior meetings during show and tell). I am unsure of how the LEDs are wired - it's possible that they are all controlled from the same wire, in which case the device will not be able to display as above, and instead will simply flash. I got the chokers from [http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LI1069&Category_Code= Rebeccas] for only $2.15 each, so if they are suitable they make great kit components.

Reverse engineering the choker's flexible PCB:

<pre>
Lights: 1-12, counted from the batteries
(Only lights 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 are populated)
Pins: 1-6, counted from the big ground of the batteries nearest the ribbon cable

Schematic Reverse Engineer:
Pin 1: V+ for all lights
Pin 2: V- for 1, 3, 5
Pin 3: V- for 2, 4
Pin 4: V- for 6, 8
Pin 5: V- for 7, 9, 11
Pin 6: V- for 10, 12

Apparently the LEDs are very easy to fry, since both green and pink choker now have many non-functional LEDs
</pre>

I've done some google searches, but I haven't been able to find anything like this. There are some pulse-sensing watches, for instance [http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/exercise-watch-pulse-calorie-reader/ Chinavasion: Exercise Watch - pulse + calorie reader] or see some reviews at [http://www.consumersearch.com/heart-rate-monitors Heart Rate Monitors]. These devices almost universally have a small display, but I think a haptic solution could be greatly superior.

[[Image:PulseWatch.jpg]]

You can see in the image a small heart on the left side of the display. When it's sensing your pulse, this heart blinks with your pulse, which is super cool. The sensor is under my index finger on the right hand side. You need to just touch the sensor - if you press hard, that destroys the signals (presumably because the pressure makes it so your skin doesn't respond to the pressure of your blood and instead just responds to the pressure of your hold...)

==Hack Notes==

[[Pulse_Necklace_24June2009|June 24th, 2009]]

[[Pulse_Necklace_01July2009|July 1st, 2009]]

[[Pulse_Necklace_08July2009|July 8st, 2009]]

[[Category:Sensebridge]]

Pulse Necklace 08Jugfsdg2009

2009-07-09T04:11:46Z

Mrericboyd: Undo revision 6116 by 24.5.85.158 (Talk)

=Title=

==Subtitle==

===Subsubtitle===

* bullet point

regular text

<pre>
sdg
sdg
dfg dfg dfh
zdfg
fdg f dfg
fg
</pre>

Pulse Necklace

2009-07-08T03:28:45Z

Mrericboyd: /* Hack Notes */

Pulse Necklace 01July2009

2009-07-08T03:27:58Z

Mrericboyd:

==Pulse Choker Hack Notes, July 1st, 2009==

We disassembled the pulse watch, and found the sensor part consists of a little LED + photo diode part, with 4 wires.

We tried to use the watch on our necks, and it did sometimes show a beat pattern, but it was irregular and the watch would not return a bpm reading. It didn't matter whether we had the clear "window" part or not.

We measured the voltages. The LED has a voltage drop of .6V, and V+ of 2.8V. The photo diode had a reading of 1.2V without finger, 1.073V with finger. Whatever the pulse signal is with finger, it's too small for the multimeter to read. Clearly we'll have to build an amplifier circuit.

Try using the conductive epoxy to attach conductive thread to a SM LED. It look a few attempts, but we did find a way to attach it that wasn't too much trouble. The epoxy takes a lot longer than 5 minutes to dry though - probably more like several hours. Method we used: "wet" the ends of the thread, and press them against the pads of the LED. Generalization: wet a whole bunch of thread ends in an array, press the LEDs down against them. Do it on wax paper or similar that the epoxy doesn't stick too.

Pulse Necklace 24June2009 June 24th, 2009

2009-07-08T03:27:38Z

Mrericboyd: Pulse Necklace 24June2009 June 24th, 2009 moved to Pulse Necklace 01July2009

#REDIRECT [[Pulse Necklace 01July2009]]

Pulse Necklace 01July2009

2009-07-08T03:27:38Z

Mrericboyd: Pulse Necklace 24June2009 June 24th, 2009 moved to Pulse Necklace 01July2009

Pulse Necklace

2009-06-26T23:38:47Z

Mrericboyd:

=Pulse Necklace=

A choker (tight necklace) which measures your heartbeat (pulse) and shows it to others via a set of LEDs. It may also optionally communicate the same info to the wearer via a vibrator. Although theoretically heart rate should be known via senses intrinsic to humans, in practice it is actually quite difficult to know, and I think there are many interesting social interactions that pulse-display could trigger.

Currently Eric Boyd and Chung-Hay are working on this device.

