Spiderclaw V3 (aka Ultracortex)
I'm starting this thread to begin the open-source discussion surrounding the design of the Ultracortex, the V3 OpenBCI 3D-printable EEG headset. It will be the first headset design to work with the recently shipped V3 OpenBCI boards. Today I'll be reposting my original post on the V1 and V2 headset designs. This post somehow got lost in the chaos of updating our website, but I'm brushing off the dust and re-posting today. Still need to update the .STL, .OBJ, and Maya file download links.
I hope to use this thread for an ongoing discussion surrounding the V3 design.
My current R&D involves:
- Following the work done by profbink to replicate his 3D-printable prosthetic hand. I believe that the mechanics of tension, using trimmer line or fishing line and elastics, can be applied to the arms of the V3 headset. I hope that by doing so we can create a uniform tension along each of the "arms", to create a comfortable and secure connection between the headset and the scalp. Currently, the biggest design flaws of the V2 design are: 1) too many moving parts 2) isolated tension at each of the "arm segment" joints, which results in buckling of the arms.
More soon...
Comments
(holes matching, faces being coplanar, holes being the same diameter that can be switched between e.g. a metric and an imperial version and parametized for hat-size=head circumfence)
Problem is, there are so many and of the few people here that have one, hardly two will use the same one.
FreeCAD comes to mind with it's new sketch module but I haven't used it much yet.
At the end of the day a 3d graphics program does get the job done but you have limitations.
e.g. you are limited to polygons in interchangable formats.
You need to maintain each length of an arm separately even as it's the same arm, just with one parameter being different.
You have no export for drawings, part list and documentation.
You don't have physical units (e.g. from the eagle-layout of the PCB). Your base-unit is "1" and you need to tell people if it's 1 mm, 1" or 1 mil.
That a user can't export the assembly for any custom head circumfence.
On the other hand polyon nets with no parameters and no constraints are something everyone can edit in dozens of programs.
I completely agree with Marcus, a parametric CAD program would be better. Apart from the benefits mentioned, you'd also be able to link the design to (parametric) digital head models and do product fit verification directly in CAD.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/09/onshape-launches-mother-of-all-products/
$64 million in seed funding, and offered free to users(!)
Looks cool, perhaps Conor will add a few comments here...
Please forgive the radio silence. I was traveling through Israel and London, evangelizing open-source BCI! I'm back in action now and ramping up again on Ultracortex R&D.
We've been collaborating with Aaron (aka Threeform), a very talented industrial designer based in NYC. We spent a few days drafting and sketching on paper and decided to try out a rigid design, manually modeled for high rez mesh of his head. He precisely followed the 10-20 setup steps to locate (with high accuracy) the basic 10-20 nodes on his own head. See below.
Then based on the nodes identified, he modeled a rigid model in 2 halves that fit his head with a 5mm tolerance in the z-axis (perpendicular to the surface), as seen below.
So I know what you're thinking.. How do I get one for my head?! What we're trying to do is find a crew of 50-100 individuals that will pay for the up-front costs of working with industrial designers to manually model headsets based on scans/images/measurements of their heads, similar to the technique that Aaron used for the design above. In the process, we'll take detailed notes on the artistic/engineering modeling process and then replicate the process algorithmically with code. The end goal is to have an open-source platform where anyone can upload images/scans to create a 3D mesh of their head, click a button, and then a printable Ultracortex .stl is rendered specific to the individual. This may be something we Kickstarter or crowdfund on a small scale to get the ball rolling. We mainly need a small group of people who are willing to pay a decent chunk of change to have one of the first manually designed custom headsets to finance the R&D of the future automation process.
RE mikeschaekermann & OnShape: I think this idea is really interesting. I've never worked with OnShape, but the concept is amazing. At this point, the way I envision the future of Spiderclaw/Ultracortex unfolding is a fission between:
1) the "one-size-fits-all," flexible design (possibly modeled and iterated on in OnShape)
2) this new "your-size-fits-you" approach, which I think has more potential in the long run
Also, I'd like to note that the nodes (for electrodes) that you see in the design above are designed to work with the snap-in 3D-printed electrodes that we've been prototyping. Theoretically people could experiment with different electrode designs (active/passive/wet/dry) by sticking to a specific snap-in form factor.
Would love to hear your feedback.
-Conor
I do think that this is such an extremely cutting-edge business/technology model that you may not find an audience to support the costs for a couple more years.
But when the number of "average consumer" type of person finally shows up, you'd be poised to make a huge difference for people who are interested and/or need the techn, as well as have a profitable business.
Private message me for help! I'm interested to get involved.
I finish my first novel for the national market and it is going to press (through Shadow Mountain Publishing) this September. I'll be touring the country to promote my book next year, and I would like to have OpenBCI be a part of my presentation to schools.
This summer I'm planning on putting together my presentation. So if you can find time to contact me, that would be great so that I can get started in the right direction!
As the openBCI board without a proper headset is pretty useless (as long as you want to measure EEG data) I would like to ask which options I have to get my board working. I have a 3D printer and CAD software over here. Is it possible to modify the existing design of the V2? Of course I also would consider to purchase an out of the box solution but being a PhD Student tousands of dollars are far beyond my budget.
As I am planning to use the BCI board as an important aspect of my presentation next month I really need some short term solution.
Thanks for any advice.
Lastly, use these nuts / screws to connect the FRI electrodes to stripped wires (I stripped some ESK and touch-proof adapter cables) and the electrode mount:
http://shpws.me/JN5R (frame front $37.78) & http://shpws.me/JN5H (frame back $53.85)
It's reporting potential issues with thickness in some areas however I don't think that's correct. I've contacted Shapeways to find out if printing will be successful. They appear to be the cheaper option over Sculpteo which estimates costs over $420.
Update: I uploaded to 3D Systems QuickParts to see an estimate and can't get the total cost down below $1000, I'm not sure which process or material was used by Conor but more info might be helpful. Perhaps a group buy somewhere will help reduce costs?
Regards,
Corey
For reference this is the total cost from Sculpteo with 1 complete frame and 22 (1 extra) sets of small parts.
We are hoping to doing another crowdfunding campaign soon to get the #s up, and hopefully get some economy of scale on a run of 100-500 headsets. Stay posted.
- Conor