It was awesome to be featured in an article on hackaday!: https://hackaday.com/2022/10/20/forearm-muscle-contraction-sensor-is-useful-component-for-open-source-prosthetics/
With more exposure comes greater minds to project and we have received some awesome constructive feedback.
Since the proof of concept works and the data is clean with a high signal to noise ratio, the next focus is on creating a robust somatosensory hand motion detector glove along side an upgrade Open Muscle band to allow for the most effective machine learning approach.
There have been several comments suggesting an alternative to hall effect sensors and it may be good to create two branches of Open Muscle to see which one is the best. Why make 1 when you can buy two for twice the price :D.
Since we are self-funded we can do as we wish without restriction as long as it conforms to the common goal of always keeping everything completely free, open-source, and under the GNU license.
The coming weeks will be very busy for myself and those of you who have so graciously offered your help on this project.
I can not stress enough that I wish this project to be in the hands of the community and outgrow myself. I will continue to dedicate all of my free time and money on this project and we are not lacking in anything at the moment.
I plan on creating two more prototypes this round ( usually the turn-around from concept to prototype is 2-3 weeks).
Here are the next orders:
OpenMuscle 7
We are going from 12 sensors to 24 and redefining the electronic schematic to better attenuate the signal before it hits the ESP32-S2. Also we are going to have 3 different PCBs to allow for the battery and user interface. This milestone should be the most significant because the whole open source system and documentation will hopefully rely on these boards.
Here are some questions for the community:
What features do you want on this system?
We are going to order 100+ boards this round and release the gerber files for all but i would like to know what the need is for the community. Do you wish to purchase the boards for your own dev work directly from JLPCB or PCBway or would you rather us purchase them in bulk and offer them at-cost?
OpenHand
OpenHand is the project to create the actual readings from the finger movements to train the machine learning process. This is currently being designed as another hall effect sensor suite in the form of a glove.
Since we have had some online exposure the process for getting this public for comment before we purchase the boards will be an interesting one.
I am open to suggestion.
Board of Directors – Open Prosthetics team mates
We need people to make this project their own. This was started as a community project and it belongs to everyone but we do need people to take ownership of certain tasks.
Right now we do not need any money but certain individuals have talked about starting grants. We may need those in the future so here are a list of positions we are looking for.
- github overseer – oversee the github to make sure all things remain free and open to all
- Website editor ( you can tell by my writing this is needed :D) – help edit website content
- community spokesperson – in charge of overseeing community wants and needs
Also we need some sort of structure so first off we need a committee to elect people in some controlled manor, but even this is up for debate.
501c3
We will be filling our 501c3 papers here in America. This is not necessary but just another milestone to achieve. Anyone who is interested in being apart of the governing body is welcome to throw your name in the mix.
Ethos
The whole ethos of this project is to use technology to better peoples lives by open-source, public domain research and development.
Our aim is to make prosthetics open-source and free for all of humanity by doing it ourselves with our time and talents.
Those of you who wish to join the team, the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few.
contact us today: https://oprosthetics.org/contact-us-2
Special Thank-You
I just personally want to send a special thank you to the Hackaday team for bringing us exposure and to Lewin Day specifically for writing an article about us. I personally am very grateful that you took the time to look at what we are trying to do and bringing it into the public eye. It may seem grandiose but all great ideas are, and what better thing to try to achieve than to help fellow humans with our time and talents.
Thank you Hackaday, and thank you Lewin Day!