==Design Thoughts==

Sensor:

Generally all commercial ones a just little electrocardiogram units.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography :

<blockquote>"An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using a biomedical instrumentation amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body."
</blockquote>

However, for this project I think the best solution may be optical. There is apparently a small change in the optical properties of your skin with your blood pressure, meaning that pulse can be observed by an optical sensor pressed against your skin. I have a working "pulse watch" which uses this principle.

Display: Initially, only to people other than the wearer, via a string of LEDs inside the choker. I imagine the pulsing centered on the LED in the center, and going out to all, then coming back in, similar to how some star trek (?) lights worked when the computer talked. There may also be a lone vibrator, which could be used to signal to the wearer a variety of things (like pulse, but also time or low battery etc). Although this is really stretching the definition of "display", the device might also log data for later retrieval via USB.

Armature: Choker, plus it is likely that it will have to have a pendant hanging from it, which would contain the circuit and battery. The vibrator might also be in the pendant. The hard part of the armature will be how to wire the LEDs in a "soft" way (no ribbon cables around our necks!). Also, the optical sensor will have to be held against the neck even while the neck moves, you breathe, etc - that might be tricky. We have experimented with conductive thread with crimp beads, but they are very difficult to use, and end up being more fragile than is really acceptable. We are presently investigating silk-screening conductive paint, and flexible PCBs are possible armature ideas.

Electronics: For prototype, arduino and probably a small op-amp circuit modeled on the circuit inside the watch. To make it wearable, we'll probably have to use an attiny or other similarly super small device.

==Prior Art==

I already have a set of chokers with surface mount LEDs inside (I've shown this at prior meetings during show and tell). I am unsure of how the LEDs are wired - it's possible that they are all controlled from the same wire, in which case the device will not be able to display as above, and instead will simply flash. I got the chokers from [http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LI1069&Category_Code= Rebeccas] for only $2.15 each, so if they are suitable they make great kit components.

Reverse engineering the choker's flexible PCB:

<pre>
Lights: 1-12, counted from the batteries
(Only lights 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 are populated)
Pins: 1-6, counted from the big ground of the batteries nearest the ribbon cable

Schematic Reverse Engineer:
Pin 1: V+ for all lights
Pin 2: V- for 1, 3, 5
Pin 3: V- for 2, 4
Pin 4: V- for 6, 8
Pin 5: V- for 7, 9, 11
Pin 6: V- for 10, 12

Apparently the LEDs are very easy to fry, since both green and pink choker now have many non-functional LEDs
</pre>

I've done some google searches, but I haven't been able to find anything like this. There are some pulse-sensing watches, for instance [http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/exercise-watch-pulse-calorie-reader/ Chinavasion: Exercise Watch - pulse + calorie reader] or see some reviews at [http://www.consumersearch.com/heart-rate-monitors Heart Rate Monitors]. These devices almost universally have a small display, but I think a haptic solution could be greatly superior.

[[Image:PulseWatch.jpg]]

You can see in the image a small heart on the left side of the display. When it's sensing your pulse, this heart blinks with your pulse, which is super cool. The sensor is under my index finger on the right hand side. You need to just touch the sensor - if you press hard, that destroys the signals (presumably because the pressure makes it so your skin doesn't respond to the pressure of your blood and instead just responds to the pressure of your hold...)

[[Category:Sensebridge]]

Pulse Necklace

2009-06-26T23:37:26Z

Mrericboyd:

=Pulse Necklace=

A choker (tight necklace) which measures your heartbeat (pulse) and shows it to others via a set of LEDs. It may also optionally communicate the same info to the wearer via a vibrator. Although theoretically heart rate should be known via senses intrinsic to humans, in practice it is actually quite difficult to know, and I think there are many interesting social interactions that pulse-display could trigger.

Currently Eric Boyd is working on this device.

==Design Thoughts==

Sensor:

Generally all commercial ones a just little electrocardiogram units.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography :

<blockquote>"An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using a biomedical instrumentation amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body."
</blockquote>

However, for this project I think the best solution may be optical. There is apparently a small change in the optical properties of your skin with your blood pressure, meaning that pulse can be observed by an optical sensor pressed against your skin. I have a working "pulse watch" which uses this principle.

Display: Initially, only to people other than the wearer, via a string of LEDs inside the choker. I imagine the pulsing centered on the LED in the center, and going out to all, then coming back in, similar to how some star trek (?) lights worked when the computer talked. There may also be a lone vibrator, which could be used to signal to the wearer a variety of things (like pulse, but also time or low battery etc). Although this is really stretching the definition of "display", the device might also log data for later retrieval via USB.

Armature: Choker, plus it is likely that it will have to have a pendant hanging from it, which would contain the circuit and battery. The vibrator might also be in the pendant. The hard part of the armature will be how to wire the LEDs in a "soft" way (no ribbon cables around our necks!). Also, the optical sensor will have to be held against the neck even while the neck moves, you breathe, etc - that might be tricky. We have experimented with conductive thread with crimp beads, but they are very difficult to use, and end up being more fragile than is really acceptable. We are presently investigating silk-screening conductive paint, and flexible PCBs are possible armature ideas.

Electronics: For prototype, arduino and probably a small op-amp circuit modeled on the circuit inside the watch. To make it wearable, we'll probably have to use an attiny or other similarly super small device.

==Prior Art==

I already have a set of chokers with surface mount LEDs inside (I've shown this at prior meetings during show and tell). I am unsure of how the LEDs are wired - it's possible that they are all controlled from the same wire, in which case the device will not be able to display as above, and instead will simply flash. I got the chokers from [http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LI1069&Category_Code= Rebeccas] for only $2.15 each, so if they are suitable they make great kit components.

Reverse engineering the choker's flexible PCB:

<pre>
Lights: 1-12, counted from the batteries
(Only lights 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 are populated)
Pins: 1-6, counted from the big ground of the batteries nearest the ribbon cable

Schematic Reverse Engineer:
Pin 1: V+ for all lights
Pin 2: V- for 1, 3, 5
Pin 3: V- for 2, 4
Pin 4: V- for 6, 8
Pin 5: V- for 7, 9, 11
Pin 6: V- for 10, 12

Apparently the LEDs are very easy to fry, since both green and pink choker now have many non-functional LEDs
</pre>

I've done some google searches, but I haven't been able to find anything like this. There are some pulse-sensing watches, for instance [http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/exercise-watch-pulse-calorie-reader/ Chinavasion: Exercise Watch - pulse + calorie reader] or see some reviews at [http://www.consumersearch.com/heart-rate-monitors Heart Rate Monitors]. These devices almost universally have a small display, but I think a haptic solution could be greatly superior.

[[Image:PulseWatch.jpg]]

You can see in the image a small heart on the left side of the display. When it's sensing your pulse, this heart blinks with your pulse, which is super cool. The sensor is under my index finger on the right hand side. You need to just touch the sensor - if you press hard, that destroys the signals (presumably because the pressure makes it so your skin doesn't respond to the pressure of your blood and instead just responds to the pressure of your hold...)

[[Category:Sensebridge]]

Pulse Necklace

2009-06-26T23:36:27Z

Mrericboyd: /* Part Sourcing */

=Pulse Necklace=

A choker (tight necklace) which measures your heartbeat (pulse) and shows it to others via a set of LEDs. It may also optionally communicate the same info to the wearer via a vibrator. Although theoretically heart rate should be known via senses intrinsic to humans, in practice it is actually quite difficult to know, and I think there are many interesting social interactions that pulse-display could trigger.

Currently Eric Boyd is working on this device.

==Design Thoughts==

Sensor:

Generally all commercial ones a just little electrocardiogram units.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography :

<blockquote>"An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using a biomedical instrumentation amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body."
</blockquote>

However, for this project I think the best solution may be optical. There is apparently a small change in the optical properties of your skin with your blood pressure, meaning that pulse can be observed by an optical sensor pressed against your skin. I have a working "pulse watch" which uses this principle.

Display: Initially, only to people other than the wearer, via a string of LEDs inside the choker. I imagine the pulsing centered on the LED in the center, and going out to all, then coming back in, similar to how some star trek (?) lights worked when the computer talked. There may also be a lone vibrator, which could be used to signal to the wearer a variety of things (like pulse, but also time or low battery etc). Although this is really stretching the definition of "display", the device might also log data for later retrieval via USB.

Armature: Choker, plus it is likely that it will have to have a pendant hanging from it, which would contain the circuit and battery. The vibrator might also be in the pendant. The hard part of the armature will be how to wire the LEDs in a "soft" way (no ribbon cables around our necks!). Also, the optical sensor will have to be held against the neck even while the neck moves, you breathe, etc - that might be tricky. We have experimented with conductive thread with crimp beads, but they are very difficult to use, and end up being more fragile than is really acceptable. We are presently investigating silk-screening conductive paint, and flexible PCBs are possible armature ideas.

Electronics: For prototype, arduino and probably a small op-amp circuit modeled on the circuit inside the watch. To make it wearable, we'll probably have to use an attiny or other similarly super small device.

==Part Sourcing==

I already have a set of chokers with surface mount LEDs inside (I've shown this at prior meetings during show and tell). I am unsure of how the LEDs are wired - it's possible that they are all controlled from the same wire, in which case the device will not be able to display as above, and instead will simply flash. I got the chokers from [http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LI1069&Category_Code= Rebeccas] for only $2.15 each, so if they are suitable they make great kit components.

==Reverse Engineering the Choker Armature==

<pre>
Lights: 1-12, counted from the batteries
(Only lights 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 are populated)
Pins: 1-6, counted from the big ground of the batteries nearest the ribbon cable

Schematic Reverse Engineer:
Pin 1: V+ for all lights
Pin 2: V- for 1, 3, 5
Pin 3: V- for 2, 4
Pin 4: V- for 6, 8
Pin 5: V- for 7, 9, 11
Pin 6: V- for 10, 12

Apparently the LEDs are very easy to fry, since both green and pink choker now have many non-functional LEDs
</pre>

==Prior Art==

I've done some google searches, but I haven't been able to find anything like this. There are some pulse-sensing watches, for instance [http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/exercise-watch-pulse-calorie-reader/ Chinavasion: Exercise Watch - pulse + calorie reader] or see some reviews at [http://www.consumersearch.com/heart-rate-monitors Heart Rate Monitors]. These devices almost universally have a small display, but I think a haptic solution could be greatly superior.

[[Image:PulseWatch.jpg]]

You can see in the image a small heart on the left side of the display. When it's sensing your pulse, this heart blinks with your pulse, which is super cool. The sensor is under my index finger on the right hand side. You need to just touch the sensor - if you press hard, that destroys the signals (presumably because the pressure makes it so your skin doesn't respond to the pressure of your blood and instead just responds to the pressure of your hold...)

[[Category:Sensebridge]]

Pulse Necklace

2009-06-26T23:35:46Z

Mrericboyd: /* Prior Art */

=Pulse Necklace=

A choker (tight necklace) which measures your heartbeat (pulse) and shows it to others via a set of LEDs. It may also optionally communicate the same info to the wearer via a vibrator. Although theoretically heart rate should be known via senses intrinsic to humans, in practice it is actually quite difficult to know, and I think there are many interesting social interactions that pulse-display could trigger.

Currently Eric Boyd is working on this device.

==Design Thoughts==

Sensor:

Generally all commercial ones a just little electrocardiogram units.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography :

<blockquote>"An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using a biomedical instrumentation amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body."
</blockquote>

However, for this project I think the best solution may be optical. There is apparently a small change in the optical properties of your skin with your blood pressure, meaning that pulse can be observed by an optical sensor pressed against your skin. I have a working "pulse watch" which uses this principle.

Display: Initially, only to people other than the wearer, via a string of LEDs inside the choker. I imagine the pulsing centered on the LED in the center, and going out to all, then coming back in, similar to how some star trek (?) lights worked when the computer talked. There may also be a lone vibrator, which could be used to signal to the wearer a variety of things (like pulse, but also time or low battery etc). Although this is really stretching the definition of "display", the device might also log data for later retrieval via USB.

Armature: Choker, plus it is likely that it will have to have a pendant hanging from it, which would contain the circuit and battery. The vibrator might also be in the pendant. The hard part of the armature will be how to wire the LEDs in a "soft" way (no ribbon cables around our necks!). Also, the optical sensor will have to be held against the neck even while the neck moves, you breathe, etc - that might be tricky. We have experimented with conductive thread with crimp beads, but they are very difficult to use, and end up being more fragile than is really acceptable. We are presently investigating silk-screening conductive paint, and flexible PCBs are possible armature ideas.

Electronics: For prototype, arduino and probably a small op-amp circuit modeled on the circuit inside the watch. To make it wearable, we'll probably have to use an attiny or other similarly super small device.

==Part Sourcing==

I already have a set of chokers with surface mount LEDs inside (I've shown this at prior meetings during show and tell). I am unsure of how the LEDs are wired - it's possible that they are all controlled from the same wire, in which case the device will not be able to display as above, and instead will simply flash. I got the chokers from [http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LI1069&Category_Code= Rebeccas] for only $2.15 each, so if they are suitable they make great kit components.

For handling the sound data, I anticipate that I'll need some op-amps. Noisebridge may already have suitable parts for prototyping.

For inspecting signals to learn how the microphone actually works (what it hears) I will likely use an o-scope.

==Reverse Engineering the Choker Armature==

<pre>
Lights: 1-12, counted from the batteries
(Only lights 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 are populated)
Pins: 1-6, counted from the big ground of the batteries nearest the ribbon cable

Schematic Reverse Engineer:
Pin 1: V+ for all lights
Pin 2: V- for 1, 3, 5
Pin 3: V- for 2, 4
Pin 4: V- for 6, 8
Pin 5: V- for 7, 9, 11
Pin 6: V- for 10, 12

Apparently the LEDs are very easy to fry, since both green and pink choker now have many non-functional LEDs
</pre>

==Prior Art==

I've done some google searches, but I haven't been able to find anything like this. There are some pulse-sensing watches, for instance [http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/exercise-watch-pulse-calorie-reader/ Chinavasion: Exercise Watch - pulse + calorie reader] or see some reviews at [http://www.consumersearch.com/heart-rate-monitors Heart Rate Monitors]. These devices almost universally have a small display, but I think a haptic solution could be greatly superior.

[[Image:PulseWatch.jpg]]

You can see in the image a small heart on the left side of the display. When it's sensing your pulse, this heart blinks with your pulse, which is super cool. The sensor is under my index finger on the right hand side. You need to just touch the sensor - if you press hard, that destroys the signals (presumably because the pressure makes it so your skin doesn't respond to the pressure of your blood and instead just responds to the pressure of your hold...)

[[Category:Sensebridge]]

File:PulseWatch.jpg

2009-06-26T23:32:17Z

Mrericboyd:

Hack Notes CVA 090619

2009-06-20T02:54:24Z

Mrericboyd:

=North Paw Hack Notes, June 19th, 2009=

==New Jack Part==

Old jack part was 10mm tall, huge! New part is CP-036D-ND, only 5mm tall. Footprint was tricky - stat sheet is very misleading about the size of the contacts, and Eagle complained, and then we found real size...

==Sample of Display Loop==

I contacted Buy Loop and Hook today and they (a) don't have any "strips" or "ribbons" of the Display Loop material but (b) do send out samples of the material. We will be getting a 1'x1' piece of gray display loop, should be sufficient to evaluate whether it will work for us.

==Searching for Small Enclosure==

Turns out enclosures are very hard to search for. After much agony, I found only a couple of suitable parts. But first, some criteria: we wanted plastic (cheaper, doesn't short, lighter, etc), we needed at least one and preferably two "panels" (ends that are removable/customizable), and wanted small: <3x2x1, and we wanted some kind of mount points for a PCB. The hardest part was the height: almost everything is more than an inch in height. In fact we finally had to settle on this front.

The part we chose finally: [http://www.pactecenclosures.com/Plastic-Enclosures/JM-22.html PanTec JM-22], 2.4 x 2.2 x 1 in, 2 screws, enclosure presses against PCB to hold it in place, 2 panels. $2.84 for <100, $2.20 >=100. Eric will try to get samples, or purchase several if necessary.

Other parts and links that might be handy for other people: [http://www.industrial-enclosures.com/html/ks003-plastic-enclosures.html Industrial Enclosure] - too long for us, but they do have small heights. [http://www.hammondmfg.com/dwg8.htm Hammond Mfg] - either too tall, or too long. [http://www.polycase.com/category/kt-series.html PolyCase] - nice size, but lacks panels. [http://www.simcobox.com/ SimcoBox] - too big, lack of panels.

==Velcro Enclosures==

Eric proposed that the exposed side of the armature should just be made of a velcro strip, because we have so much velcro on it now anyway (for the closing mechanism, mounting for both the electronics and battery chamber). This would greatly simplify armature sewing, leaving basically only four steps:

* zipper to rayon
* zipper to velcro
* velcro to rayon
* velcro hook (small piece) to end of velcro

We might also need to have velcro "latches" to go over the electronics and battery and hold them more firmly i place - this needs to be tested.

Skory also found a velcro ribbon with sticky stuff on the back - perfect for use on the battery pack and electronics as part of the kit.

==Board Design==

With the new low height jack, low height cap, and enclosure dimensions, we feel ready to move unto actual layout of the board. Skory says he's going to work at home on it this weekend.

==Small Motors Anklet Works==

I (Eric) finally have a complete working anklet again. I am using the smaller size motors that I got in China. I have to run them at full power (255) to feel them properly - they seem fine with full power. The battery is held with velcro, but the electronics I still have in a pocket. It's a genius idea to rotate the electronics board - the way it is now, the ribbon cable can't help but be way above the armature, making it look funny. Once we get the jack on the side, it'll be possible to internally route it and have only minimal exposure, which will be awesome. Same for the (now necessary) power wires.

[[Image:NorthPaw_SmallMotors_Beta1PCB.jpg]]

File:NorthPaw SmallMotors Beta1PCB.jpg

2009-06-20T02:53:27Z

Mrericboyd: